INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, July 10 — As part of its continuing fight to save American jobs on the Texas border, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has asked President Donald J. Trump to help the union in its struggle to preserve the jobs of BLET members who work for the Texas Mexican Railway (Tex Mex). On July 9, Tex Mex unilaterally replaced U.S. citizen crewmembers with Mexican train crews between Laredo Yard and the International Bridge, more than 9 miles away.

The letter, from BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce, outlined numerous ways in which multi-national corporation Kansas City Southern Railway and its Tex Mex subsidiary are either ignoring or violating federal laws and important rail safety regulations.

President Pierce wrote, “Mr. President, we believe the railroads’ actions to give the jobs of American workers to foreign workers run counter to your own trade goals, and to your commitments to all American workers. It certainly is contrary to the joint position of the representatives of railroad train crew employees in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. A 10-mile retreat from our borders, as the railroads intend to do as this is being written, is certainly inconsistent with keeping work in the hands of American workers. On behalf of our nearly 37,000 working members — and particularly those who stand to lose the work they perform today — I respectfully request that you assist the affected American workers by giving this critical matter your personal attention.”

A copy of the letter to President Trump can be found at http://www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/Trump_TexMex_Letter.pdf

For additional information about this issue, please see BLET News Flashes of July 9, 2018 (https://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=8117) and June 27, 2018 (https://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=8115).

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