Andrew,
At the conclusion of 2021, Senior Manager of PTC Operations, Mark Yetter, sent out 3 messages to employees in the month of December explaining how the EMS noncompliance review process was changing in 2022. While for most, these messages were clear and concise, apparently for some they were not.
The Union Pacific Railroad policy for “Managing Agreement Professionals for Success” (MAPS) states in Appendix A: Incidents; Noncompliance that could potentially result in serious or life-threatening consequences for employees or the public or could compromise safe railroad operations. This includes repeated or deliberate failure to comply with instructions. In Appendix E: Rules Matrix; is a list of the rules that are applicable to the MAPS policy, they are critical rules and decertification rules.
In the MAPS “Standard Work for Managers” document updated November 1, 2019, on page 3, under specific rule handling for rule 1.13, “How to Document or Charge”; the document states, intentional or deliberate failure(s) to follow a directive or repeated violation of the rules other than defined in this table may result in a charge 1.13.
Since the change in the review process, at least 6 employees on the EA-01 seniority roster, have received charge letters for rule 1.13 – “Reporting and Complying with Instructions”, referencing ABTH rule 31.8.7 part C, and Superintendent Bulletin #3, Section H. Rule 31.8.7 and Superintendent Bulletin #3, Section H, are not critical rules or decertification rules. Noncompliance does not potentially threaten the safety of employees or public and does not compromise safe railroad operations. These charged employees did not intentionally or deliberately disregard a directive, nor have they had repeated violations of these rules. They misunderstood or made a mistake upon tie-up and reporting. This in and of itself should not warrant a 1.13 charge and potential discipline under the MAPS policy.
We are a TEAM. Management and the professional men and women who are out in the field moving the freight, and as a team we should work together to fix this issue so we can fulfill the reporting expectations. If an employee is not reporting properly, the error should be addressed management and the reporting should be corrected by the employee. Based on the MAPS policy guidelines, only after being addressed and corrected, should these types of reporting errors potentially warrant a 1.13 charge.
On January 12, 2022, I personally emailed each of my members and posted a letter on bulletin boards at on-duty locations on the Chicago Service Unit to provide clarity on reporting expectations. I have spoken to Mr. Yetter and Mr. Ballou about better ways to address this reporting issue.
As a team I believe we can do better, and believe our team deserves better. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss this further.
Respectfully,
Kevin Schnell
Local Chairman
BLET Div. 404
(630) 267-3680