Brothers and Sisters,

In the reflection of Labor Day and what it stands for, I wanted to share a deeper look into a portion of what a Labor Union provide to its members. The following is a real life situation that was truly an eye opener for me from a recent conversation. Over the last few weeks, I have been in consistent contact with Brother Clem Harris, Local Chairman / Legislative Representative of BLET Division 15, Albuquerque, New Mexico, who has helped initiate a boots to the ground movement getting the word out to BLET members far and wide to contact their U.S.Senators for their support in the movement of H.R. 2 / INVEST in America Act, which will pick up where the FAST Act leaves off (please see the informational emails below), in the funding of Amtrak’s Long-Haul / National Network. Additionally, working with the New Mexico State Legislative Board, Chairman – Eric Gabaldon, he was instrumental in discussions with Congressional Leadership of New Mexico in the preservation of the Southwest Chief, when this National Service was in jeopardy between Trinidad and Santa Fe.

In one of our talks, I asked Brother Clem about his career prior to working for Amtrak, he went on to explain the time that he worked for a non-union carrier, which has many departments and facilitates just about everything in the railroad industry that you could imagine. Here’s the story as told by Brother Clem, as it relates to the carrier : I worked for them for 11 years. I hired out in Texas on the TRE (Trinity Railway Express). I was part of the start up crew from Rail Runner in New Mexico. I did anything from Conductor, to Engineer, Dispatcher (put through BNSF’s Dispatching Class at TCC in Ft. Worth, TX) to mechanized tie gangs, Rules Examiner, and their equivalent of an RFE ( Road Foreman of Engines).
Continue reading “AMTRAK Re-authorization / The importance of Labor Unions”