advertisement

---

A federal district court recently ordered binding arbitration in a dispute between the United Transportation Union (UTU), BNSF Railway Co. and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) over whether the Class I can forge a pact with the BLET on remote-controlled locomotives (RCL) after previously agreeing the UTU has exclusive jurisdiction over RCL operations.

BNSF's actions — which essentially constitute selling RCL assignments twice — violate an existing collective bargaining agreement with the UTU, the union said. UTU officials argued that the disagreement was a “major dispute” that would permit a work stoppage if BNSF assigned RCL work to BLET-represented engineers.

However, the court classified the dispute as minor, a finding that under the Railway Labor Act means a disagreement over interpretation of contracts that must be settled through binding arbitration. The dispute centers around whether BLET-represented engineers or certain UTU-represented ground-service workers have the authority to use remote controls to move locomotives between train yards or terminals, or similar departure or destination points, the court determined.

UTU officials are determining whether to appeal the court’s decision.