CSXs Buffalo yard under review for cutbacks, possible closure
(The following story by Matt Glynn appeared on the Buffalo News website on April 16, 2009.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. CSX Transportations Frontier Yard in Buffalo is under review by the railroad for possible cutbacks or, in a worst-case scenario, closing, a union official said Wednesday.
A company official, John Gaylord, briefed employees during a visit this week but did not provide firm details of CSXs intentions, said Dave Kellner, president of Transport Workers Union Local 2020, which represents a portion of CSXs area work force.
Its just a waiting game right now, he said.
Robert Sullivan, a spokesman for Florida-based CSX, read a statement saying that CSX is weighing tough decisions amid the poor economy.
No decision has been made regarding the Frontier Yard operation, he said. However, CSX, like any company, cannot rule out any potential option or action as we fight our way through these difficult economic times.
Kellner noted that the Frontier Yard, located off Broadway, has experienced a dropoff in activity due to a slowdown in industries it supports, such as the automotive sector. General Motors Corp. requires fewer rail cars to serve its Town of Tonawanda engine plant than it used to, and American Axle & Manufacturing has closed much of its local manufacturing.
The business slowdown already has led to about 125 workers being put on furlough at the Frontier Yard, Kellner said.
Sullivan said that CSXs volumes are down by double digits in nearly every part of the economy we serve.
We have no choice but to act swiftly to adapt our resources in response to the significant decline in volume, he said.
Gaylord told area employees that CSX is reviewing a few other yards in its network, in addition to Buffalos, to determine their future, Kellner said. No timetable for a decision was announced, and Sullivan would not comment on when a decision might be made.
While the Buffalo operation has to cope with negatives such as New York states higher-than-average fuel prices, one factor in its favor is its proximity to the Canadian border, to serve cross-border rail traffic, Kellner said. Without the Buffalo yard, he said, those trains would have to travel about 300 miles to a CSX yard in either the Albany area or Willard, Ohio.
Kellner said local CSX workers are feeling anxious. A lot of younger guys figured this would be their future. They finally got a job on the railroad.
A CSX worker, who asked not to be identified, reflected that mood of uncertainty. Everyones walking around on pins and needles, he said.
The best way to avoid bad agreements is to negotiate good ones.
National agreements negotiated by the UTU have consistently improved wages, benefits and working conditions, and preserved one of the best health-care insurance plans available.
UTU IS PROUD OF ITS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN NEGOTIATING
Perhaps this is why the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) habitually says, "me, too," after the UTU reaches agreements with the carriers.
It is instructive that in the one bargaining round where the BLE did take the lead, negotiations broke down, and the Van Wart Study Commission was established during the term of President Reagan (whom the BLE endorsed for president).
The Van Wart Study Commission's horrendous recommendations included raising the basic day to 160 miles (from its then 100 miles); eliminating all arbitraries and special allowances; permitting carriers to establish extra boards at all points and use extra crews in lieu of pool or assigned crews; allowing road crews to do unlimited switching; using straight-time employees at will, ahead of those who would qualify for overtime; and permanently capping new-hire pay at 70 percent of the then-existing rate. The Van Wart Study Commission also recommended that "the carriers be permitted to institute operations changes without prior negotiations, so that rates and service standards may be established immediately."
It took the UTU almost 20 years to undo the recommendations of the Van Wart Study Commission. The contract our members overwhelmingly ratified in 2002 did just that. Not surprisingly, the BLE said, "me, too!"
By obtaining trip rates, the UTU forever put to rest carrier attempts to increase the basic day; rolled monies attributable to national pay elements into trip rates so carriers no longer could sharp-shoot them; and brought post-'85 employees to wage parity with respect to those national pay elements.
The UTU is proud of its leadership role in negotiating some of the best agreements out there.
The history of the UTU is a history of protecting crafts. The history of the BLE is attacking and selling out other crafts.
Consider the facts:
The 1962 Presidential Railroad Commission recommended the fireman be eliminated - and Congress passed such a law.
After the two-year expiration of the law, a UTU predecessor, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (BLF&E), gained a new protective agreement for firemen.
While the BLF&E was fighting to preserve the fireman craft, the BLE, on April 1, 1966, told its members to cross BLF&E picket lines. "Go back to your jobs and ignore picket lines," is what BLE said, as reported by United Press International.
BLE ATTACKS FIREMAN CRAFT
Incredibly, the BLE then signed an agreement in 1964 for engineers to work without firemen in exchange for $1.50 more per day per engineer.
In the face of this treacherous attempt by the BLE to sell out firemen, the UTU negotiated a national fireman manning agreement retaining the fireman as a viable craft.
The UTU also negotiated crew-consist agreements preserving trainmen crafts, and jobs.
Still, the BLE attempted to sell out conductors and brakemen. As reported by the Daily Labor Report on Oct. 16, 1985, the BLE proposed its "Lake Erie Plan" to reduce train-crew size to just two engineers represented by the BLE.
In exchange for helping carriers eliminate conductors and brakemen, BLE-represented engineers were to receive up to a 75 percent increase in pay. BLE President John Sytsma predicted technology would permit engineer-only operations.
It was only because of UTU crew-consist agreements that the BLE's Lake Erie Plan could not be put into effect.
That explains the current BLE strategy to merge all operating crafts into the Teamsters. Then the BLE could eliminate crew-consist agreements, allowing engineers to become the sole operating employees on all freight trains.
It is essential to understand that only existing moratoriums of the on-property crew-consist agreements held by the UTU provide protection for all trainmen against elimination of the conductor's position on every assignment.
There has been more BLE aggression against trainmen. As reported by The Journal of Commerce on Aug. 23, 1994, the BLE "authorized its members to cross UTU picket lines and return to work" during a UTU strike against Soo Line Railroad.
That newspaper described BLE's scab action as "unprecedented." A shocked Transportation Communications Union President Robert Scardelletti told TCU members to display "solidarity" with the UTU.
BLE SELLS OUT PASSENGER CONDUCTOR
On VIA Rail in Canada, the BLE promised to protect conductors if they joined the BLE. Then the BLE agreed to operate VIA Rail passenger trains with engineers only. In a story in its own April 1997 newsletter, headlined, "VIA Rail chops conductors," the BLE reported, "The role of conductors will be merged with locomotive engineers, moving the ultimate responsibility for the safe operation of trains into the cab."
What did the BLE tell the conductors it had sold out after falsely promising to protect their jobs? BLE told them, "There can be no reasonable expectation on the part of UTU members that they would obtain all that had been promised."
Which was the first union to sign a remote control agreement with a U.S. railroad? It was the BLE in an agreement negotiated March 12, 2001, by current BLE&T President Don Hahs when he was a BLE vice president.
That agreement on Montana Rail Link eliminated train service employees on remote control operations, replacing them with two engineers.
By contrast, the UTU has always attempted to include engineers in the remote control agreements it negotiated.
In Canada, the BLE walked away from the table when the UTU sought a joint protective agreement with Canadian National on remote control. In the U.S., the other organization declined a merger, which would have shared remote control jobs with engineers.
PROTECTING CRAFTS IS WHAT THE UTU IS ABOUT
-- The UTU is the only labor union that has united various operating crafts while protecting craft autonomy. Every agreement must be ratified by every historical craft affected by that agreement. Smaller crafts have an equal vote as larger crafts.
-- Craft autonomy has been fully protected under the UTU Constitution since 1969.
-- The UTU pioneered craft protection among train and engine service employees who move in and out of various craft assignments - from engineer to conductor to brakeman.
-- The UTU pioneered an agreement allowing qualified ground-service employees, working under UTU contracts, to transfer into engine service, retaining their ground-service seniority. Every operating employee - be it engineer or train service employee - owes their job to the efforts of the UTU.
-- Crew-consist and remote control agreements protect our members from total elimination via the adverse effects of new technology.
-- The UTU took the lead in coordinating Railroad Retirement reform, which reinstituted full retirement benefits at age 60 for those with at least 30 years of service. The other organization initially declined to participate in this effort and then said, "me, too."
-- The UTU took the lead in amending the early-retirement medical plan by reducing to age 60 the minimum age for eligibility.
-- The UTU is the leader in allowing its rail members to choose from multiple medical benefit plans and medical benefit providers. The other organization is now saying, "me, too."
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TEAMSTERS
-- The Teamsters have lost half a million truck-driver members in recent years and haven't organized a major trucking company since 1980.
-- Where the Teamsters hold contracts for truck drivers, those over-the-road drivers earn less than railroad operating employees and have fewer benefits.
-- The Teamsters' Central States Pension Plan is on life-support, with truck-driver retirement benefits having been slashed.
-- By contrast, the Railroad Retirement Trust fund has been growing and benefits were liberalized, including reinstatement of the full-benefits early retirement option at age 60. In fact, there is speculation the reason the Teamsters want a merger with rail unions is eventually to make a grab for funds from the solvent Railroad Retirement system. If the Teamsters control rail labor, then rail labor would have no independent voice in Washington to protect Railroad Retirement.
-- When Teamsters President Jim Hoffa took office, he said his number-one objective was to organize Overnite Trucking. Only 687 of 13,000 Overnite employees walked a Teamsters picket line demanding union recognition.
-- The Teamsters abandoned their attempt to organize Overnite, admitting failure of the ill-conceived strike they called.
-- The Teamsters promised to block entry into the U.S. of Mexican trucks and drivers. The Bush administration and Supreme Court splashed more egg on Hoffa's face.
-- Unable to organize truckers, the Teamsters turned to airlines for a short-lived honeymoon. More than 11,000 Northwest Airlines flight attendants and 3,000 Southwest Airlines mechanics recently disaffiliated, complaining their crafts had no voice within the truck-driver dominated union.
-- Virtually the entire ruling body of the Teamsters is made up of truck drivers.
-- The Teamsters' contract with trucking companies limits how much freight can move by rail in trailers and containers. The Teamsters Union always was, and always will be, a foe of the railroads and railroad job security.
September 9, 2004
-- Edited by Troll on Friday 17th of April 2009 07:15:10 AM
(The following story by Matt Spina and Matt Glynn appeared on the Buffalo News website on April 17, 2009.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. Sen. Charles E. Schumer talked by telephone to the head of CSX Transportation on Thursday and said he came away with the distinct impression that the Buffalo rail yard will remain open.
During a visit to Buffalo, Schumer said that Michael Ward, the CSX chairman and chief executive officer, explained that a review of the Buffalo yard is part of a systemwide cost-cutting effort.
Schumer said Ward left him believing that closing the Buffalo rail yard is not on the table. And Schumer said he told Ward he would communicate that to Western New York.
I had a very good conversation with him and stressed the importance of CSX to Western New York, and he is well aware that we are one of their most important states, Schumer said.
Schumer said he then explained that closing the Buffalo yard would make it far more cumbersome for CSX to move Canadian freight through New York.
He was aware of that, Schumer said.
Then, without being specific, Schumer said he got the very strong impression that CSX does not intend to close the Frontier Yard.
They have lost a lot of revenues, and they are looking at all of their institutions, Schumer said. And I think they are considering cutting back somewhere. And I made a strong argument [to protect] Buffalo.
A union official said Wednesday that CSX, in the face of declining revenues, was reviewing the Frontier Yard for possible reductions or, in a worst-case scenario, closing it.
Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, sent a letter to Ward urging CSX to keep the Frontier Yard operating. The loss of those jobs in the current economy would be devastating to the families of those employees and would place further stress on the already humbled regional economy, they wrote.
Closing the yard would also eliminate an infrastructure asset important to Buffalos ability to compete for future economic development, they wrote.
Higgins in an interview said he understands CSX is facing economic pressures. We want to ask them to be patient and to allow the recovery to begin to take place, Higgins said.
Among the factors Higgins cited was Buffalos proximity to the growing region of Southern Ontario. Thats very, very significant, he said. Our economy is interconnected, obviously, with Southern Ontario. CSXs Buffalo operation handles cross-border rail traffic.
Higgins said the Frontier Yard plays an important role in the local economy through its jobs and employees spending. They have disposable income that will create demand in our economy, he said.
Dave Kellner, president of Local 2020 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents a portion of the local CSX work force, said the railroad has not announced a timetable for its decision. He said he was told by a CSX official that the Frontier Yard was one of a handful of yards under review by the railroad.
Kellner estimated more than 100 area CSX employees are already on layoff due to slowdowns in the industries it serves.
Jim Louis, an official with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said there are fears that CSX could cut back its local work force by as much as half of its 800 people.
Were just trying to get some kind of direction about where CSX is going to go, Louis said.
Louis said he was concerned that CSX abruptly halted work on a long-awaited upgrade at the Frontier Yard five months after it started and pulled out the construction equipment.
The improvements were supposed to be made to the hump processing systems in Buffalo, Selkirk, which is near Albany, and Indianapolis as a result of the breakup of Conrail in the late 1990s. Buffalo is the only one of three yet to be upgraded, Louis said.
CSX in a statement on Wednesday said it was not ruling out any option for the future of the Frontier Yard, citing double digit decreases in its volumes. It said no decision had been made regarding the Frontier Yards future.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- At a joint meeting Wednesday night, leaders of two local railroad unions, the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) told members to prepare for big layoffs in Buffalo, television station WGRZ reported.
Together, the unions represent about 800 workers at the Frontier Yards on Broadway, a major "hump" terminus in the northeast United States.
Jim Louis, General Chairman of the BLET locals in several Northeast states, confirmed for 2 On Your Side that a CSX official told him in a meeting on Tuesday to prepare for half the work force to be furloughed.
Dave McKinley" "You have been told by a CSX official that you could see upwards of 50 percent of the people laid off in Buffalo?
Jim Louis: "That's the words we're hearing."
Dave McKinley: "And that could equate to 400 people?"
Jim Louis "Yes sir."
CSX Corp. reported on Tuesday its first-quarter earnings dropped 30 percent.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company said Wednesday in a conference call with analysts that sales will continue to be hurt as demand to ship goods by rail plummets, and that CSX Corp. expects double-digit declines in shipping volume to continue through the second quarter.
Reached by WGRZ-TV for comment, CSX Spokesman Bob Sullivan issued a statement, which read in part:
"CSX volumes are down by double digits in every part of the economy we serve. We have no choice but to act swiftly to adopt our resources in response to the significant decline in volume. We have had to furlough 2,400 employees (as) we have about 30,000 cars in storage and 500 locomotives sitting idle."
The statement continued:
"No decision has been made regarding the Frontier Yard (Buffalo) operation, however CSX -- like any other company -- cannot rule out any potential option or action as we fight our way through these difficult economic times."
Workers from other railroads now are worried about the potential impact on thier jobs.
Among them is Tommy Curran, and Engineer for the Norfolk and Southern.
"We interchange cars from the Norfolk and Southern Railway to CSX, so it's a ripple effect that will be felt throughout the industry," Curran explained.
Beyond lost jobs others bemoan how this could permanently derail Buffalo's once lofty status as the second busiest railroad hub in the nation, a scenerio summed up by Louis in four words.
"Not a pretty day," he said.
(The preceding report appeared on the Web site of television station WGRZ-TV at wgrz.com on April 16, 2009.)
