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The topic for today kiddies is: party, specifically the Running Trades Entertainment Committee Christmas Party. This is a great opportunity to bring our family and friends together to celebrate the holiday season. For five years now, a dedicated group of volunteers have worked hard to put together a party for all to enjoy, each year has been a success. Please support RTEC by buying your tickets early. The dance is self supporting and the budget of past years has been in excess of $6000. Fortunately, each year we have balanced the books, and the sooner we can get some working capital the better. Also consider helping by volunteering your time to tend bar, sell tickets, set up or clean up. Don't forget to bring non-perishable food items for donation to those less fortunate. See you there!

Yo Ho Ho and a... Oh! Didn't notice ye there mate, I was busy lookin' ahead, and I see we've got some difficult negotiations to navigate through. We still maintain a fine contract, but it don't come easy. Today there are assorted miscreants and malcontents with legal minds as sharp as a cutlass, sitting in darkened cellars seeking to slash that same contract to ribbons.Now is the time to come forward with any bones of contention ye may have held in reserve. (In fact, by press time ye may have missed the boat). "Man overboard!", come the call from the sentry. A life preserver is thrown, and a company sponsored lifeboat is launched. Still, he dog paddles around and now a brother is lost at sea. There is no auspicious (giving promise of good fortune -- I had to look that one up) message in an empty bottle. Perhaps he will wash up down at the waterfront.
See you at the next union meeting.
-J. Y. D.

Meeting Point is the official newsletter of the United Transportation Union Local 1778. It is published quarterly by volunteers. The Editors of Meeting Point support the concept of free speech and welcome any submissions of interest to our members, preferably in plain text format on 3.5in. floppy disk --although any and all forms are welcome: magazine and newspaper articles or your own thoughts. Submissions can be made to any Union Officer or to David Moorhouse at N. Vancouver yard office, Fax # 984-0452 or E-mail utu@telus.net We reserve the right to edit submissions for brevity and clarity. The opinions contained herein are not necessarily those of the Editors or the United Transportation Union. Deadline for submissions: 15 th of Jan., Apr., July, Oct

Congratulations to Clyde, Steve and all the volunteers who helped make the Canada - wide UTU Region 10 Meeting a big success. The meeting was attended by our new international president Charlie Little as well as Roger Griffeth, the new General Secretary and Treasurer and representitives from locals from across the country. Activities included a windy day on the golf course, a boat tour of the harbor, nine meal sittings, a dance, numerous workshops and the hosting of a hospitality suite on in a beautiful two story room on the 40th floor of the Sheraton Landmark Hotel. Delegates were very impressed by the set up, this is a feather in the cap for our local. We also raised $280 tips from the hospitality suite for the Children's Hospital.

During the last Engine Cab Conditions Committee meeting a Joint Safety Advisory Committee report of investigation of a near miss incident between a train and track equipment was presented. The report itself was impressive as it attempted to get to the root cause of the incident rather than just place blame. The report recommends a redesigned conductor's work area to better organise forms, clearances etc., radio headsets, relocation of the hot plate, and relocation of the emergency brake lever among others. Most of these recommendations have been addressed by the committee but it would be helpful to get some suggestions from the membership about how to better organize the conductor's work area on the engine. We all know how hard it is to keep track of all the necessary paper work and restrictions and we all have our own system. If anyone has any suggestions about how to better organize the work area by providing pockets for bills, clips for forms, improvements to the desk, modifications to clearance forms etc. or suggestions about engine cab conditions in general, dash off a note or call me before early December and I will take them to the next Cab Committee meeting. -- D L Moorhouse

Thinking of those brothers who have left their homes and families and gone north to find a job. As of this writing, the junior man on the North Van spareboard has almost 15 years "juniority" and junior man in the yard almost 20. Deja vu from 10 years past? This is what we were "awarded" the princely sum of $8500 for: we sold ten years worth of seniority! Pretty impressive.Here's hoping those brothers won't be gone too long and be back to celebrate Christmas with their near and dear.
Good luck guys

What is going on out on the mainline these days? It's getting more and more dangerous for anyone, running trades or track maintenance crews, to go beyond the Cautionary Limits signs! More onus is being put onto the train crews with fewer persons and many more responsibilities to get these trains safely over the road. There seems to be a complete lack of Rule 42's. RTC's seem to find it easier to issue TOP's that butt up against each other from one end of the Subdivisions to the other, that way, anyone with a speeder or truck can move anywhere they want just by getting protection from the foreman of the limits they happen to be in. A perfect way for confusion to reign. The RTC's are not totally the ones to blame. Everyone has heard days when the tower is on constantly from 0600 to 1800 with clearances, TOP's and conductors, work trains and foremen trying to get hold someone or something. It reaches the point of saturation and sensory overload. It's especially bad when there are two or more trains going in the same direction on each other's block or the famous three and four train meets. I think that the RTC's would find it a lot simpler if all they had to do in the morning is confirm the 42's rather than spending the day repeating the same TOP's over and over again.
The Rules Department is not just allowing this to go on and on but actively encouraging it. After talking to the Rules Instructor about the lack of 42's he told me that they like to use the TOP's that butt up against each other so that the roadmasters can roam around freely without having to get TOP's to get from one Rule 42 to another. So once again it has become a case of what is easiest and not what is safest. It has become a minefield out there and sooner or later someone is going to step on one. Those little yellow and red flags were just about the only thing we, as running trades, had left as a last reminder to get our trains stopped in the case of something being overlooked. About the only times we see flags out there anymore are for slow orders. The way I was taught in Rules class, was that if the foreman knows where he is going to be working then he is supposed to use Rule 42's. Yet daily we hear foremen reserving TOP's for the next day when they tie up at night. When we get our DOB's these days we are lucky to see two 42's but we will get fifteen or twenty Item 8's going from CL sign to CL sign. It's not unusual to have to get hold of the same foreman on three or four clearances because he has limits of forty miles or more. I don't know if it is like this on all the Subdivisions but it's rampant on the Squamish Sub. Everyone has heard rumors about close calls out there. Sooner or later someone is going to be killed and it's going to be our asses in the frying pan. How many times have you been twenty miles from a certain foreman's limits only to see him in sitting in a truck in a siding clearing trains while he is protecting one, two or more crews working in his limits. The only way they are getting around like that is the TOP's that butt up against each other. Why aren't they in their limits where they are supposed to be, protecting their men? I have been following a train in this scenario and heard a foreman clear the train ahead of me through his limits. Then after clearing him then he called thirty miles away to see if the two crews he was protecting were in the clear. Then thirty minutes later when he cleared me he did the same thing. These foremen should only have the limits that they need so they have to stay in their limits protecting the men they are supposed to be protecting. So what to do? Obviously, we have to keep on top of things, but some help from the Rules Department would be nice. Just wait until there is some kind of incident and watch some crew be crucified. The Rules Department should ensure that the foremen keep their work limits as short as practicable and if they won't, then get foremen that will. MOMA is supposed to be monitoring this new system and making sure that it is working properly. They either aren't doing much observing or this slipshod way of doing things is perfectly fine with them.
-- R P Coleman

Well, my FAX machine just started and Dave wants to know where my article is! Lighten up Dave! As usual I'm only one day past the deadline, (sorry about that). As most of you are aware, we start our negotiations very soon. We will be exchanging proposals on the 19th of October and start our first full week of trade negotiations the week of Oct. 30th. I won't go into the proposals at this time as I made a trip over the property to discuss these and other issues during the week of September 25th.
I had meetings in Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Chetwynd, Fort St. John and Lillooet. I would like to thank those who took the time to come out to the meetings. Hopefully with a little more notice we will see more of you on the next trip. The input from the members on this trip was positive and very helpful.I will do everything that I can to keep you updated as negotiations progress. Local 1778 just finished hosting a very successful Region 10 Convention during the first week of October in Vancouver. For the most part the weather co-operated and except for the wind we had a good day of golf the first day. I heard many of the brothers and sisters attending say it was one of the best Region 10 conventions they had attended. Our newly elected international officers were in attendance including President C. L. Little, Assistant B. Boyd and R. D. Griffeth, General Secretary Treasurer. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Clyde Mulhall and all his committee for a job well done. I would also like to say a special thank you to Steve and Jackie Edgar for their very hard work through all the organising and hosting of this convention. I had better cut this short and get it off to Dave. Hope you all had a good summer.
Keep in mind the Christmas party. Your committee is hard at work with the arrangements and the tickets are selling fast. be sure to get yours before they are all gone. I will see if I can't put in more for Dave's next issue. If you have any suggestions of what you want to hear from me in this spot, let me know. -R. W. Sharpe, General Chairperson

Well, the Region 10 Conference is behind us and it was a big success. I'd like to thank our committee members: Clyde and Joanne Mulhall, granddaughter Jennifer, Bob and Carey Sharpe, Willy Skorberg, Greg Couch, Brian Gleason, Dave Moorhouse, Harold and Christine Skorberg and my wife, Jackie. It was through their time and effort that the conference was such a big success. One of the topics raised by a brother from the main line was how we, the running trades, have made C.C.O. work. If you compare the statement about his railway to BC Rail you realize how much less we have to work with here than they do there. We don't have CTC, we run under a system designed for branch lines handling much less traffic. Supervisors have been heard to say, "The implementation of CCO was a non-event". Well, I say it was the biggest event in our careers, we lost our safety net. The only reason that interpreted it as a non-event was through our professional and responsible work ethics. Was there any gratitude? Should one expect gratitude remember the comments railway lawyers made at the labour standards hearings, that were "...liars, cheats and thieves..", or the last VP of Labour Relations saying we were "excess baggage". After all that has been said and done we will still come to work with a professional and positive union attitude. We know who made CCO work. As for gratitude, well, negotiations are right around the corner.
Fraternally Yours,
S. W. Edgar
Vice Local Chairman
UTU Local 1778

Bill 29 Employment Standards Act
The Government has announced that Bill 29, the new Employment Standards Act will be proclaimed on November 1st, 1995. For many years the railway has enjoyed exemptions from many of the provisions the Employment Standards Act, trainmen were exempted from the Act in the Regulations. The main part that the railway was exempted from was the hours of work and overtime. Under the old Act, all the railway had to do was apply to Cabinet for an exemption, and if Cabinet agreed the exemption would be granted by Order in Council and would remain in effect forever. The NDP Government set up a commission headed by Mark Thompson, to review employment standards and make recommendations. The UTU and the railway made submissions to the commission as interested parties, also as a result of the mediated settlement of the collective agreement by Mediator Breckenridge during the last round of collective bargaining. Commissioner Thompson, in his recommendations dealing with exemptions stated that , "The Commission recommends that the Lieutenant Governor in Council have the authority to exempt a class of persons from all or part of the Act or Regulations. Before granting an exemption, the Ministry should ensure that the views of employers and employees are available to the Lieutenant Governor in Council. Exemptions should last no longer than 5 years, but should be renewable."The big change here is that the railway will no longer be allowed to go behind closed doors and be granted an exemption without the employees having a say. Also, the exemption will only last five years. My information is that when the new Act is proclaimed, the regulations will no longer exempt trainmen from the Act. At that time we can expect the railway to apply for new variances and/or transitional regulations, (a regulation made under this section is repealed one year after it is enacted). the railway may also argue under some sections of the Act that provisions of the collective agreement meet or exceed the employees entitlement under the Act. Should the railway make any of these arguments, I think that the Union has a very good chance of successfully arguing the opposite point of view. In closing I would like to quote from the railway's submission to the Thompson Commission regarding overtime, "One of the historic reasons overtime is not paid is to running trade employees on a daily basis on the railways of North America is the fact that this removes what would otherwise be a great incentive on the part of the running trades to delay the running time of trains in order to be paid overtime wages. There are numerous methods that running trade employees could use if paid on a daily overtime basis to delay the running of trains. For example, running trade employees could claim that bad weather, obstacles on the track or animals on the track have delayed their running time between stations".
In other words, the Railway believes that we are all thieves and liars. Does that not make you want to rush out and join the Railway's "team"? Brian Gleason, Local 1778 Legislative Rep

Feb. 13, 1996