182 Local Chairman's Notes For The Month Of March

31 July 08

BLET Division 182 Meeting

Mileage's - The current numbers are as follows: RE22 -69; RE30 - 27; RE21 - 103

Investigations:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Absenteeism Pending

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl Train Tie-down Pending

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Absenteeism Pending

III. Rules and Safety - Testing - Company continues to test heavily on all subs.

IV. Scanner Downloads watch everything

V. Pay attention to your EQM scores. Review your score when going on duty every time.

VI. Short Crew Pay: Case went to mediation: still waiting on final answer

VII Paragould Local is resolved within the GCA. Everything finally resolved in accordance

with the GCA plans. Finally some good news from the folks at Labor Relations.

VIII. Carrier still violating the agreements and trying to blame the new CMTS program for the problem. Watch out for being miss-called or CMS attempting to call crews for jobs or trains which are not protected by our pool freight or extra boards.

IX Please continue to submit time claims for every violation of our agreements. I know it's a pain but it's the only way to force the carrier to comply with the agreements they sign. I want to thank each of you who take the time to do this. Every time we get a time claim paid it helps all of us.

A point of clarification for all. I have been asked by several people what the process is for taking trains from Memphis to New Port. First let me explain a little of what brought us to this issue in the first place. The carrier started to receive a new train 2 times per week off the CSX at Memphis for delivery to the M&A at Newport. At first the trains were just incorporated into the RE 30 pool jobs as just another thru freight train; the problems started when our RE 30 crews were refusing to go around the Y at Bald Knob to take the trains to Newport stating they were not qualified to go the extra 26 miles. This caused the train to be delayed and resulted in the trains requiring a re-crew to get the train the additional 26 miles from Bald Knob to Newport. The carrier then decided to use a Dexter/Memphis pool crew to take the trains from Memphis to Newport. In both cases this is a violation of the current agreements as there was never a trip rate established for the RE30 pool to do this work nor were there any rights for the Dexter crews to be delivering trains to New Port. After much discussion with the carrier (corridor managers) JB Crenshaw and I determined the right thing to do was to have our RE30/RT30 crews take the trains from Memphis to Newport and to then file penalty claims for both the extra 26 miles each way and a 130 mile penalty for running off assigned territory. This was done in the attempt to keep these New Port trains under the NLR Hub umbrella. JB and I also both thought it would be better for our Memphis crews to work these trains and not have the train re-crewed at Bald Knob in hopes of avoiding the fight with the carrier over who really should work these new jobs. I hope this clears up any confusion about these trains. If anyone has additional questions please feel free to contact me personally.

EM Perez

BLET, LC Division 182


	31 July 08 BLET Division 182 Meeting Mileage's - The current numbers are as follows: RE22 -69; RE30 - 27; RE21 - 103 Investigations: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Absenteeism Pending xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl Train Tie-down Pending xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Absenteeism Pending III. Rules and Safety - Testing - Company continues to test heavily on all subs. IV. Scanner Downloads watch everything V. Pay attention to your EQM scores. Review your score when going on duty every time. VI. Short Crew Pay: Case went to mediation: still waiting on final answer VII Paragould Local is resolved within the GCA. Everything finally resolved in accordance with the GCA plans. Finally some good news from the folks at Labor Relations. VIII. Carrier still violating the agreements and trying to blame the new CMTS program for the problem. Watch out for being miss-called or CMS attempting to call crews for jobs or trains which are not protected by our pool freight or extra boards. IX Please continue to submit time claims for every violation of our agreements. I know it's a pain but it's the only way to force the carrier to comply with the agreements they sign. I want to thank each of you who take the time to do this. Every time we get a time claim paid it helps all of us. A point of clarification for all. I have been asked by several people what the process is for taking trains from Memphis to New Port. First let me explain a little of what brought us to this issue in the first place. The carrier started to receive a new train 2 times per week off the CSX at Memphis for delivery to the M&A at Newport. At first the trains were just incorporated into the RE 30 pool jobs as just another thru freight train; the problems started when our RE 30 crews were refusing to go around the Y at Bald Knob to take the trains to Newport stating they were not qualified to go the extra 26 miles. This caused the train to be delayed and resulted in the trains requiring a re-crew to get the train the additional 26 miles from Bald Knob to Newport. The carrier then decided to use a Dexter/Memphis pool crew to take the trains from Memphis to Newport. In both cases this is a violation of the current agreements as there was never a trip rate established for the RE30 pool to do this work nor were there any rights for the Dexter crews to be delivering trains to New Port. After much discussion with the carrier (corridor managers) JB Crenshaw and I determined the right thing to do was to have our RE30/RT30 crews take the trains from Memphis to Newport and to then file penalty claims for both the extra 26 miles each way and a 130 mile penalty for running off assigned territory. This was done in the attempt to keep these New Port trains under the NLR Hub umbrella. JB and I also both thought it would be better for our Memphis crews to work these trains and not have the train re-crewed at Bald Knob in hopes of avoiding the fight with the carrier over who really should work these new jobs. I hope this clears up any confusion about these trains. If anyone has additional questions please feel free to contact me personally. EM Perez BLET, LC Division 182