Railroaders' Nostalgia > My first UTU meeting

BRT's "Railroad Man" movie reminded me of my first UTU meeting, sometime in 1975

The terminal where I worked was in transition in terms of operating crews. There were still many operating employees who had hired on after returning from WW2 and even a few pre-war employees. Starting in the late 1960's, there had been a great increase in freight traffic bought about by the export coal business.

My experience as a new trainman was mixed, some of the "old guard" just wouldn't talk and were even hostile. Others were welcoming and helpful.

Once I had served my three month probation, old "Blue Eyes", the UTU secretary treasurer invited me to join the Local and to attend the next monthly meeting.

The meeting was held in the old railroad YMCA building, in a hall that obviously served as a dance hall also, as most of the chairs were lined up along the walls. The officers sat at a table at the front of the room, and had placed a couple of rows of chairs in front of them for the expected turnout of members.

I have forgotten what caused many members to show up that night, but those two rows quickly filled up, and so did the chairs along the wall.

The meeting opened like all others, reading of the minutes, reports of officers and so on, and carried on without much questions from the floor.

All meetings have a "new business" portion where members have the opportunity to talk and propose motions.

As soon as the new business portion was reached, a member stood up to propose a motion. The Local President welcomed him to speak, however "Fat Freddy", the Local Chairman said to him, "Sit down and shut up". The crowd gasped, however, the member said "I don't need to stay here and be insulted" and walked out. A smirk seemed to pass around the "old guard" (You sure put that young one in his place). The crowd started to dwindle as others perceived that new blood was not welcome in the old "Glacier Lodge of the BRT". I sat along the wall and said nothing, I was disenchanted but I continued to attend other meetings. Over the years, younger and more progressive members were elected to various positions in the Local, but the President and Local Chairman remained in power.

Fast forward five years or so, and another "crisis" meeting was about to take place, one that required the membership vote on an issue at a regular meeting. Big crowd. "Fat Freddy" still ruled the roost. Freddy had taken some "charm school" from the UTU higher ups so that he could better deal with us "young ones".

Again, the meeting proceeded peacefully until the new business portion. Freddy needed a "yes" vote from the members assembled, and delivered a nice speech asking for the members support.

He asked "Any questions from the floor?" . The member he had told to "Sit down and Shut up" several years previously stood up and said, "Why would I support you when you told me to sit down and shut up". Fat Freddy denied he ever said it, but several members including the President remembered him saying it, and said so. Fat Freddy resigned on the spot.

The UTU Local where this took place is now history, as is the UTU as a Union in most of Canada. The Charter hangs in a local railway museum.
Fat Freddy went on to become a company officer and although overweight, lived quite long in retirement.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/18 09:47 by eminence_grise.

My first UTU meeting went similarly i never attended another and once they dropped the maintenance fee, I swapped the BLE and never looked back.

I remember my first meeting, all they we're concerned with was if my dues had been taken out or not.

Funny, I've never been a railroader, but I've been in my union for 28 years, and I have almost the exact same story to tell. Except for the on-the-spot resignation.

Our Fat Freddies (a series of them, all indistinguishable from one another) are still there.

Any union member who is square on the books with his respective organization and who doesn't like the job that the elected officers are doing is free to challenge any of the incumbents come election time. Unfortunately, it's far easier to boo from the cheap seats than it is to step up to the plate.

This happened in my local when I was working out of Union Pacific's East Yard in Los Angeles. A new hire, someone hired after 1985, ran against the "Old Guard" local chairman who favored his old head buddies and too bad for the "younger ones".Well when he came up for re-election a"New Hire "ran against him. The ballots were mail in style and the attendance at the meeting when the ballots would be counted was unreal. All the "Young Ones" filled the room,the halls outside out into the lobby. This was after the UP had cut out the brakeman on road jobs and second brakemen and swicthmen on locals and yard jobs with many olds guys taking the two buyouts UP offered.. Now the scales started to become balanced towards the post 85 employees,and they would now have someone who would help them.Well during the meeting the Local Secretary walked in with one of those large plastic mail bins from the USPS with only 6 ballots in it.He claimed that the post office had lost the rest of the ballots and they would have to wait for them to be found. And they were and they counted them and of course the old chairman won. Who would have thought?

Chico43 Wrote:
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> Any union member who is square on the books with
> his respective organization and who doesn't like
> the job that the elected officers are doing is
> free to challenge any of the incumbents come
> election time. Unfortunately, it's far easier to
> boo from the cheap seats than it is to step up to
> the plate.

And I've seen the "new guy" who challenged the "old head" pay dearly for their "insubordination" too.

One officer on a Class 1 told me the story of why he went into management.
He was in the UTU and worked in a large yard. He had many valid timeslips.
There was another man in the yard who was always in trouble mainly because
of alcohol. When time came for union and management to sit down and go through
the claims the good timeslips were thrown in the garbage in the bargaining
process to get the drunk back in service. Of course this was long before
the current D&A policies.

Since the union treated him the way it did he went to the other side.

Englewood here's something similar. I was holding down a work train when we got a brakeman off of the extra board.My engineer,TO member SW1500 and I ,had never seen him before so we were talking with him and he told us he was the son in law of the local vice chairman from the ballot thread above. Somehow the UTU came up in our conservation. He told us of attending back yard BBQs and various gatherings with his wife and her family and the Local Chairman from the above thread and his buddies would be there talking about how they would get their fired old head buddies back to work AGAIN. These guys were selfish pieces of crap that were always in trouble for something. Anyway our brakeman would overhear them talking about things like trading three new hires that were fired to get one of their buddies back to work.Throwing out claims was another items he overheard. He didn't really know quite what they were talking about until years later he hired on with the UP also.

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One officer on a Class 1 told me the story of why
> he went into management.
> He was in the UTU and worked in a large yard. He
> had many valid timeslips.
> There was another man in the yard who was always
> in trouble mainly because
> of alcohol. When time came for union and
> management to sit down and go through
> the claims the good timeslips were thrown in the
> garbage in the bargaining
> process to get the drunk back in service. Of
> course this was long before
> the current D&A policies.
>
> Since the union treated him the way it did he went
> to the other side.


Been there done that https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,4347967,4349855#msg-4349855

The final straw was when I complained about not receiving any information or correspondence from the union for some extended period of time, during which there was conversation in the office about things I knew nothing about. I complained to union headquarters. The answer I received was that they had a new computer system. My address (the street address and the city) were too long for the system to accept, so it would be necessary for me to get a new address. I saw that as the end between me and ATDA. I had to go it alone or quit.

I was about to quit when I was assigned off assignment to system scheduling, capacity analysis and management, and new passenger service, a "temporary" position that lasted five years. There was no sense on depending upon ATDA to help me any more. I would work the new gig off assignment while retaining membership and turning in timeslips for off assignment from my assigned position. Others were doing it, so I was somewhat in a position of power. I knew that there was no future in what I was doing off assignment. I was told that I was not qualified for promotion to the job I was doing "temporarily" because I'm a college dropout. They had already started requiring a college degree to hire out as a snake, let alone be promoted, which I found out upon coming home from representing BN in a meeting with the British Columbia Premiere. For some reason, I was sent a hiring flyer that told me that if I had a college degree, I could avail myself of an exciting career as a switchman. I wasn't qualified to be a snake!

The off-assignment work led to what turned into a consulting career. When I was the last man standing in Seattle and I refused to go to Ft Worth and "push buttons" as the Chief put it, I was assigned to cut over the Santa Fe TSS computer system all over the BN system. I was getting screwed on pay and hours with no help from ATDA. That was fine. I was building resume and making contacts. When the last straw happened https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,3772054,3772054#msg-3772054 I quit and never looked back.

ATDA - never looked back except to feel that it was really sad to see a professional organization turn into rabble.

TAW

I guess switchmen were kinder and gentler than trainmen. My first UTU meeting took place during a noon beaner at the Newhall St. end of SP's San Jose/Santa Clara Yard. I was working the Newhall lead job and at the appropriate moment, we walked across the tracks from the yard office and down Newhall about a block to the union hall. As we walked in, somebody offered us beers, which we politely refused. The meeting itself was a whirlwind, and when it came time for we three new guys' induction vote, everyone matter-of-factly assented, a great relief to me, since I really did not know what to expect. We flew through the meeting, I suspect because there were sandwiches and more beer waiting for the after-party, so-to-speak. I assessed that the local switchmen really had their priorities on straight. The old heads were cordial, I assume, because San Jose Yard had a seniority board, so we newbies did not impact anyone's paycheck very much.

I starved on that board and eventually wound up on the San Francisco freight brakemen extra board (which had nearly 30 men on it at the time). The board also protected passenger trains - especially the Commutes. The SF UTU local was owned by the Commute men, and few freight men bothered to show up on a regular basis. After a year or so in SF, my work coincided with the union meeting, which was held in the upstairs trainmen's change room at San Jose's Cahill depot. A couple of other extra men were in town, all of us in our SP uniforms, and we decided to attend. As we approached the stairs, one of the younger, regular Commute brakemen waylaid us and told us that freight men were not invited. We knew better than to talk back - word circulating of that would immediately put us on the outs with the old-head conductors, who as a lot tended to be sour and pissy with everyone except a select group of their peers (the senior men in freight tended to be more cordial, oddly enough). Besides, everyone - us, the old heads and most everyone in-between - had this guy scored as the village idiot. Later he transferred to Arizona, where he proceeded to repeatedly fail his conductor's exams until the company finally threw in the towel and allowed him to remain an un-promoted brakeman.

Much later I chaired BLE division meetings, and I must confess that "sit down and shut up" occasionally crossed my mind while attempting to endure an old-head oration, but I never uttered such, probably because I was too busy trying to restrain myself from hurling the gavel.

EO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/17 17:41 by hogheaded.

I was talked into taking the BLEs Local Chairman's job when our LC had a heart attack. I had to learn by doing. Well, the run thru's had started and I was caught up in mileage disputes between LA & SLO. At that time, the LC controlled the pools and extra board. Their was no guarantee paid by the carrier except daily jobs, locals & helpers. Trains No. 98 & 99 were assigned and still went to SBA one day & back the next.

The East end SLO to SBA was always heavy in deadheads. They would DH one way on Mondays and the other on Fridays. That's the way the company choose to run trains.

Well, enter the Inter-divisional Run. When before we changed over, the Coast engineers made 119 miles one way SLO to SBA. The San Joaquin engineers made 101 I think. (Its been 40 some years ago). Every trip an SJ hoghead made, they owed the Coast 36 miles. George McCarron was the LC that had the heart attack and he had everything going fine. Every Monday the crew dispatcher would call me or I would go by the depot, and we would check the miles the pools and extra board had turned the last week. Also if the helpers were getting close to having another crew added or abolished. I would make what ever adjustments that were called for and on it went to the next week.

Along about 73-74 I was involved in a wreck at Guadalupe. Both engineers and conductors were fired and the rest of the crews (6) got 60 days.
It was during the time that I was out of service I still controlled everything union wise. As I said, the east end pool was always off and had been since Hector was a pup. It was the carriers doing and the way they chose to run trains, not the engineers.

Well, I got a phone call from my General Chairman in the City. He wanted me to make a cut in the SLO-LA pool because of cross deadheading. I told the miles were there per the agreement provisions and I couldn't do it. He reminded me that I was still out of service and he and the carrier wanted it done. I told him I would get back to him after the union meeting.

I made sure all the old heads were there but the place was swamped. I told the members what the company along with the General Chairman wanted. I explained it was contrary to the agreement and the board didn't stand for it. That is when I suggested that the members take control of the east end pool away from the Local Chairman (me) and set up their own committee of members. They all voted for it.

Well, the next Monday I got a call from my General Chairman and the head of Labor Relations yelling I couldn't do that. I explained it was in our BLE Constitution and also the pools were being run as per the tri-party agreement signed by the SP & BLE.


I learned a lot being a Local Chairman. (It helped having George in my vest pocket helping me on my shortage of knowledge on how to deal with cut throat people.) I was back running an engine in 93 days and tried to do my best as an LC. I finally had enough and turned the job over to someone else about 5 years down the road.

As a sidenote, George was restricted as an engineer because of his heart. He could have worked a switch engine in San Jose but he belonged in SLO. The carrier and I, made an agreement for him and any other engineer, that if your seniority allowed you to hold the helpers, you could bid it in and work them, not just goats.


I will add my thoughts on another matter mentioned on a few previous threads. Local Chairman that became officers for the carrier. There was one that was the LC when an agreement was being made on how engineers would be paid terminal delay between the time the carrier stopped paying it and when a new agreement went into effect in the 80s. What the LC was supposed to do was to go thru ALL the claims for Initial & Terminal delay during that time and submit it to the carrier. Well, this jerk gave them a figure of about $250 a man. My actual lost money in claims was way over $2,500. Most of the other engineers and fireman were up towards $5,000. $250 was about all we got. He also agreed that our claims for a meal in route, would be paid at $5.00 or $10.00 a meal BUT we lost the right forever to go and eat enroute.

Shortly after that he was handed an RFE job. I always thought that any union officer that used his position as a stepping stone to get a job as a carrier officer was the lowest sort of person. There is no way they should have been allowed to step on the backs of the workers to feather their own nest.

There are other stories but I think this fills in a lot of questions.


Nudge



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/17 18:41 by spnudge.

Well, now that we've heard about the bad eggs anybody got an atta-boy for any of the good guys?

The local chairman's job is a thankless one, because no matter what you do, someone is going to be displeased depending on their relative position on the seniority list. Ask me how I know.

A lot of the people that you represent couldn't give two hoots about you until the day arrives when they stub their toe and they're on your doorstep with their hat in one hand and a notice of investigation in the other and suddenly you're expected to be the second coming of Perry Mason.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/17 08:29 by Chico43.

Well, here's the rest of the story.

Fat Freddy was replaced by an eager, angry man, who meant well but soon was a target for dismissal by the railway.

Freddy had been in the position for the prestige, when the files were transferred to the next local chairman, he was amazed how little work Freddy had done.

By comparison, the Secretary Treasurer was hard working and conscientious, and sold lots of UTU Insurance, and the President did a good job running a meeting.

The new UTU Local Chairman got fired. He returned to his old job as a deep sea fisherman, and anyone who has watched "Deadliest Catch" will appreciate that he was well suited for the job. Although a BC fisherman, his life was very similar to that of his Alaska neighbours He became a captain in time, and skippered a former "Grimsby Boat" (A British deep sea trawler with a huge Lister-Blackstone diesel engine).

Back at the UTU Local,things got worse before they got better, and finally every UTU officer save the President quit. The President holds the Charter.

Cleveland appointed an interim slate of officers, and had the General Chairman visit and instruct the appointed Local Chairman in handling grievances. Initially unwilling, he soon became good and dedicated at his job. Where Freddy was full of pomp and bluster, Bruce was dry and factual. These were the days when smoking was permitted, and Bruce always had a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth. Bruce served several terms as local chairman and accomplished much.

The UTU Local continued until replaced by the Teamsters after a representational vote.

my local chairman when i worked out of needles, ca was a very good local chairman. no complaints as i was pleased with how he assisted me........

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> my local chairman when i worked out of needles, ca
> was a very good local chairman. no complaints as
> i was pleased with how he assisted me........
>
> 66


GLH?