By Lisa Burke

Since the new Intermodal hub opened in April, there has been much unhappiness among the TRAX operators over the lack of a break room or rest room for them. The Hub cost many millions of dollars but UTA made a deliberate decision not to provide the TRAX operators with any shelter or plumbing. We are expected to walk to the other side of the Hub, the distance of a city block, to use the facilities provided for the bus drivers. Try this on a hot summer day when you just have a short break but need to use the restroom. The TRAX operators complained bitterly so UTA, in their infinite generosity, hauled in a nasty old porta-potty and a tuff shed for us. The shed does have electricity but no running water. The porta-potty hardly ever gets cleaned so you can smell it from some distance away. This lavish setup is over behind the AMTRAK building, inside the gate to the electrical substation (and out of the way of the prying eyes of the public.) The smelly porta-potty is placed just a few feet from the door to the shed where some brave operators leave their lunches in a small refrigerator. Me, I won't get near the place. It is too repulsive for words but that is what we get and apparently we are supposed to be grateful for it. I would like to invite all the UTA administrators who decided that the TRAX operators are not worth the cost of shelter and plumbing to stop by and have lunch with us in our tuff shed. Bon Appetit!

An additional comment to Fred Elliot's post: Fred, we will be happy to reveal who our officers are when ATU Local 382 divulges the actual number of union members that it has. We tried in vain to find out the numbers when the lawsuit was in district court but Judge Cassell, oh excuse me, former Judge Cassell, would not allow us to have discovery. The number is important since if the memberrship is below 50%, which we maintain it is, then Local 382 is not a legal union. Both UTA and ATU have refused to divulge the number. We are waiting, Fred! But while we wait how about telling us how much your president makes? It is in the neighborhood of $65,000 a year, far more than the average worker at UTA earns. That is a pretty good gig, especially since the president doesn't have to actually fight for the rights of the workers, or do much of anything for that matter. Since Local 382 is nothing more than an apendage of UTA, nothing is required for the president of Local 382 to earn that luxurious salary. No wonder so many employees have such contempt for Local 382. Most have done the sensible thing and quit the union. Please feel free to respond, Fred.

Hi there everybody, Mike Carper here, I know that it has been a long time since our last post but, quite frankly there has been little news to share, certainly no good news. As you know, Front Runner is up and running with some of the lowest, if not the lowest, paid "engineers" in the nation. It is also operating with part time workers called "hosts" in the place of Conductors. This does much to advance the anti-union desires of both public and private rail transportation companies. I don't want to dwell on this unfortunate set-back for rail labor, however, time will tell if these blows to the living standards of rail road workers will hold up.

What I do want to do is apologize to Fred Elliot for not taking the time to answer his email to the web site in a timely fashion, it is nearly two months since it arrived at our site. Fred's email is as follows.


I think that it is ironic that you put the wages of the other transit agencies up on your website but you do not put up the cost of living in that region. Also, why dont you put a list of your officers on your website? I am interested to know which way you are headed with this whole lawsuit nonsence.
Always ATU  faithful,
Fred Elliot
Meadowbrook Operations

There are just a couple of problems with this whole regional cost of living question your raising. One is that, rail labor wage contracts follow a largely national framework. That is to say that, while some of the areas we were able to get information from were negotiated seperately from the national contracts, and we chose these examples because they involve rail passenger services, they are largely in line with those contracts negotiated with the large private sector carriers (railroads). If there is any irony here, it is that passenger services, such as commuter operations tend to pay higer wages. Amtrak pays its conductors in excess of 27 dollars per hour wherever they happen to be working.
I have to say also, that to suggest that the difference in cost of living  in those other regions would justify a greater than thirty percent reduction in pay for engineers is beyond ridiculous.
As you may know the leadership of 382 tried to float a similar argument. This certainly raises the question that if the "union" has such information why haven't they published it. I would suggest that the facts don't do much to further  the argument.
As for your other questions; Membership in UTWA is protected information. I, Michael Carper, publish this site. If anyone wants to try to come after me, they are more than welcome to try. And finally, all current information regarding the lawsuit is already available through this website.