Dear ATU Local 382. Your recent memo stating that we lost overlooks one important point. ATU Local 382 did not win. The final order issued by Judge Paul Cassell did not dismiss the claims against Local 382. That means that we can bring those same claims of breach of fiduciary duty against 382 at any time. Our attorney stated that it would probably be a waste of time to go after a union that has no assets but he has not ruled it out. If you doubt the veracity of this statement then you should talk to the attorney who represented 382 in court. He will explain to you that this is correct. You have been blustering about suing us. Please do. We will take another shot at it in state court on your nickel. But maybe this time you should ask the few remaining union members if they really want to spend tens of thousands of dollars fighting us. They may not want to.

As for the membership numbers, we asserted for two years in federal court that you do not have 50% membership in Local 382 and you never disputed it. Were you worried about commiting perjury? Utah state law requires that a union have a majority of members to be an "appropriate unit." It is well known that you do not have a majority, thus you are not a legal union. The statute is here on this website. Go to the "Our Purpose" page and look at the link at the bottom for 17A-2-1031. Should you actually have a majority of members then it would be easy to prove us wrong. Just show us some documentation. Making claims that you will not back up with evidence just confirms our suspicions. 

     This post is written by Lisa Burke. This morning I received a phone call from a coworker telling me that there is a new posting on the union bulletin board. It states that the lawsuit is over, Mike and Lisa lost, the union has over 50% membership and Local 382 is working for the good of all.
     Since I have not yet seen this particular piece of propaganda from Local 382 I will address only a few key points. Yes, the lawsuit is over. If you have not read the account of the court case yet, I would encourage you to do so now. Please go to the "LAWSUIT" page on this site and read the "Summary of the Case." You will be shocked by what was done to us. As noted, we have filed judicial misconduct complaints against the judges involved and sent copies to numerous Senators and Congressmen. While this cannot undo the damage that was done to us, perhaps we can prevent these extremist judges from harming any more working class people.
     Yes, the lawsuit is over. However, the losers were truth, justice and the right of transit workers to choose their own representative and not have a corrupt, company controlled union forced on them. So it was every honest, hard working employee who wants an honest hard, working union representing them who lost.
     We asserted many times in court, over a period of more than two years, that ATU Local 382 does not have a majority of members in the bargaining unit, which makes it an illegal union. Never once did Local 382 or UTA dispute this. But they now feel free to make this claim on a company provided bulletin board knowing we cannot challenge it. How cowardly!
     ATU Local 382 asserts that it is working for the good of all. Yet they have negotiated railroad wages down to a shockingly low level, so low in fact, that the railroad workers at the Union Pacific are reportedly quite angry about it and consider UTA a non union company. Local 382 has allowed UTA to do as it pleases, never challenging anything. This is not a union and if you are foolish enough to pay them $46 dollars a month to betray all of us then you are aiding and abbetting them. Vote with your wallet and drop out. You are not a scab to demand an honest union. This is a scab union and it does not represent you.

Greetings from Lisa Burke. This website is intended to adress any labor related issues that workers at UTA have. Of course we have focused mainly on problems related to the lack of representation at TRAX but the site is not limited to rail employees. If you work for any of the bus divisions we would like to hear from you. We share many of the same concerns. I was told recently, by a strong supporter of ATU Local 382, that the reason union membership is below 50% (thus making it an illegal union) is because those who have dropped out just want to save 500 dollars a year. I will point out that I dropped out two years ago after almost twenty seven years of union membership. At that time the lawsuit was in federal district court and it was clear that Local 382 was just an extension of UTA. They were clones in court. Whatever UTA said, 382 agreed with. This has continued to the present. UTA's captured union has no autonomy at all any more, allowing UTA to do as they please. Many of us at TRAX have dropped out, not because we are cheap and don't want to pay our way but because we refuse to subsidize a company cotrolled union that works against our best interest. At no time during the past few years has Local 382 ever tried to work with us to address the many problems we have identified. We have been ridiculed, vilified and ignored but never represented by a union that pays its president (past and present) far more than the average worker at UTA makes. Enriching themselves on the backs of our labor and then calling us cheap because we refuse to be exploited is disgusting. We will gladly pay dues to a real union that represents the workers. However, after what was done to us in court we must decertify company wide to change unions. (see Summary of the Case in the "Lawsuit" section.) This is not difficult to do if we have the support. We still have legal guidance and other unions are interested if we can show that we are serious. So how about bus employees joining forces with us to demand a real union. We are not adversaries as Local 382 would have you believe and if we work together we can finally have a real union. Please contact us through this website. Thanks. 

I want to apologize for taking so long to get a new posting up. As I told you all in my last post, I have a brand new granddaughter and life became a bit hectic for a time, in as much as the blessed event was immediately followed by the assault of the airborne grandmas. It has been a lot of fun, but things are settling down now, and I will be able to put more time and effort into this site.
 I will be adding a new page to our website. It will be called Railroad 101 and will contain information about railroad operations and the rules that railroads use to protect your and my safety. I haven't mentioned it on this site before, but I have spent 16 years of my life, prior to working for UTA, working for different railroads. Please bear with me for just a bit, as I tell you more about myself than you could possibly want to know. I do this so that you can see that I have ample experience with railroad operations and that I do, therefore, know what I am talking about.
 My first real job with the railroad was as a Railway Carman, I hired on with the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1976 as a Carman helper, served an apprenticeship, and became a journeyman. I was a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen for seven years and served as vice-president for a time as well as legislative rep. I also chaired an ad-hoc organization called the Lincoln Coalition of Railway Crafts. This was in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I grew up and lived until I was 30. My wife and I moved to Philadelphia, Pa in the summer of '84. It was there that I was hired as an Engineer Trainee by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). I completed training as an engineer, passed my final exams, and was promptly made a Conductor. At that time many Conductors working for SEPTA had decided to exercise their seniority rights with Conrail, leaving SEPTA, which had only just taken over the commuter rail operations from Conrail, short of conductors. I was eventually given the opportunity to return to the engineer craft but passed it up to avoid returning to the extra board. It was my time at SEPTA that taught me the bulk of what I know about railroad operations and, I can tell you, there is a lot to know. I would also like you to know that I was very active in the UTU local 61 in Philadelphia, although I never ran for election as an officer.
 I worked for one year, again with the BN, as a Trainman. This was in Seattle Washington,where my wife and I moved after leaving Philadelphia . The title Trainman was created to replace the seperate titles of Brakeman and Switchman. The distinction in these two jobs still exists, however, a Trainman now does both jobs. I did meet and work with at least one "oldtimer" who was still classified as a brakeman and did only brakeman work.
And finally, I hired on here with the UTA in 1993, as a bus driver, which work I did for five years, before passing the qualifying exam to become a Line and Signal Technician. I have worked in this position for eight years and the experience has really rounded out my understanding of railroad operations.
I should also mention that my wife is a railroader as well. She hired on as a clerk with the BN in Denver, but later transfered to Lincoln, where I met her at a meeting of the, aforementioned, Lincoln Coalition of Railway Crafts. She also hired on as an engineer trainee at SEPTA but left before completing training to take a much higher paying job with the Fisher-Guide Company making auto parts in West Trenton, New Jersey. Later, however, she hired on with Conrail and worked as a Trainperson for Three years. She now works for Amtrak as a Conductor, a position she has held for fourteen years.
 That certainly is enough about me. I will add the new page, Railroad 101, ASAP.
I will also be adding more thoughts about the need we have, as employees of the UTA, to get ourselves organized into a union. 
I also want to point out that I will be placing my name at the end of each posting. I will does this so that you can know when a posting is written be me, or someone else. I am certain that as time goes on, there will be other important changes to this website, for now, please keep checking back we definitely need to get a discussion going about our need for union representation. That is exactly why you need to click on the UTWA link, on any page in this website, and share your thoughts, ideas and questions.

Thanks for looking in. I hope to hear from you all soon.
                                                        Michael Carper.