This page will be dedicated to
bringing you the latest and greatest from ATU Local 382, the "union" renowned for it's leadership slogan,
"Well, that's just the way it is."
We are still waiting for an explanation from the
executives of ATU Local 382, "the union that isn't," why they negotiated a contract with UTA that allows UTA
to pay bus driver wages to locomotive engineers, eliminates conductors entirely (commuter trains will have only an engineer),
calls engineers "operators" and allows abreviated training programs. Of course, this all has to be approved by the
FRA and there is considerable doubt about that. On a recent trip to Albuquerque, N.M. I rode the "Rail Runner"
which is a commuter train very similar to that which is being built here in Salt Lake City. At the terminal in Belen, the
engineer and conductor (yes, conductor) were kind enough to spend a few minutes talking to me about their railroad. They had
heard all about UTA and their attempts to dumb down railroad standards. Of course, they were pretty disgusted with UTA but
they said that Herzog, the company that they work for, had attempted to do all the same things before it opened Rail Runner,
however the FRA would not allow any of it. The Rail Runner did not begin operations when it was scheduled to because
of numerous problems. Interestingly, they are a nonunion company but Herzog pays considerably more than UTA. Why exactly
do we have a union? I will leave that to Bob Baty to explain, if anybody can figure out where he is. ATU Local 382 is
an excellent example of why union membership has dropped dramatically nationwide over the past two decades. Corrupt,
bloated, bureaucratic unions feed off the dues paid by members who are powerless to fight the status quo. When we
tried, at TRAX, to excercise our right to choose our bargaining representative, ATU Local 382 joined forces with UTA to prevent
it. They were fortunate to find such a friendly court and a judge who ruled that unions and transit companies, not the workers,
get to choose the bargaining representative. ATU Local 382 is not a union. A union works for your interests, not against them.
It should be noted that we are continuing the effort to allow TRAX and Frontrunner
employees the opportunity to exercise their right to decide for themselves who should represent them. The first and foremost
responsibility of a union is to protect the safety of the workers. Since ATU Local 382 chooses not to address safety issues
then we should find a railroad union that will.
If you have information or questions regarding
ATU Local 382 please share them with us.
Perhaps someone could help us with answers to such interesting questions
as:
Why does this local union need even one full time officer, much less two?
What is the cost to the
membership to maintain these officers and why do they make more money than the working members?
How many members
does the union actually have, ie, is it a legal union?
Why is the favorite answer of officers to union members
seeking help with a problem, "Well that's just the way it is."?
With regard to the lawsuit, was there
ever a full report to the local as to what the lawsuit was actually about and what the ramifications and costs to the local would
be? Was there, then, a full discussion and vote of the membership on the question of whether the union should spend its treasury
fighting the suit? In other words, did the local "leadership" simply decide to spend membership dues fighting a
legal battle without the full knowledge and consent of the members?
And finally,
(for now), during the lawsuit, some union officers and members were fond of bragging that they would bring a countersuit which
would drive Mike Carper and Lisa Burke into bankruptcy. Our response has always been that the "union" should:
PUT UP OR SHUT-UP. It would appear, from the thundering silence of the "union," since the Supreme Court decided
not to hear the appeal, that the "union" has elected the latter option!
The following link
will take you to a Forbes Magazine article about the best paying blue collar jobs. Railroad engineers
and conductors are included. However, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 382, by allowing UTA to negotiate railroad wages
to a shockingly low level and eliminate conductors, has begun the race to the bottom for rail workers. It is time to discard
this sham union and get some real representation. Since ATU Local 382 is not even a legal union, due to the fact that
it has considerably less than fifty percent membership, we have the right to obtain new representation. Let's do
it! BTW, Local 382 is welcome to dispute or refute our assertion that they are not a legal union. Show us the numbers. During
the lawsuit, neither the attorney representing Local 382 nor the attorneys representing UTA would ever reveal
the actual number of members of Local 382, although we demanded the numbers many times. Judge Cassell prevented us from gaining
access to the records. Of course, this information, if we are correct, would have shut down the case since it would
refute the assertion that Local 382 is an appropriate bargaining unit.
Best Paying Blue Collar Jobs
As often as we have made the claim that ATU Local 382 does
not have enough members to be a legitimate union you would think that they would provide proof that their membership is above
50%. However, they have never done so. They do childish things like post memos on their bulletin boards gloating because we
lost the lawsuit and claiming that their membership is growing steadily. But do they ever produce any evidence? Of course
not! Here it is December 2007 and we have been asking for the numbers for three years. Gee, do you think they could be lying
about having enough members to be a legal union? I am requesting that Bob Baty, the elusive and overpaid president of ATU
Local 382, come over to TRAX and explain exactly what he does all day. We will then explain to him why there
are only about six operators still left in the union.
