Twenty-four maintenance of way employees with The Indiana Railroad Company are the newest members of the BMWED, a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference, voting in a super-majority Sept. 2 to join our Union. The results of the vote were certified by the National Mediation Board Sept. 3.

The new members are now a part of the BMWED’s Allied Federation. They currently do not have a collective bargaining agreement setting wages and rules, instead working under a unilaterally imposed set of company policies. The first course of action for the BMWED will be the negotiation of an agreement setting rates of pay, rules and working conditions that cannot be changed unilaterally by the company.

The Indiana Railroad Company, headquartered in Indianapolis, is a 500-mile regional railroad operating in central and southern Indiana and central Illinois. Many of its MOW employees came off Class 1 railroads, including Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Canadian Pacific. Those employees lost their seniority when their lines were sold by those Class 1 railroads and the Interstate Commerce Commission and Surface Transportation Board determined their seniority, wages and benefits had to be sacrificed for
financial transactions that benefited the Class 1 railroads and the Indiana Railroad Company.

“The BMWED is proud to be the elected representative of the maintenance of way employees on the Indiana Railroad Company,” BMWED President  and Teamsters International Vice President Freddie N. Simpson said. “It is a duty and responsibility that we take seriously and sincerely, and our Brotherhood is stronger because of the faith these new 24
members have in our Union.”

The organizing victory is a win for BMWED Director of Organizing Tim McCall and his Assistant Organizer Wayne Morrow. McCall also wanted to extend much credit in the victory to Allied Fed Vice Chairmen Brian Thompson and Pat Quigley and Consolidated Rail System Federation Second Vice Chairman Jeff Bainter.

 

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