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With the introduction of conductor-only operations we experienced the most profound change of our careers. We've tried to hang on to the way things used to be, but I think now we've come to realize that the caboose is gone and we are doing the same or more work with less men. Those who could make a living before CCO are relegated to a 60 hour spareboard, others have gone north, still following an itinerant lifestyle after 10 years.

Throughout all this, the Railway has not come forward to help make the transition any easier. They're not going to help us, we're going to have to help ourselves.

The job is not what it once was, now is time for change. It is time to share what work is left, time to bring us in line with industry standard, to introduce regular schedules and days off, and to address the long standing problem of fatigue and proper rest and how it relates to our safety.

We must keep these issues in mind as we face the future.

This is a poem I wrote about a trip that happened Nov. 6 / 86, at 0110k, 63.5 mile. A few details have been left out, namely: Conductor, M. A. Myette - Retired, Tail End Brakeman, G. Woods - whom I never saw again, Engineer, B. Lundquist - I have only seen him twice since then, and myself, the poet. The bank we went down was 125 feet, not one hundred feet. The whole story is a true rendition of events.

by Norm Abrahams

Once upon a time, on a midnight freight
Pulling up the first hill, running a little late
Evil portents on a Thanksgiving night
A baleful moon cast down its light

A little chilly on the ground
Patches of fog all around
No patrol, no vision ahead
This was the night we were to dread

This question and others crossed my mind
Couldn't do a thing, we were running blind
Dispatcher harassing us about being late
It should have been him on that midnight freight

Pouring a coffee for the hogger and me
Bent down, looked out to see what I could see
Right in front was a tree and some rocks
My mind stopped, even my clock

The engine went up in the air, a roller coaster ride
It tipped sideways and started to slide
Before I know it, its twenty minutes later
I came to, awake in a crater

Wanting to cry, too scared to shout
Didn't know what it was all about
We were alive, the engine a mess
This is a true story I must profess

The engineer shouted my name
That brought me around in this deadly game
Death lay to the left and right
We were alive, time to fight

The engine went down a hundred foot bank
The door was smashed shut inside this tank
Went though the window, helped the hogger out
I soon found out what it was all about

Three units toppled over on their side
Nine more cars went for a ride
Diesel was spraying like a fountain of joy
No more train ride, smashed all the toys

Went back inside to retrieve my jacket
Picked up the portable radio packet
Called out for help, really scared
The conductor sounded a little weird

I asked him to come up, I don't know why
Only God knows, but I couldn't cry
He walked that train on a broken ankle
Calmed down some, began to rankle

Dispatchers don't give a damn about us
Only want to know about damage and stuff
I've no love left for that boorish lot
I'd lost it that night when things were hot

Gathered together, watching the smoke
After a while we laughed and joked
I found that I'd aged ten years that night
All because of a terrible fright

After a while more help came
A short ride on another train
A taxi was waiting at the first crossing
Took us home, I spent the night tossing

The Open Eye Survey

Remember the Open Line Employee Survey? We all received the overall results in the mail last June. The Council agreed to encourage participation if the results were made available to each constituent union.

The overall response was 54%, considered good. Trainmen responded at the rate of 74%, of those, 47% had 21-30 years service and 28% had 11-20 years. Judging from the size of the response, and those who responded, it seems these guys know what they're talking about and have something to say.

In many instances UTU results agreed with the overall respondents, we all indicated in the range of 90% that communication could be improved, we want to know what goes on, have more say, that our work is important and we aren't valued as individuals. There are also big differences between UTU responses and those overall, particularly in the areas of safety and management skills. I've charted these differences and attempt to explain reasons for them. In some cases the differences were huge, up to 54%. This is what you had to say:

Yardmasters ink Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range pact

UTU-represented yardmasters employed on the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range have ratified a new contract. The five-year pact provides a 15-percent wage increase, $750 signing bonus, and full back pay to Jan. 1, 1995. Contract terms covering health and welfare vacations, holidays and cost-of-living adjustments are tied to whatever settlement is reached on a national contract.

UTU forges deal with Illinois Central

After two years of negotiations, UTU members on the Illinois Central Railroad have reached a tentative agreement with the carrier that would replace mileage-based pay with an hourly rate of $23. The carrier also will pay each member $60,000 inreturn for the elimination of all work rules and the productivity fund. The distinction between road and yard assignments would be eliminated. Restrictions on work events for through crews also would be dropped, as would all arbitrary payments. The pact also calls for an 8.5-percent wage increase over the five-year contract. The tentative contract also would guarantee lifetime jobs for all current conductors, brakemen and yardmen. Those workers will be able to select a home district extending for no more than 70 to 100 miles from which they cannot be moved involuntarily. The pact alsoincludes provisions for regular assignments and times. UTU will defer a vote on the pact until the first quarter of 1996 in order for the roughly 700 members to fully understand the implications of the agreement.

Three-freight collision kills three

Two UTU members were among the dead when a collision involving three freight trains on Conrail track in Effingham, Ill., killed three rail workers and resulted in the evacuation of about 100 homes within a two-mile radius of the crash site. Killed in the collision, which occurred late the evening of December 22, were UTU members Conductor Rolla Allen III of Local 1518, Indianapolis, Ind., and Engineer Daniel B. Gibbs of Local 1548, Indianapolis, Ind. As this issue of UTU News OnLine reached deadline, a third fatality had been

identified as Conductor Dennis McIlroy of Terre Haute, Ind. A fire from burning diesel fuel threatened a toxic chemical release, resulting in the evacuation of nearby homes. At least one of the freight trains had carried oil, plastics and hazardous chemical, according to a Conrail spokesman. Although the collision was still under investigation, officials indicated two of the trains were westbound, headed to St. Louis, when one rear-ended the other. The rear-most cars of the first train apparently derailed across an adjacent track and into the path of an eastbound freight headed from St. Louis to Pittsburgh. According to state police, 53 cars derailed, 40 of which caught fire.

Member killed in Toledo accident

Gilbert McGee, 53, a 29-year Norfolk Southern veteran and member of UTU Local 1928 at Toledo, Ohio, was killed last month in a freak switching accident. McGee was riding the rear of a hopper car into the Nabisco flour mill in Toledo when he looked around the edge of the car to determine its location and was struck in the head by a post that stood close to the track. An investigation of the accident continues.

GM delivers 28 WhisperCabs to Conrail

Conrail has taken delivery of the first of 28 new 5,000-horsepower alternating current locomotives it has ordered. The engines feature General Motors EMD's new WhisperCab. The crew compartment sits on rubber "doughnuts" which dampen vibrations and noise "to a level found in luxury cars," Conrail claims.

Sleep and Fatigue Research by the NASA Ames Fatigue Countermeasures Program

"My mind clicks on and off...I try letting one eyelid close at a time while I prop the other open with my will . But the effort's too much. Sleep is winning. My whole body argues dully that nothing, nothing life can attain, is quite so desirable as sleep. My mind is losing resolution and control."

-C. A. Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis (Scribeners, New York, 1953)

This quote by an American hero introduces sleep research documents published by Mark Rosenkind et al of the NASA Ames Research Center, Fatigue Countermeasures Program. Mr. Rosenkind and his colleagues have been studying the effects of fatigue on long and short haul flight crews for the past 15 years.

The authors point out that, like the body's requirement for food and water, sleep is a vital human physiological function essential to survival. Deprived of sleep, the body reacts with sleepiness as it would with hunger or thirst if deprived of food or water. If we get sleepy enough we can lapse into sleep in an uncontrolled fashion, even while operating machinery or driving a car. Analysis of the confidential reports of the NASA Safety Reporting System indicate that 21% of all incidents are fatigue related, decreased performance due to sleep loss has been a factor in the Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, and Bohpal disasters.

Individuals differ in the amount of sleep they require, even 1 hr. less than required can lead to waking levels of sleepiness. If not given the opportunity for the sleep they need, people develop a sleep debt which accumulates over time, hence the common phenomena of sleeping late on the weekend to alleviate a debt accumulated over the work week.

The brain has a circadian clock the regulates body functions on a 24 hr basis, the average rhythm is programmed for maximum sleepiness between 0300 and 0500 and 1500 and 1700 daily. Studies have shown that evening types with later circadian rhythms adapt better to night work than morning types. Age may be a factor as younger people are generally more evening oriented than older persons.

Over the course of the NASA program hundreds of volunteers have participated in the research, some kept log books of flight schedules, others were wired with portable medical monitors measuring core body temperature, movement, heart rate etc. In one experiment individual members of flight crews of three or more were given the opportunity for short naps of up to forty minutes during low workload periods. As a control, other crews were not allowed to nap. It is interesting to note that on five occasions during these no nap periods crew members fell asleep for periods ranging from 2 to 14 minutes even though they were instructed to carry on their normal duties. At the time, these people had wires attached to various places on their body, including a rectal thermometer, and were being observed by the researchers. So much for the "right stuff" when it comes to fighting sleep. From this research it appears that short naps can have a positive effect on overall trip performance, this acts as sort of a safety valve but does not alleviate sleep debt.

Research is still progressing but some strategies and recommendations have come from the program:

Many questions still need answers, does bright light, melatonin and diet affect sleep? Does automation contribute to boredom and complacency?

How long is too long for a shift period? How long does it take to recover after an extended trip? How could recovery be defined? There is little information regarding the long term effects of sleep deprivation.

In the course of our careers, we have all felt the way Charles Lindbergh described. As with aviation, the human factor is, and always will be, a critical component in railway operations. Fatigue and performance are more critical now that our crews have been pared to the minimum. We can't afford to take chances, a speeding train has the same potential energy as a thermonuclear bomb, energy = mass plus velocity² The regulation of rest and scheduling has long been ignored by railway industry and regulatory bodies. There seems to be a trend in industry toward longer workdays rather than shorter. For our own safety and that of the community we must address this potential hazard.

For more information contact NASA Ames Fatigue Countermeasures Program, MS; 262-4, Moffat Field, CA, USA, 94035-1000.

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, E-mail utu@telus.net or our Web page at http://unix.ultranet.ca/utu Submissions become the property of Meeting Point. 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.

Local 1778 now has a World Wide Web site, this is a stop on the information highway connecting us to the rest of the world via the Internet. Here, anyone with the appropriate browsing software can send us E-mail or download on-line versions of our Meeting Point newsletter, they will also find links to other sites of railway interest. Our site has been included in another Web site, The Cyberspace World Railroad, one of the top 5% most accessed sites in the world! The impetus for the creation of this site came from a motion at the Dec. meeting requesting we investigate means of electronic communication. We hope this will serve as a contact point for other UTU members and make the newsletter more available.

Check it out at: http://unix.ultranet.ca/utu

The following is an article written for the North Van. O H & S newsletter, The Bridge:

We're baaack! After many months away from the North Vancouver OH&S committee UTU Local 1778 has decided to again participate. We feel that our members will benefit if we have voice in the health issues and safety conditions unique to them.

The reason why we left remains: because of our unique employment situation we can't take a few hours off to attend to committee business as other members do, we may be required to miss a trip of 20 or more paid hours. In the past, the Railway would not pay for time missed. We still expect to be compensated for actual time lost to committee business. An identical situation arose at CN, the members there argued it to the appropriate governing body and were successful, CN safety committee members are paid for actual time lost, regardless of duration.

We intend to seek a greater role in the investigation of accidents as mandated by the Provincial Occupational Safety and Health Regulations for Railways, particularly by those trades involved, i.e. trainmen committee members involved in investigating trainmen accidents. The Regulations very specifically define an accident as "an unplanned interruption of an orderly process involving the motion of people, objects or substances", by definition this would include rule violations. We need assurance from the Railway that the outcome of any accident investigation will not be used to discipline our members.

The running trades work under unique conditions, it is not easy to translate typical industrial safety programs to suit us. We believe our members would best be represented by a someone from both the yard and the road, each department has distinct working conditions and attendant problems.

Yardmen work in more of a "shop floor" environment: the physical condition of terrain and equipment the primary concern. The yard representative must be familiar with the yard environment as well as day to day yard operation.

Road crews must deal with the condition of the equipment they use, cross hundreds of miles of mountainous terrain and observe important rules and regulations, many rule violations present risks to the safety of train crews as well as the general public. Scheduling and sleep are safety issues too, working irregular and long hours can have adverse effects on health and alertness. To be properly represented we need someone who lives and works in these conditions regularly.

It is difficult to expect immediate results from our participation, a perusal of the committee meeting minutes for the past year tells of many recommendations early in the year that have yet to be implemented, such as supply of hi-vis apparel, critical stress debriefing and safety orientation for new employees. The result of accident investigations show up in the minutes as "investigation complete", publication of results of these investigations would benefit our members.

In the future we plan to pursue development of a lifestyle program to suit the unique conditions train crews work under, strive to make available safety supplies suitable for train crews, i.e., high visibility apparel, gloves rather than mittens, be involved in snow removal strategies and renew the tradition of regular yard inspection.

We have some catching up to do, if any of our members feel their concerns about safety issues have not been fully addressed or have any ideas about how to improve the conditions we work under, please bring them to the next union meeting, Brian Gleason or David Moorhouse can then bring your concerns to the next safety committee meeting.

Did anybody notice? We didn't receive our usual Christmas bonus this year!

In the past, assignments were cut right before Christmas as a cost saving measure. Regardless if the job cut was yours or not the effects would trickle down, causing turmoil. This year they did the right thing and left the assignments alone.

Another surprise: they offered to pay out banked time over the holidays.

What caused the corporate Scrooge to change his miserly ways after all these years? Could it be the ghost of labor relations yet to come?

By Junk Yard Dog

Lat. 49- 18'- 72" N

Lon. 123-05'-14" W

Avast ye lilly-livered relative of a sea serpent! Wye I'm so acrimonious today that I could eat marlin spikes and crap buttons. However, I have an exclusive interview with, well, I'll stop yapping and bestow the facts.

"Sir, please state your name and occupation for the record."

"Thems that asks no questions aint told no lies sonny."

"Thats fine sir, and I would like to remind you that when yer spoutin' off is most likely when yer gonna get harpooned."

"Listen up pup, I didn't come down the muddy Fraser yesterday on a banana boat. You can refer to me as "Seahawk" fer yer good rag. Now shut yer biscuit hole `cause I aint got all day. See, time was a guy was proud to sail fer a big outfit like ours. Ha! How times have changed. You know, when yer 18 or 20 years old and ye sign on, the company shines yer shoes, treats you like a king and makes great promises. Then, all of a sudden, a decade goes by, ye got yerself a family and it dawns on you that all that candy the company laid out for you when you was a kid is not candy but road apples. All those doors of opportunities promised have been slammed shut in yer face. You question the captain and he tells you that, "you knew what you was gettin' into when you signed on." What happened to all those opportunities promised? Yer not a human any more but a number, a number with a phone number.

Don't get me wrong., its not middle management, its the upper crust, the high end of the totem pole. Middle management has lost its ability to be flexible with the workforce, the guidelines for them are too structured. Common sense don't prevail, there is poor communication and friction in the workforce. All they see are numbers on a piece of paper, there is no leeway; it's ludicrous.

Take that new booklet fer instance, you know what the postmaster dropped on yer doorstep, no not the letter bomb. The safety book is good work, but The BCR Group of Companies Standards of Conduct, now there is a work of art, what a crock of propaganda! The Statement of Principals states, "Our reputation for honesty, integrity and fairness when dealing with employees, customers, suppliers, the general public and others is one of our most valuable assets" What reputation for dealing with honesty, integrity and fairness when dealing with employees? Doing What is Fair and Honest states, "Honesty and fairness are part of our corporate values and form the foundation for the long term success of each of our companies. It is everyone's responsibility to maintain the highest standards of honesty, integrity and fairness when conducting company business." Must have been an excellent keg of rum they polished off while they wrote that drivel.

Okay pup, I'd like to stay and chew the fat, but the shadows are growin' long and I got a boat to catch. Au revoir!"

There you have it folks, the crusty old bird himself, Seahawk, squawks.

Now, while I'm not the one to bite the hand that feeds me, I will bark: Love my company, don't trust the management. Until next time, via con dios. - JYD

Local Chairman's Column

Greetings! I would like to wish everyone all the best in the new year.

Well, we are working without a collective agreement and the old one is in effect until such time as a new one can be reached.

The topic I feel needs to be addressed is the way the Railway has taken away the right of UTU members to earn an 80 hour income every two weeks. Mr. Ready should bear some responsibility for this oppression but arbitrators in this Province are not accountable for their actions.

Prior to cabooseless conductor only operation trainmen held tailend and headend jobs. They have now been forced to the spareboard and in more drastic cases forced out of town away from their homes and families, causing them additional expense such as extra child care and wear and tear on their cars. Being away from home for weeks at a time no longer allows them to contribute to family responsibilities. Nobody knows where they will be two weeks from now or if they will have a bed to sleep in.

The Crew Supervisor would like us all to pick up and move when he deems necessary to save a few dollars in guarantee without bearing any of the expense.

In the days before CCO an average train on the Squamish Sub would cost the Railway $1,440.00 in trainmen's wages based on $23 per hour for trainman and $26 per hour for conductor; for 19 trains per week ( 7 VP's, 7 VC's, and 5 VO's ) the cost would be approximately $27,360.00, add 5 reliefs per week at a cost of $2,880.00, the total cost for traimman wages per week was $30,240.00. Since the introduction of CCO the weekly wage cost based on these figures is $10,920, a total savings of $19,320.00 per week or $1,004,640.00 per year. That's not all, the savings in the yard amount to $8,624.00 per week or $448,448.00 per year. That's 1.5 million dollars saved just in the North Vancouver terminal.

Prior to CCO there were 6 pool crews, now there are 7 and enough hours for one or two more crews. The railway would rather keep us on the spareboard rather than pool to save even more guarantee

Conditions are the same, with the exception of an oven if you are lucky enough to get an engine with one on it. You'd think they would spend a buck or two to supply a bar of soap to wash your hands after you go to the washroom (which hasn't been cleaned 80% of the time). Just hope you are fortunate enough to be an employee who is allowed to go to the washroom, recently an assistant terminal supervisor was asked if employees were allowed to go to the washroom while on duty, he responded "Some are".

Even with all the savings the Railway has gained they can still hide under the PSEC guidelines, (government wage restraints on crown corporations).

They aren't done yet, the Railway wants to be able to tell us how many unions can represent the 7 different crafts here at BC Rail.

If you received your new safety manual you would have read Mr. McElligot's remarks about employees being the biggest asset, although I feel the same way I get the feeling he was JUST KIDDING.

NOTE: It has been brought to our attention that some members are being harassed by certain line supervisors. If you feel you have been harassed or treated poorly, document the incident, record the date, time, place and any witnesses and report it to your local rep.

Fraternally Yours,

Steve Edgar, Vice Local Chairman, Local 1778

New Local Secretary Treasurer

Secretary Treasurer Steve Edgar resigned his positon in October of 1995 to further pursue his duties as Vice Local Chairman, as a result the position of Secretary Treasurer for Local 1778 was left vacant. D L Moorhouse was elected by acclimation at the November meeting.

Brother Edgar's efforts as Secretary Treasurer for the past 6 years have been very much appreciated, he's doing a pretty good job as acting Local Chair too! On behalf of all the membership, thank you Steve.

It is important to keep your records up to date, if you have moved or changed your phone number since 1994 please let Dave know at 984-6030.

NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR WORKERS KILLED ON THE JOB

April 28^th is the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. It is a special day set aside to mourn the loss of fellow workers.

THEY'RE AT THE TROUGH!!!

Jan. 25^th is Corporate Tax Freedom Day. The day is held each year near the end of January to mark the point in the year when Corporate Canada frees itself from any responsibility to pay income taxes. Technically speaking, tax freedom day for many companies actually occurs Jan. 1^st since they pay no income tax at all.

I think that I will use this spot to try and bring everyone up to date on what has been happening lately.

As most of you are well aware now, we have been trying to reach an agreement on the Takla Log Haul Service. Without much success to this point. The last round of talks on Jan. 10 and 11 failed to reach an agreement. The Letter of Understanding on which we were operating expired on Jan. 14^th. The Railway said they would operate within the terms of the collective agreement but have failed to do this. As a result of the way the Railway has bulletined these jobs, plus other violations of the collective agreement, the Union is seeking a cease and desist order at the Labour Board. Special meetings were held in Prince George and Vancouver regarding this matter and the decision was made to work within the terms of the collective agreement and not make any deals with the Railway. The Union appreciates your support in this matter. I do not believe it is in our best interest to help the Railway when they continue to make these kind of choices for their operation. With your help I believe we will reach an agreement that is acceptable to our membership.

The overall contract negotiations will be going forward as soon as dates can be set for meetings with the Railway. The decision was made by the Joint Council at a meeting January 18^th. Although I feel the guidelines of the Public Sector Employer's Council, under which we have been forced, don't leave much room to bargain, I feel we must do all we can to reach an agreement. The idea of working hard to make the company profitable and "getting your share of the pie" seems to have escaped some people's thought processes. It would appear to me that at this set of negotiations it is going to take the continued support of the members just to retain what we have. The popular thinking seems to be that if you have a job you just do whatever the Railway wants and be thankful to still be working at the end of the day. This type of thinking and the continued attack on unions means we all have to pull together to protect what we have today. This right wing attitude will not go away on it's own.

The Railway is also continuing its attack on the unions at BC Rail at the Labour Board. They are proceeding to have their application heard to reduce the number of unions to three from seven on BC Rail. This is a continuation of the way they choose to deal with their employees and then ask cooperation with them. As a result of this, I have sent a letter to the railway withdrawing UTU support from any joint committees other than health and safety. I have a hard time finding justification in working with people who are trying to destroy this union.

On a positive note, Locals1778 and 1923 have selected three members from each local to attend the C. L. C. Winter School being held over the next few weeks. We are able to accomplish this as a result of our Education Fund. I am also planning a course for local union reps in the next few months. It is my belief that education is one of the best tools with which we can supply our elected officers to enable them to serve the membership better.

Remember, a smart worker is a safe worker. Like they say, "Safety is the first priority on BC Rail", so let's make sure we do all we can to help BC Rail live up to their motto.

There are other issues ongoing but this is probably all the bad news I should deal with for one issue. I hope you and your families had a great holiday season. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you and your families a Happy New Year.

I would also like to thank all the members involved with this newsletter, especially Dave Moorhouse, for a great job done with the paper. From all reports, the membership really looks forward to each new issue.

-R. W. Sharpe

-General Chairman

GROUP Of COMPANIES STANDARD OF CONDUCT (Special Exemptions)

Doing What is Fair and Honest

It is everyone's responsibility to maintain the highest standards of honesty, integrity and fairness when conducting business, except when dealing with the workers and especially in arbitration cases it is permitted for management employees to lie, other management employees must unite in the lie to protect the company's interests.

Offering or Accepting Gifts or Benefits

Offering or accepting gifts or benefits from customers, suppliers and other may present a conflict of interest, however, obscenely large bonuses are acceptable.

Legislative Rep's Column

Occupational Health and Safety Committee

Participating in the North Vancouver OS&H committee is proving to be a very frustrating ordeal. The Railway continues to ignore the regulations pertaining to the investigation of accidents. It is the Railway's position that they are not required to include members of the OH&S committee that represent the employees involved in the accident or incident. This is especially true when the accidents or incidents happen between terminals.

The Railway's practice is to send out a supervisor ( who in many cases may not be qualified to carry out the investigation) who makes out a report and submits this to the committee. This is no longer acceptable, the representatives of the running trades on the O S & H committees must participate in the on-site investigations along with management representatives The Railway, of course, wants no part of this, as usual they are being pigheaded as hell.

There is a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JSAC) set up through the Council of Trade Unions. That committee submitted guidelines for the investigation of accidents to the Council and the Railway which were accepted by both parties. Unfortunately, the Railway's interpretation of these guidelines now appear to be quite different from the Council's.

I have asked that the Railway and the Union representatives of JSAC be present at the January meeting in order to clarify the interpretation each party has of these guidelines. If the Railway continues to hold the position outlined above, then the Council must review these guidelines and, if necessary, cancel the agreement and apply to the Ministry for an order directing the Railway to adhere to the regulations.

The employee representatives on the committees across the railway must get together to ensure the Railway adhere to the regulations, as well as battle the Railway's plan to turn the O S & H committees into a "quality circle", "team concept" program.

At Quesnel and Ft. St. John the Railway has now implemented a Customer Service - Safety Team to replace the O S & H committee. The Railway is in the process of introducing a "wellness" plan, they will give you trinkets and in return the will get elaborate personal information. The Railway is trying to go in the back door with this one by introducing it to the individual O H & S committees instead of presenting it to the Council or JSAC.

Employment Standards

The Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour has appointed Geoffrey Crampton to chair a tribunal which will be reviewing the Railway's exemptions from the Employment Standards Act, specifically Part 4, hours of work and overtime. The tribunal will make recommendations to Cabinet whether or not the Railway should be exempted from the Employment Standards Act.

PART XIV - Division 105 Right To Refuse Dangerous Work

The Safety and Standards Department of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs advises that Daniel B. Johnston has been appointed to conduct an independent review of the policies and procedures required to resolve work refusal issues related to Div. 105 of the OH & S regulations for railways. This appointment follows the commitment made by the Hon. Darlene Marzari, Minister of Municipal Affairs to have a review undertaken following her consideration of the process used to resolve a work refusal incident which occurred on BC Rail in Dec. 1994 Daniel Johnston is of the law firm Sutherland, Johnstonm and MacLean which has offices in Vancouver and Nanaimo.

-Brian Gleason, 1778 Legislative Rep

As part of our mandate for the publication of this newsletter we pledged to increase communication between our local and our brothers in the north. Up to now we have been concentrating on just getting the thing in print. Now, Local 1923 has provided money for further distribution of Meeting Point, we have a Web page accessible from Prince George and in the future hope to see regular contributions from our northern brothers regarding issues important to them.

Better communication between us can only bring us closer together, an advantage we will need in the future given our thinning ranks and the current labour climate.

Below is an article by Richard Senff of Prince George:

If you were to ask a conductor 50 years ago if he thought that trains would have one man and no caboose what do you think the average response would have been? I would be willing to bet that they would have said that you were nuts and did not know what you were talking about. Now, after that statement how about this one, "One man yard crews". I really mean one man crews in the yard. No hogger, no helper, just a Foreman with a remote control box strapped to his chest and a management yard coordinator driving around in a van getting cuts and making joints.

Lets examine the fine points of a one man operation. How would the coordinator get between the tracks in his van? The yard would have to be re-designed to give quick vehicle access to each track. - they would have to do this for remote control anyway.

With advances in metallurgy and lubrication, boxcars with a 200 ton capacity are not far off, meaning more tonnage in fewer cars.

The words "Loco Remote Control" strike fear into any self-respecting hogger's heart. This piece of equipment I'm talking about isn't that inefficient ineffective thing we all know and laugh about, I'm talking about the black boxes of the future. These boxes will be lighter and able to do more, a lot more. How much more? With rapid advances in radio technology I envision a box that would control switches remotely. Not only would you have locomotive controls, but a keypad to punch in switch numbers. If, say, you were at the North end of the Prince George yard and want to go to C15 all you would do is press "NC15" and the switches would line themselves up.

Now, with the means of having one man do the work of three do you think the Company would keep extra people around out of the goodness of their heart?

Unfortunately, some allow the management coordinator to run around getting cuts and making joints without the help of a foreman or helper. Also, the coordinator may take it upon himself to get a cut or make a joint even when informed "no, take me to the cut, joint etc. (This happened to me recently, hence this article).

I realize that to implement a one man yard operation would take a major capitol investment, but after such an investment the Company would be able to get rid of more of those troublesome employees who interfere with bottom line profits.

--Richard Senff

--Secretary Treasurer, Local 1923

Feb. 13, 1996