BNSF has taken a lead in dropping conductor requirements for trains, said the UTU spokesman Frank Wilner, and other railroads are expected to follow suit.

BNSF referred questions about the dispute to the National Railway Labor Conference, a group that represents railroads' interests. No one from that group could be reached for comment.

But Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said the railroads are interested in finding ways to reduce crew sizes, (perhaps having just one person operate a train) but would do so only is it can be done safely.

"It wouldn't apply to every train," he said. "Some stop and start too often," or frequently have to switch tracks.
 
Dating back to the 1980s, said Wilner, the UTU agreed to help the struggling railroads by allowing train operating crews to be reduced from four to two. In exchange, he said, the railroads agreed to work rules that required them to keep at least one conductor on every train, until the affected workers had voluntarily left the railroad.

Wilner said he's concerned that railroads will move to have the federal government declare an impasse in the negotiations, at which point President Bush can appoint a three-person board to make recommendations for a settlement. Then, after a work stoppage, a Congress Wilner says is friendly to railroad interests can order union members back to work; he predicted that they'd be ordered back on management-friendly terms.

Bromley disagreed with that, saying Union Pacific has recently reached agreements with most of the unions representing its workers, and expects to be able to come to terms with the last few without mediation.

Another issue that bothers the UTU, said Wilner, is that training hasn't kept pace with hiring, meaning more trains are being operated by inexperienced individuals.

"It's not uncommon to see two people operating a train with not more than 14 or 15 weeks experience between them," said Wilner.

Bromley disputed that, saying that Union Pacific has in place "a fairly extensive training process" that goes on for about four months before a new hire is qualified to go out on a train. The additional labor is necessary, the parties say, to meet demand due to increasing traffic at West Coast ports.

About 8,000 UTU members, including Lincoln BNSF employees, walked off the job in April, protesting an action by the railroad that it said broke terms of their contract.

The walkout ended after less than two hours, when a federal judge promised to move quickly to end the dispute, which centered on the railroad's allowing engineers to move to conductor positions while engineer jobs still existed. That case is still pending

Union Pacific, which is based in Omaha, has about 7,600 employees in Nebraska, including about five in Lincoln, who support a branch line to the railroad's Lincoln customers here. BNSF has more than 4,300 Nebraska employees, including 1,682 in Lincoln, according to spokesman Steve Forsberg.

Reach Rodd Cayton at 473-7107 or rcayton@journalstar.com.