771 News

Union Meeting Tuesday March 17 @ 9 AM....See you there!

Supplement to TYE 2009 Employee CBT Biennial & Triennial (Recertification) Rules Training

EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED 2009 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THIS NOTICE.

Effective immediately, TYE 2009 Employee CBT Biennial & Triennial (Recertification) Rules Training is temporarily suspended as outlined below. We have experienced difficulties with the 2009 CBT program and need to stand-down to properly address these issues.

Employees who have failed an exam(s) and are awaiting subsequent attempts have continued access. These employees are governed by applicable re-testing guidelines. Employees having CBT difficulties or those who are unable to complete testing requirements during this timeframe should contact the TTC CBT help line at 913-319-2785 or company line 8-319-2785.

Employees who are notified via the paperless timekeeping system to attend NetSim Biennial or NetSim Triennial training will continue to report to their designated NetSim location on the scheduled date as instructed.

Employees who do not meet either of the criteria above are instructed to disregard training notifications made by the paperless timekeeping system until further notice. Employees who miss their scheduled training as a result of this notice will be re-scheduled at a later date.

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Displacement / Furlough 1/2/09

We are fielding a good many questions regarding furlough and displacement. Frankly, the phone is ringing off the hook. Local Chairman Diaz and myself have ammended the paper that I put together several years ago in an effort to shore up the weak spots found within the document. I am sending the ammended version out to all, see below. If you have read the thing through a half dozen times and you are still confused, don't hesitate to give one of us a call and we will do our best to explain it to you. Don't feel like the Lone Ranger as this issue can be confusing. Don't roll the dice where your livelihood is concerned!

Regarding the PLD issue, every year at this time the PLD and or Carryover numbers get screwed up. The Carrier's program is in need of an update. Long story short, Timekeeping has to go in and manually fix the counts. It is anticipated that this will be accomplished prior to the 7th of January. Please be patient. If however, you wish to take days that are not showing in your account, let us know and we will see about fast tracking your update so you will have the ability to take the day now.

Happy Trails,

mdm

DISPLACEMENT/FURLOUGH AMMENDED 1-2-2009 FINAL

For those of you new to Railroading and the Seniority System, if you are in Train Service (Conductor/Brakeman) and you have been displaced, you have 48 hours to make a bump (displacement) within a 30-mile radius (see Article XII 1996 National Agreement). The clock starts ticking when you take notification. Note, if you log into the computer, your notification time starts. You have an additional 72 hours to make displacement (outside the 30-mile radius) anywhere on your seniority district (Old Arizona Division) or System Wide. Day one is the day you take notification. Notify the crew office prior to your 48 hour bump running out that you intend to make displacement outside the 30 mile radius, if you intend to do so. If you are Displaced (bump board) and you cannot hold an assignment in Needles, and employees junior to yourself are holding outside assignments within your seniority district (Kingman, Barstow Board 7, Bakersfield Road, Seligman West (tying up Seligman), you must bump said junior employee within 5 days to protect your seniority. Failure to do so can result in your termination. The only way to avoid making the displacement is to file a request for 'STAY AT HOME STATUS'. If your request is granted, you will not be required to bump into Bakersfield Road, Barstow Board 7, etc. Use Option 6 from the TEY main screen to check for junior employees. If no assignments are available to make displacement on (bump), and you do not desire to chase your seniority outside the Old Arizona, you will be placed in furlough status (board 11) after the expiration of 5 days. Make sure you check to see if you have any junior employees working just prior to your bump running out as the picture changes on a daily or minute basis. If you are furloughed on stay at home status and you are recalled to service, you have 48 hours to report. If you are furloughed and are NOT on stay at home status, you have 15 days to report.

If you believe you will be held in furloughed status for an extended period of time, you may elect to bump (within 5 days) into another Coast Lines Seniority District, seniority permitting. You will be required to work in this Seniority District for the time it takes to become familiarized plus 30 days (30 day restriction applies if you could hold on the Old Arizona Division and voluntarily bump elsewhere on the Coastlines. If you cannot hold on the Old Arizona Division and bump into another Coastlines Terminal to avoid being furloughed, the 30 restriction will not apply). You will be paid at the rate of a brakeman for your familiarization trips (step-rate for post June 30, 2004 employees). After you fulfill the aforementioned requirements, you can be recalled to your home seniority district if you have a request on file. The Carrier has the option to recall any employee to their Primary Recall Location at any time for the first 5 years of employment. Also, if you do not have a recall request on file, you are subject to being assigned to an engineer's training class at that location. Some RCO restrictions may apply if you elect to bump into Barstow yard or any other location where RCO is employed. If you displace outside the Coastlines, no training pay will be provided if you have junior employees working on the Coastlines.

If your bump has run out (expired) and you are in furlough status and you do not have a stay at home request on file, you may put in a request to increase to another Seniority District seniority permitting and subject to the conditions of the previous paragraph. If you have a stay at home request on file you can only increase back to your home terminal. Bids submitted while off in force will NOT be honored.

If you are NOT in furloughed status and you put in a letter to increase to another Coast Lines Seniority District, you may be required to work in that Seniority District for 6 months.

CREW ACTIVATION CHANGE SELIGMAN SUB MARCH 17, 1100 HOURS‏

EAST END CREWS

A new crew planning program has been under development for some time now and the plan is to begin using it on the Southwest Division next Tuesday, March 17th starting with the 1100 activations. This new program will replace the CCPLAN2 program that the MCO's currently use. When activations start in the new program, you and your membership will see 1 change. On the active boards, we will no longer use the lettered turn numbers like NEENEAB or BELBEAF or WINWIBB to represent an active slot at the away terminal. Instead, we will show the actual turn # and name of the employee who stands for that active slot. These are still only active slots and nothing will change in terms of how employees are called if some aren't rested for those slots. If the first out employee(s) aren't rested, the system would call the first available rested AFHT employee and the rest would then be displayed in the next available AFHT active slots on the board. The intent here is to make it easier for all concerned to see who is lined up for the active slots at the away terminal. To facilitate this change over, at the beginning of the 1100 activation period on 3/17, we will need to de-activate all current active turns and reactivate them with the new program. This will take only a few seconds for each active board.

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SIRPs GET RESULTS

Swapping at the STEPS in Barstow will now be a "last resort option". Brother Rehill identified this location as a safety concern on the Safety Issue Resolution Process (SIRP) form and requested this practice be changed. Barstow Superintendent Leif Smith agreed and has issued word to all his Routers that the east end of the yard will now be the primary location for swapping crews.

The SIRP process gets results, Brother Anderson on the east end can attest to that fact. I encourage all employees to use this process as it is an excellent tool for ensuring our safety and improving our working conditions. The forms are located at every on-duty location. Below is an explanation of the process.

DR Diaz

UTU Local Chairman

Safety Issue Resolution Process

The Safety Issue Resolution Process (SIRP) is designed for all crafts to first quickly protect and then correct safety hazards identified by employees. Safety issues identified are conveyed to other employees working in areas where hazards were reported.

Safety issues are received through:

1. Craft employees' contact with their immediate supervisor.

a. This is the most effective means an employee has for communicating a safety issue for protection and correction.

b. The supervisor has an opportunity to ask questions and define more specific information if necessary to begin the correction process.

c. Supervisor exhibits he/she cares about their concerns and becomes a safety "champion" and a "go to" supervisor.

d. Reinforces commitment to employee's personal safety.

e. Establishes trust and credibility through correction and follow-up with issues.

2. Division Hotline 909-386-4444

a. The division hotline can be used when supervision is unavailable or when anonymity is preferred.

b. Hotlines should be answered a minimum of once per day and should not be used when immediate protection is required.

3. Union Local Chairmen contacts

a. In some cases when an employee is uncomfortable bringing an issue forward through conventional means, he/she contacts their union representative who in turn contacts the immediate supervisor.

4. Local Safety Site Team Meetings

a. This should be a rare occurrence; but there could be an instance where a safety site team representative would receive an issue at the time of a safety site team meeting.

5. Supervisor and Local Chairmen Leadership Meetings

a. Safety issues may arise out of monthly Supervisor and Local Chairmen Leadership meetings attended by union local chairmen.

b. The SIRP database should be used to resolve those issues.

6. Unsafe Condition Report

a. Employees fill out a prepared form and place in immediate supervisor's mailbox; however, conditions needing immediate protection should be verbally reported.

b. Supervisors should check mailbox at least once per day.

When safety issues are received by the immediate supervisor, they are processed as follows:

1. Immediate supervisor or middle manager contacts the safety issue initiator to ensure safety issue (hazard) is protected and to let them know he/she is working on issue.

2. Immediate supervisor or middle manager logs safety issue into database.

3. Immediate supervisor contacts the correcting supervisor for safety issue handling

a. Correcting supervisor corrects issue within 5 days or,

b. Develops a correction action plan with timeline for correction.

i. Plan will be updated monthly.

4. Correcting supervisor notifies originating supervisor that the issue is corrected or provides explanation of plan (issue must remain protected until corrected).

5. Supervisor contacts initiator once safety issue is corrected and then closes issue.

a. All "Safety Issues" remain on the SIRP Log in an "open" status until corrected

b. Issues needing additional resources are elevated.

c. Non-safety issues should be referred to the appropriate BNSF department.

6. Safety issues are tracked by person(s) assigned responsibility for correction; or, in some cases, by Safety Manager or Safety Coordinators.

7. Safety issues posted and corrected should be communicated to all affected employees using Job Safety Briefings.

The safety issue resolution logs should be reviewed by the GM, direct report, or in some cases the site leader, on a monthly timetable. Safety issues open 30, 60 and 90 days or over will be discussed along with an emphasis on realistic timetables for completion.