Railroaders' Nostalgia > CUTE, a different union for a different railway

BC Rail, formerly the Pacific Great Eastern was purchased by the Canadian National from the Government of BC in 2004 under a cloud of controversy.

That ended 75 years of a distinctly different railway on the west coast of North America.

Throughout most of those years, it differed little from most other railways on the continent in terms of the unions which represented its employees.

The operating employees were represented by the BLE, BLF&E and the UTU and the collective agreements were broadly similar to those of the CP and CN.

The BCR had more than its share of labour troubles because the BC Government and the rail workers were on different ends of the political spectrum and the rail workers were strongly influenced by the workers in the lumber and pulp and paper industry in the territory through which the railway operated.

There was a change in Government in BC in 1972, which resulted in a change to legislation which allowed for the creation and certification of labour unions in industries regulated by the Province of BC.

A former BLF&E officer became the Minister of Labour, and having a "friend in Government" caused the British Columbia Railway employees to seek better representation than offered by the big internationals.

One summer evening in 1974, negotiations to end a work stoppage were hot and heavy in a hotel in North Vancouver BC. In terms of numbers, BC Rail was not a big employer, so the ballroom of the hotel was crowded with most of the BLE representatives and many of the members of that union employed by BC Rail.

The late Ken Mason was the BLE General Chairman, and BLE Vice-President Bert May, a former CP General Chairman were shuttling between the ballroom and another room where BC Rail management were seated with offers and counter offers to settle the strike.

It wasn't going well, and both rooms were showing increased frustration.

A feature of the BLE Constitution allows an International officer to assist the General Chairman in negotiations. In fact, this was common practice in Canada, because it allowed the International officer to delegate the General Chairmen as International officers, and so they were added to the Cleveland payroll during protracted negotiations. The same clause also allowed the International officer to negotiate in lieu of the General Chairman, should the General Chairman not be capable of reaching an agreement. I'm sure in the long history of the BLE there were other instances where the head office had to intervene on behalf of the organization to reach a settlement.

Ken Mason and Bert May met the members assembled with an agreement that they had been negotiating all day, and in a vote of the members present,
the agreement was defeated.

Bert then exercised his Constitutional right, and said that there had been enough debate, and that he was going to sign the agreement with the Company. The General Chairman didn't agree, and left the stage to join the crowd.

Unknown to Bert, the late "Lefty" Morgan, former General Chairman of the BLF&E on BC Rail was one of the members in the crowd (the BLF&E became part of the UTU in Canada in 1971).

Question from Lefty to Bert, "What if we don't accept your agreement?" , Bert's answer "You have to accept my decision or you are all out of the union".

Wrong answer. Lefty replied "That's OK with us" and left the meeting with most of the members present. They reconvened in Lefty's basement and formed a new, unique to BC Rail engineers union, "CUTE", the Canadian Union of Transportation Employees". CUTE had a National Charter from being an alternative to the UTU Insurance Corporation and a lobby group.

The strike was settled eventually by the BLE, who then held another representational vote, and lost to CUTE. Another vote followed a year or so later, which the BLE also lost. The track workers, represented by the BMWE then voted to join CUTE.

CUTE Local 1, locomotive engineers and Local 4, track workers represented those job classifications on BC Rail.

Around 1980, the BC Government decided it was going to "ban overtime" for all employees of the Provincial Government, including BC Rail employees.
This caused massive disruption within the Government workforce.

A labour lawyer offered his services "pro Bono" to CUTE, and produced a very different collective agreement. Locomotive engineers would work a forty hour work week with very few arbitraries. Time worked over forty hours would be "banked" as paid time off.

The railway continued to work as it always had, with long duty times. The forty hour weekly wage was much the same amount as the other railways were paying under the "MacAdoo" award of miles plus terminal detention.

The railway and the BC Government accepted this new wage system, as it satisfied the "no overtime" edict of the Premier (similar to a State Governor).

Of course, the railroaders had their own interpretation. They worked until they had accumulated enough "40 hours a week" pay hours to constitute a work year, and then took the winter off. Even the more junior employees who replaced the senior employees quickly earned their maximum hours.

In time, the railway sought to amend this agreement, and introduced "scheduled work" on parts of the railway where freight crews had assigned days off and work days. This slowed the accumulation of work hours but did not eradicate it.

What about the trainmen and conductors? They stayed with the UTU but worked closely with CUTE to secure the new working agreements.

What finally happened to CUTE? While CUTE 1 was successful , CUTE 4 had problems and finally, the track workers chose to be represented by the IWA (Industrial Woodworkers of America), who in turn merged with the USWA. CUTE 1 was just too small to stand alone and voted to merge with the Canadian Auto Workers in 2002. When CN took over BC Rail in 2004, representation returned to the BLE, which itself merged with the Teamsters in 2005.

CUTE 7 briefly represented Omnitrax operating employees switching the Deltaport container facility at Roberts Bank BC, however the only point of contact was a mailbox at the business office of another non railway union.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/17 10:28 by eminence_grise.

First I have heard about it, but what a "cute" story.


Nudge

I still have my CUTE Local 1 membership card and hat. CUTE Local 2 was set aside for the Trainmen but they never saw the light to join CUTE. Banking hours was actually after 80 hours in a pay period, was a good deal, helped keep the junior members working during the winter months. We also had the opportunity to bank "statutory holidays" all 12 of them and take that as time off at a later date. We did have overtime rates in the yard if worked over 8 hours or worked a yard job other than your regular assignment or working on a stat holiday. On road freight there was overtime after 100 hours worked in a pay period, the company had the right to hold you off to prevent paying overtime. Eventually work service got overtime on a daily basis after eight hours on duty. Also there was a 80 hour guarantee in freight service. CUTE was a good union and had good rapport with management.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/17 18:38 by hoggerdoug.

During the CUTE years, a Lillooet operating employee called Rebagliatti made the newspapers for staying on duty on a work train for something like 9 months.

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> During the CUTE years, a Lillooet operating
> employee called Rebagliatti made the newspapers
> for staying on duty on a work train for something
> like 9 months.

That would be conductor Raymond Rebagliati commonly referred to as RKR. In the late 1960's and early 1970's he was Superintendent for the Chetwynd and Fort St. John areas. He was a crusty, gruff bastard. Eventually he went back into to train service and was Conductor on a work train, the crew stayed on duty for about 7 days around the clock and by doing so, worked right through one of the many strikes that BC Rail had. The "on duty for 9 months" is a myth and part of RKR legacy. His son hired on as train order operator and worked his way up the corporate ladder and management. Also RKR's daughter started as a train clerk and then transferred to train service working as a Conductor.
Doug