POO?

Throughout civilization there have been individuals who have come to the forefront aspiring to be the Aone@ who could change history and radically alter the direction of groups of people. Some of the motivation came from ego, some out of a sense of self preservation, and others from a radically imbalanced thought process. The list of the rogues gallery would include, Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Napoleon, etc.

When this country was founded, it was founded on the principle of the power of the people, to establish a society ruled by law, wherein all were created and treated equally. This came as the result of a desire to not fall under the thumb of Aone@, i.e. the King of England. It became a great social experiment, which for some two hundred plus years has proved to be a workable system.

In most recent times, the most notable Aone@ who has attempted to change or control society was Adolph Hitler. He was the Aone@ who, according to him and his elite group of self serving followers, could change the world, however, he was quite unsuccessful. If successful, would he have been the Aone@ to make a better world? There is some speculation on this matter, but personally, I would not think so.

Rail labor has now been presented with the Aone@ who could provide the POO, i.e Apower of one@, which would make us all great and strong, and basically radically alter the direction of rail labor. Is this really true, or is it merely words, full of sound and fury, signifying a functional breakdown in rail labor?

In 1969, rail labor entered into a great experiment with the creation of the United Transportation Union (UTU), hoping to bring all rail operating labor under one umbrella, and realistically promising that a sum of the parts would be greater than the sum of the whole. Did it work?

That is a somewhat relative question, since for some it did work and work well, however, for a larger number it was unworkable and a total failure. Did it preserve the parts, or in this case, crafts? No.

On the other side of the coin, one group or craft, i.e. the locomotive engineers, decided not to be part of the Agreat experiment@, and opted to go it on their own. Was this a sage decision? Maybe yes, maybe no, however, some thirty plus years later, they are still Atrucking by rail@ and interestingly have moved to the position of the so-called Ahighest paid@ man on the crew. They no longer contend with brakemen, firemen, to a large degree hostlers, and have been beneficiary to whatever monies the others were entitled for doing more work with less people.

But, was the cost really worth it? There has never been harmony within the ranks of rail operating labor, every man and woman feels that their job is the most important, and as a consequence, much to the delight of rail management, either side has portrayed the other as the real and true scapegoat. Did either side really represent the problem, or possibly the solution?

It must be clearly remembered that the UTU and BLE are institutions of society, created by men and women, and logically they can and could be destroyed by men and women. They do not represent constants, moreover, short term variables in the ever evolving nature of humanity. In the UTU, the time has come to pay for the sins of our past, just as is true in the BLE. When created, the UTU crafted an elaborate document, i.e. the UTU Constitution, and in many ways it was sound document, however, the term constitution was somewhat of a misnomer, since the power rested in the hands of a few, paid for by the sweat and labors of many. Simply, the necessary checks and balances, though seemingly in place, were merely words, with little or no meaning other than black ink on pieces of paper.

The core problem centered in the fact that the UTU Constitution was not really in step with the higher authority of rail labor, i.e. the Railway Labor Act, as amended. It would be somewhat analogous to living in a household where the standing rule was steak and baked potato for Sunday lunch after church, however, when placed in the Army it is somewhat inane to attempt to dictate to the US Army that your household had steak and potatoes for Sunday lunch after church.

The internal rules of the UTU, i.e. constitution, have no bearing on rail management, they are merely in place to regulate and monitor the conduct of the organization. Consequently, the leaders of the UTU have taken liberties which are improper, if not illegal, however, the UTU Constitution has provided the needed Acover@, in addition to gross apathy on the part of the membership, to be totally unaccountable and corrupt.

Now at last, in Reno, the silver haired charlatan, has come forward to represent the great and powerful POO, in a presentation which would cause the great labor leaders of modern times to turn over in their graves. And to aid in his grasp at POOdumb, he has the number one red headed cheerleader, motivating the peanut gallery to give credence to specious verbal averments of the self styled omnipotent POO.

Having attended more region meetings than I would be willing to admit, it was the first time that I was presented with the fact that the rail carriers were not the problem, in its stead, depending on which derogatory one liner you would accept, the Aproblem is now the evil horde of Mac Fleming and Ed Dubroski@

I had to think about that for a minute, since it would appear that Mac Fleming and his evil empire, are the ones who build and maintain the tracks that we all operate over, and by the same token Ed Dubroski and his group of Acolorful cur dogs@ are the ones that operate the levers so we can move over the same tracks.

I was remiss to find at any juncture that either of these two individuals, or the people they represent, were responsible for our long work hours, years without an adequate raise, problems with crew dispatching, payroll shortages, dual wage scale, unreasonable discipline, unreasonable work/rest cycles, loss of seniority rights, etc.

But then again, the POO was on a roll. Where I really had to catch my breath, or more properly swallow the vomit, was when he decided that he was the reincarnation of Eugene Debs. It immediately brought to mind the now famous debate between a great silver haired Texan, Mr. Bensen, scolding Dan Quayle, that he (Quayle) was no John Kennedy. Brother POO, you are no Eugene Debs!

Brother Debs came from the ranks of engine service, and had a solid and grand vision to unite rail labor, all crafts, under one umbrella. But Brother Debs was not looking at self-preservation, like the POO, but had looked past the forest and found the trees. Brother Debs realized that in a democratic society, not unlike our current situation, that was wrought with corruption from the monied few, power came from the collective efforts of labor. Kinda like, Aunited we stand, divided we fall.@

Brother Debs saw that rail labor needed to stand politically as a force against the monied few, to even have a chance at survival in society. He so believed in this, he was willing to strike and sacrifice himself in jail to prove his point. And of course, Debs never suggested doing away with the historic crafts in order to facilitate his Avision@.

The POO on the other hand has moved into quasi-retirement in Austin, Texas, doesn=t even report for work, and is living the life of leisure, at the expense of the membership. The POO signed an agreement with NRLC=s Robert Allen that was quickly used by the BNSF to stop any strike over the Availability Policy in its tracks and go to party pay binding arbitration? The POO doesn=t want to change an inequitable and unfair situation, he wants to be part of it, along with his select entourage.

But always remember, lurking in the shadows of POOdumb, is the overriding desire on the part of POO to take over and destroy the BLE, and brothers and sisters, there is still a shot that POO will get the opportunity to do such.

Based on information which has come to the attention of this inquiring mind and simple deductive logic, it is still possible that the NMB will give the POO the right to have the race to the bottom for the single craft on the UP. Most notable is two issues: first, there is no provision for reconsideration yet the Motion has not been summarily dismissed as it should have been (indicating back room politics have come into play) and second, the skewed decision on the Tex Mex?

Look at POO=s speech wherein he acknowledges it was UTU who asked for a class of Atrain and engine service employees@ on the Tex Mex (as they did on FEC and are doing on short lines around the country) and then concludes BLE=s request for an election there verifies they agree with UTU=s position? POO assumes the Tex Mex decision is right and the Panel decision on the UP was wrong. Yet there was less cross utilization on the Tex Mex than on UP (which was practically non-existent) and it was a deciding factor based up UTU=s own two pillars (FEC and the Airline crews) in the UP decision (See the Washington Edition of the El Paso Express for more information on this subject).

BLE didn=t petition to make the historic crafts on Tex Mex Atrain and engine service employees@, UTU did! But UTU had represented all the employees of the Tex Mex (including engineers) for over twenty (20) years. When BLE realized how mad the employees were, they saw a great opportunity to have an A- card election and get the approximately 100+ employees on the Tex Mex under the BLE banner. Not because they agreed there should be a new craft but rather they saw a great opportunity to use the POO=s ploy against UTU. Seeing they could easily lose the election and the embarrassment that would create, the POO used his political power to get a decision that no election could take place for two years while the UTU established a Arelationship with the new craft of TRAIN AND ENGINE SERVICE EMPLOYEES@? Say what? UTU needs two years to establish a relationship with the employees they have been representing for over 20 years. Sounds like POOdumb to me, formerly known as a Acrock@or just plain ole ABULLSHIT@ (stomp your feet twice)!

So if NMB can ignore their own rules, an election will probably come before the presidential elections in the fall of this year. This will be a continuing and breaking story and the Express will keep you all advised. How did they get this skewed Atwo year moratorium@? Would is also apply to the vote on UP? Is Maggie Jacobson Aneutral@; afterall, she was a featured luncheon speaker at the Reno meeting? I=d say she is suppose to be but actually she is more like Linda Morgan, i.e., might as well be on the payroll of UTU (hmm, perhaps she is?). Of course, this inquiring mind has the knowledge that there is an employee out there in the far Northwest with a tape of Maggie saying how wonderful the POO and Alittle bb@ are and what a great plan the petition is for rail labor. In the face of that, it might be hard to argue she is Aneutral@?

And the real problem is no matter what happens if an election is allowed, all the employees of both unions will be the losers as the plan is for the railroads, i.e., designate your single spokesperson for the Anew craft@ and the Carriers want one agreement and one seniority roster. END OF STORY AND END OF HISTORIC CRAFTS!!!! AU@ see rail union members, the POO is Judas!

In closing, the only other real POO I have ever been aware of was Winnie the Pooh, and his group of followers. Problem was they were all cartoon characters, who are loved and revered by small children, even to the extent that Sears and Roebuck made a fortune off same. Is our POO to be loved and revered by us, as a group of small children, or is it time for us all to grow up and stand as responsible men and women to stop the carnage that inevitably lies in the path of rail labor if POODUMB is accepted.

The choice is ours, let=s make the right one.

The POO, clothed in patriotic garb and dancing to the Carrier's Tune!

Carrottop - Bob Earley's replacement and on his way to the top (the new assistant president in 2003)!

"little bb", the acting president while the POO is on sabatical in Austin, Texas.