November 07, 2011: Shares of major freight railroads fell in afternoon trading Friday ahead of the weekend deadline for a presidential board to propose a settlement of labor talks between the industry and unions.

October 6, 2011: An overwhelming 97 percent majority of BLET members have voted to authorize a strike when a mandatory 30-day cooling off period under the Railway Labor Act comes to an end later this week.

August 10, 2011: The second quarter brought good news again for the US's four major public rail carriers, while Old Dominion again flew high among less-than-truckload carriers in a quarter that all improved their results if not exactly deliver outstanding results in some cases.

July 15, 2011: Teamster rail workers are urging fellow unionists in the United Transportation Union (UTU) to reject a substandard contract negotiated by UTU leaders.

July 14, 2011: An Appeal To Reason - United Transportation Union (UTU) recently released to the public their tentative national agreement with the Class 1 Freight Railroads resolving wages, health care and rules covering the six year period from 2010-2016.

March 30, 2011: Imagine an election where all non-voters are counted as “NO” voters. It’s undemocratic, and it would make it extremely hard to get enough “YES” votes to pass anything.

October 5, 2010: Delegates to the BLET Convention have withdrawn a resolution that would have taken away members’ Right to Vote.

September 28, 2010: Canadian National Railway offered new contract terms that include cutting the crew size on some trains, said a spokesman for the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, and the union is preparing a response.

September 28, 2010: In August, BLET members voted 6,305 to 2,452 to save their Right to Vote.

August 30, 2010: By an overwhelming vote of 6,305 to 2,452, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in the Teamsters have saved the Right to Vote for their top officers.

August 2, 2010: The ballots are out and BLET members are voting on whether or not they should keep the Right to Vote for their top officers. The ballots will be counted on Aug. 30.

July 1, 2010: The third BLET president in a row has resigned. The initiative to take away the Right to Vote is headed to a vote.

June 4, 2010: In 2006, BLET members voted two-to-one for the Right to Vote for top officers. But now some officials are trying to take it away—and they’re one step closer to their goal.

June 3, 2010: BLET National President Paul T. Sorrow submitted a letter to National Secretary-Treasurer William C. Walpert today, advising that he is resigning the Presidency effective July 1, 2010, in order to retire.

June 1, 2010: BLET National President Paul Sorrow and rank-and-file engineer Tom Brennan are running for the union’s top job in the BLET’s first ever one-member, one-vote direct election.

May 11, 2010: A 76-year-old transportation law was swept away Monday under a rule change announced by a federal agency.

April 2, 2010: In 2006, members in the Pacific Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) in the Teamsters held their first-ever one-member, one-vote election for officers.

March 5, 2010: The former president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has pleaded guilty to bribery charges for accepting $20,000 in bribes from a St. Louis lawyer.

February 15, 2010: Officials from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Trainmen and Engineers in the IBT (BLET) are getting closer to their goal: to take away members’ Right to Vote for top BLET officers.

January 29, 2010: Some rail officials are trying to take away the Right to Vote for BLET officers before members ever get a chance to use it.

December 18, 2009: Just two months after the head of the BLET was arrested for taking a $20,000 bribe, some rail officials are trying to take away the Right to Vote for BLET officials.

December 3, 2009: About 1,700 locomotive engineers ended their strike against the Canadian National Railway on Wednesday after reaching a settlement.

November 30, 2009: On Saturday, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC)-represented locomotive engineers walked off the job at CN.

Novemeber 30, 2009: Canada’s labor minister plans to offer legislation to force an end to the two-day-old strike against Canadian National Railway by locomotive engineers.

November 20, 2009: Ed Rodzwicz, the President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen of the IBT, stepped down today after he was arrested last month for taking a $20,000 bribe.

November 3. 2009: Berkshire Hathaway Inc., controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, said Tuesday it will buy freight railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $100 a share, in a transaction worth about $44 billion.

The chairwoman of the National Mediation Board has sharply criticized the federal agency's proposal to change a decades-old election rule that would make it easier for airline and railway employees to unionize, exposing a sharp rift at the agency's three-person board.

October 16, 2009: The president of a national locomotive engineers union based in Cleveland has been placed on leave after being arrested on federal charges that he accepted $20,000 in bribes from

UPDATE October 16, 2009: Ed Rodzwicz has taken a leave of absence from his union post after being arrested for accepting a $20,000 bribe.

January 20, 2009: The second BLET officer in two years has been charged with embezzling union funds.

September 19, 2008: BLET members on the Norfolk Southern railway have ratified a new six-year contract that contains improvements after voting down a weaker tentative agreement last year.

June 30, 2008: A federal judge June 26 enjoined the pending merger between the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, finding that UTU members were not a

June 27, 2008: In a victory for rank-and-file democracy, Judge John Adams has issued a preliminary injunction stopping the merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers.

June 20, 2008: All Teamsters want to work safely, without injury. But company programs that put the blame on union members—rather than unsafe working conditions—won’t make our jobs safer.

June 11, 2008: Members of the United Transportation Union, which represents approximately 45,000 employees of more than 30 freight railroads, have voted to ratify a retroactive collective bargainin

April 1, 2008: Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a collective bargaining agreement with Amtrak covering approximately 1,300 locomotive engineers, the uni

February 15, 2008: Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd's train operating crews in Canada have ratified a new five-year contract, the union said on Wednesday.

January 30, 2008: A new study from Labor Notes magazine shows the power transportation workers have in the new economy.

December 17, 2007: Charged with embezzling members’ money, Don Hahs faces harsher punishment now that the Independent Review Board has rejected a proposed settlement as too light.

December 17, 2007: The Independent Review Board Dec. 13 rejected an agreement between International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P.

December 11, 2007: Charged with embezzling $58,000 in members’ money, BLET president Don Hahs has made a settlement with the International Union for a six-month suspension.

December 11, 2007: Teamster engineers have voted down an early deal in a close vote on the Norfolk Southern.

December 5, 2007: Rail labor activists from across North America are coming together to form a new cross-craft inter-union caucus that includes all rail workers in North America—Railroad Workers

November 9, 2007: The BLET Norfolk Southern General Committees have negotiated an early deal with the carrier—over two years before the current on-property agreement is set to expire.

September, 17, 2007: The president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) Don Hahs has been charged with embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the union.

July 12, 2007: by Jim Eubanks and Ed Michael: The United Transportation Union (UTU), the main union for conductors on the railways, is proposing a merger with the Sheet Metal Workers International

June 13, 2007: The deal that ended a strike by Canadian Pacific Railway track workers includes bonuses but kept to the railway's pre-strike wage demands, according to documents distributed on M

June 8, 2007: What if your employer told you that your raises for the last two years were just a loan? That’s just what happened to rail Teamsters in the BLET.

June 8, 2007: A strike on the Canadian Pacific Railway has entered its third week.

May 29, 2007: by Brent Jang from Transportaion Reporter: When Shayne Brighton started his job 28 years ago at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., he didn't have to worry about toiling nights and wee

May 25, 2007:Rail Teamsters have launched a campaign to vote down the proposed national BLET agreement.

May 21, 2007:Traffic World, Journal of Commerce: Unionized track maintenance workers with Canadian Pacific Railway went on strike Wednesday after contract talks failed to produce an agreement.

May 14, 2007: MONTREAL (Reuters) - Some 3,200 workers who maintain track at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, Canada's second-largest railway, are set to strike early on Wednesday, the company and

May 9, 2007: Going back to the table gives the two unions a chance to fix problems in the proposed agreements.

May 9, 2007: Teamster engineers on the CSX lines have ratified an agreement that swaps wage increases for performance bonuses.

April 19, 2007: by Courtney Tower, Journal of Commerce : Rail operations at the Port of Vancouver were returning to normal Thursday as Canadian National Railway lifted its lockout of striking uni

April 12, 2007: New York Times: Labor disruptions again hit the Canadian National Railway after workers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract leading to pickets in lockouts in some cities.

April 11, 2007: Canadian conductors are back on strike against the Canadian National line after UTU members rejected a tentative agreement by 79 percent, with over 80 percent of members voting.

April 11, 2007: Canadian National Railway Co.'s 2,800 union conductors and yard workers rejected a proposed one- year contract from the country's biggest railroad and voted to strike.

April 10, 2007: Traffic World—A union vote count that will be released at the close of the business day on April 10 could allow a strike in Canada to quickly flare back up against Canadia

April 2, 2007: Last month’s strike on the Canadian National shows why we need to have unity on the rails—and why having a democratic union is so important.

Over 2,800 members of the United Transportation Union (UTU) went out on strike against Canadian National Railways at midnight on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Rail Teamsters are starting to wonder just how long they can go without a new contract.

Railroad engineers and trainmen from two unions are out to win greater solidarity and union democracy on the rails. On Jan.

The rail carriers have dropped their demands for single-person crews in this round of bargaining.

Similar Effort in BMWED Suffers Setback

Victory Is Part of Trend towards Democracy in Rail

October 18, 2006. For the second time in three months, railroad engineers and conductors have scored a victory for the right to vote.

Canadian Rail Teamsters Set for First Election

A rank and file activist has set his sights on one of the top spots of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. This summer, members won the right to vote for their top three national officers by voting for bylaws changes proposed by Gerry Ranson of Division 320 in Vancouver. Subsequently, Ranson was nominated at the TCRC Convention in September to run for the office of vice president. He is running with incumbent Gilles Halle for president and Benoit Brunet for secretary-treasurer.

October 18, 2006. Don Hahs, President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division of the Teamster Rail Conference, has spent more than $6,000 flying his wife to Alaska for a cruise, footing the bill for her airfare to various events, and paying for her meals on trips, according to documents obtained by TDU.

October 18, 2006. When the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers merged into the Teamsters two-and-a-half years ago, they added the words “and Trainmen” to the end

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference) will soon have the opportunity to vote for an important change to their bylaws. On April 19, a ballot was sent to every member to ask if the election of National Officers should be changed to be “one member, one vote.” Currently, national officers are elected by delegates at the BLET Convention, the same way Teamster International officers used to be elected before TDU won the Right to Vote.

One of the architects of this referendum is W. L. Morris, an officer in the small Division 316 with about 60 members who work for the Norfolk Southern in Georgia. Convoy Dispatch spoke with Morris to find out more about this watershed election.

February 6, 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Since joining the IBLE in 1974, I have devoted my entire career to improving the lives of locomotive engineers and their families. I have always put the best interests of the membership first. Regrettably, President Hahs and I have too many fundamental differences about how the organization should represent the members’ best interests. In my opinion, his views and decisions are adversely impacting the survival of our craft and organization. Consequently, I do not believe it is possible for me to continue to serve the members’ best interests while working on the Executive Staff supporting his decisions.

A high-level official of the Teamster Rail Conference’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced that he will challenge President Don Hahs for leadership of the BLET. Tom Brennan served as the staff counsel for the national division for eight years, before suddenly resigning his position in early February.

“In my opinion, [Hahs’] views and decisions are adversely impacting the survival of our craft and organization,” Brennan wrote in his resignation letter. Since then, he has exercised his seniority on the Norfolk Southern. In his declaration of candidacy, he claims that the “business as usual” attitude of Hahs and past presidents has made the BLET weaker with respect to the carriers and to rival union UTU, even as the rail industry is reaping “record profits.”

Imagine trains carrying toxic chemicals or nuclear waste through your town and across the wilderness. Now imagine that the train is operated by a lone employee working long hours. The first part is already reality. The part about a lone employee is the goal of the railroad employer group, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC). All-Out Attack on Rail WorkersThe carriers first put out their plan to go to single-employee operations about 15 months ago, when they issued their bargaining demands to the Teamsters Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) and the United Transportation Union (UTU).

February 9, 2006. A high-level official of the Teamster Rail Conference’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced his resignation amid speculation that he will challenge President Don Hahs for leadership of the BLET. Tom Brennan, the staff counsel for the national division announced he will return to operating a train rather than continue working under the leadership of BLET President Don Hahs. “I do not believe it is possible for me to continue to serve the members’ best interests while working on the Executive Staff supporting [Hahs’] decision,” Brennan wrote in a resignation letter dated February 6.