UPED Engine Service Selection Agreement

MEMORANDUM OF
AGREEMENT
#2309019629
between the
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
for the territory
Eastern District
and the
UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION (CT&E)
SELECTION PROCESS FOR ENGINE SERVICE PROMOTION – UPED

In compliance with the applicable United Transportation Union (Organization) Schedule of Agreements as well as Article XIII, Section 4 of the 1985 National Agreement, the parties signatory hereto agree to establish the following provisions with respect to the selection process of trainmen for engine service promotion.

ARTICLE 1
DEFINITIONS

• A. The term “pre-85 trainman” as used in this Agreement is an employee who was hired as a trainman/yardman prior to November 1, 1985.
• B. The term “post-85 trainman” as used in this Agreement is an employee who was hired as a trainman/yardman after October 31, 1985.
• C. The term “UTU Seniority” as used in this Agreement is the employee’s service date as a trainman/yardman.
• D. UTU seniority zones and home point districts as used in this Agreement are defined as:
  • SENIORITY ZONE 100 – Home Point Districts
    • FIRST – Omaha to Grand Island and branches, including Beatrice.
    • SECOND – Grand Island to North Platte and branches, but not including Hastings.
    • THIRD – North Platte to Sidney and North Platte Branch, including Yoder and South Torrington.
    • FOURTH – Sidney to Cheyenne, North Platte Cutoff to Gering and South Torrington.
    • NINTH – Kansas City to Junction City and branches, but not including Beatrice.
    • TENTH – Junction City to Ellis and branches to Plainsville (sic).
    • ELEVENTH – St. Joseph to Marysville and Marysville to Grand Island and/or Hastings.
  • SENIORITY ZONE 200 – Home Point Districts
    • FIFTH/SIXTH – Cheyenne to Rawlins and branches.
    • SEVENTH – Rawlins to Green River and branches.
    • EIGHTH – Green River to Ogden and branches.
    • TWELFTH – Denver to Borie/Cheyenne, Denver to Ellis, Oakley to Plainsville (sic), Denver to Julesburg and branches.
    • THIRTEENTH – Black Buttes to Granger and branches.
• F. Existing engineers’ seniority districts as used in this Agreement are defined as follows:
  • a) FIRST DISTRICT – Council Bluffs to Grand Island and branches north.
  • b) SECOND DISTRICT – Grand Island to North Platte and branches.
  • c) THIRD DISTRICT – North Platte to Sidney and Sterling; North Platte to Gering; yards at North Platte.
  • d) FOURTH DISTRICT – Sidney to Cheyenne, including yard at Cheyenne.
  • e) FIFTH DISTRICT – Cheyenne to Rawlins and branches.
  • f) SIXTH DISTRICT – Rawlins to Green River and branches.
  • g) SEVENTH DISTRICT – Green River to Ogden and branches.
  • h) EIGHTH DISTRICT – Kansas City to Junction City; Kansas City to Topeka and Marysville; yards at Kansas City to Topeka.
  • i) NINTH DISTRICT – Junction City to Ellis; Salina to McPherson; Solomon (sic) to Beloit; Salina to Plainville.
  • j) TENTH & ELEVENTH DISTRICT – Ellis to Hugo and Oakley to Plainville.
  • k) TWELFTH DISTRICT – MP 775 to West Switch at Granger.
  • l) FOURTEENTH DISTRICT – Denver to Sterling; Denver to Hugo; Denver to Cheyenne and branches; Denver yard.
  • m) FIFTEENTH & EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT – Council Bluffs to Lincoln; Marysville to Beatrice; Marysville to Hastings.
• G. The term “voluntary” as used in this Agreement means all employees who voluntarily elect promotion to engine service. Selection will be in seniority order, subject to fitness and ability criteria as set forth in arbitration awards.
• H. The term “involuntary” as used in this Agreement means post-85 trainmen who are forced to engineer promotion.

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ARTICLE II
POSTING PROCESS FOR NEW ENGINEER POSITIONS

• The Carrier will maintain adequate levels of trainmen to meet the needs of service, which includes existing contractual requirements and promotion to engine service. The following steps will be applied in the selection process of trainmen/yardmen for promotion to engine service:
• A.
  • (1) When it is the Carrier’s desire to provide engineer promotions, a notice will be issued at least sixty (60) days but not more than one hundred and twenty (120) days in advance of the anticipated class start. The notice will indicate the number of engineer promotions needed within each applicable engineers’ seniority district, including the locations within such district. The notice will also indicate the anticipated start time of the engineer promotion class.
  • (2) The Carrier will post this notice to all trainmen within the affected UTU seniority zone on all bulletin boards as well as through computer screens. A copy of this notice will also be provided to the General Chairman.
• B. The notice of posting will be made available for a period of thirty (30) days, after which a listing will be issued of those potential candidates in UTU seniority order. This listing will be furnished to the General Chairman.
• C. Employees voluntarily requesting engineer promotion must submit their request in writing or by other agreeable means to the designated Carrier Supervisor, with a copy to the employee’s Local Chairman, within the thirty (30) day posting period prescribed in Section B of this Article.
• D. Subsequent to the posting of potential candidates by Engineers’ Seniority Districts, such listing will be open for correction of errors for a period of fifteen (15) calendar days. Upon proper documentation during this period, corrections will be made by agreement between the Organization’s Local Chairman and the Carrier’s Crew Management (CMS) Supervisor. Any unresolved disputes will thereafter be handled by the Organization’s General Chairman and the Director of Labor Relations.
• E. All pre-85 and post-85 trainmen within the applicable Zone will be permitted to apply voluntarily for engineer promotion on any or all of the Engineers’ Seniority District listings within that Zone.
• NOTE: Section A(1) stipulates that the notice must indicate the “anticipated class start.” It is understood that after assignments are made for a class, if the anticipated class start date is delayed more than sixty (60) days from the original date, the class and assignments will be considered cancelled. Each applicant, along with the Local and General Chairman, will be advised in writing of the cancellation.

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ARTICLE III
SELECTION PROCESS

• A.
  • (1) The selection of employees will be in seniority order. Employees who are not selected will be notified of the reason(s), with a copy provided to the Organization’s General Chairman.
  • (2) If an employee who was not selected disagrees with the Carrier’s decision, the employee must file a claim in writing with the General Chairman and the Carrier’s highest designated officer in Labor Relations no later than fifteen (15) days from the date the employee was notified under Subsection (1) above.
  • (3) If the Director of Labor Relations and the General Chairman cannot agree whether the Carrier’s selection criteria was properly applied, the matter will be progressed to arbitration for final and binding resolution. An arbitration board and the scheduled hearing date must be adopted within sixty (60) days from the date the trainman was not selected. If issues are not progressed within this time frame, the Carrier’s decision will stand. Arbitration under this Section A will be limited to the criteria employed by the Carrier in not accepting an employee’s voluntary application, or the application of those criteria.
• B.
  • (1) Post-85 trainmen who volunteer for promotion to engine service and who do not satisfy the applicable engineer selection criteria, and therefore are not selected, will not for a period of one (1) year be involuntarily promoted (forced) to engine service unless they satisfy the applicable selection criteria at the time of involuntary selection. Likewise, post-85 employees whose voluntary applications were not accepted and whose cases are pending arbitration under Section A will not be forced to engine service unless they satisfy the applicable criteria at the time of involuntary selection.
  • (2) Post-85 employees who do not voluntarily apply for promotion to engine service, and who do not satisfy the applicable engineer selection criteria at the time they are involuntarily selected (forced), will immediately terminate all seniority and service rights with the Carrier.
• C. If the needs for engine service employees are not met through voluntary applications, the Carrier may force, in reverse seniority order, actively employed (excluding furloughed) post-85 trainmen—first those with a designated home point district in the applicable engineers’ seniority district, and thereafter post-85 trainmen working in the applicable zone. Post-85 trainmen may not decline promotion, and failure to accept or failure to pass engineer promotion will terminate all service and seniority with the Carrier in accordance with applicable agreements.
• D. Nothing in this Article restricts the Carrier’s right to transfer engineers from one seniority district to another. If an engineer transfers and does not hold trainman seniority on the Zone, the engineer may, if desired, request a seniority date transfer through the UTU Organization(s).

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ARTICLE IV
CATEGORIES

This Agreement establishes the following two (2) categories of train service employes for promotion to engineer:

Seniority as a Trainman
“Pre-85 Trainman”
“Post-85 Trainman”

Promotion Guidelines

• Voluntary – within the applicable UTU Zone.
• Voluntary – within the applicable UTU Zone. Furloughed employees are not applicable.
• Involuntary – May not decline promotion. Actively employed trainmen can be forced in reverse seniority order for engineer promotion on the Zone. Furloughed employees are not applicable.

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ARTICLE VI
RELINQUISHING TRAINING

• A. Pre-85 trainmen selected for engineer promotion may subsequently decline the training up to seventy-two (72) hours after receipt of their engineer training packets mailed by the Carrier. Once the seventy-two (72) hours have expired, the employees will not be permitted to relinquish engineer training.
• B. Post-85 trainmen who voluntarily apply and are selected for engineer promotion will be granted the same rights as outlined in Section A above. However, it is understood that if such employees, by relinquishing their voluntary applications, would result in their involuntary assignment, the release of such training will be declined.

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ARTICLE VII
GENERAL

• A. Engineers seniority ranking will be established in the order of the employees’ UTU seniority ranking, within the promotion class.
• B. It is understood and agreed that employees who are selected for promotion, voluntarily or involuntarily, may have such promotion class deferred if such employees are on a Medical Leave or FMLA. The employee’s ranking for engineer’s seniority will not be altered as a result of medical leave or FMLA.
• G. In executing this Memorandum of Agreement, the parties clearly understand that it is without prejudice to either of its positions with respect to the obligations set forth in Article XIII, Section 4(4) of National Mediation Agreement, Case A-11471 dated October 31, 1985.
• D. Where any current rules, agreements and/or practices are in effect which conflict with this Memorandum of Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement will prevail.
• E. This Memorandum of Agreement will become effective January 15, 1997 and may be canceled by either party in the future with the serving of a sixty (60) day advance notice upon the other.

This Agreement was signed December 23, 1996

FOR THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY:
G. A. Eickmann
General Chairman UTU(C,T&E)

FOR THE UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION:
L. A. Lambert
General Director-Labor Relations