Unions Ask Agency to Oppose Union Pacific on Inspections

(December 2, 2004) Citing a string of recent derailments and other  safety and national security concerns, five labor unions are asking the  federal transportation secretary to oppose a request by the nation's largest  railroad, Union Pacific, to allow its trains to skip inspections after  entering the country from Mexico. The company has asked the Federal  Railroad Administration to waive federal rules so its trains, about nine each day, can be inspected by Mexican railroad workers. It said this would reduce rail traffic congestion in the United States.

In a letter last  week, the unions - including the transportation trades division of the  A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters - asked Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to intercede on their  behalf with the railroad agency, which is reviewing Union Pacific's  request. The unions said they approached Mr. Mineta because of  their concerns that the agency, part of the Transportation Department, could not impartially reach a decision on the waiver request. "Given  the alarming rise of accidents involving U.P. and renewed questions about the  relationship between the F.R.A. and the industry it regulates, we wanted to bring this matter directly to your attention," the unions said in a statement.

Since May there have been nine derailments or  accidents involving Union Pacific in the San Antonio area, one in which  poisonous gas was released. Four people died in those accidents. Several  weeks ago, a delegation of Texas officials visited federal regulators in Washington to express concern about Union Pacific's safety record and whether the railroad agency might be too close to the company.

The question of the agency's impartiality was raised after an article last month in The New York Times that examined its  regulation of Union Pacific. The article reported that Betty Monro, the  agency's acting administrator, had vacationed several times on Nantucket, Mass., with Union Pacific's chief lobbyist, Mary E. McAuliffe. Ms. Monro supports the gency's "partnership" approach to regulation, which  emphasizes working with railroads, rather than punishing them, as the best way to deal with safety problems. A spokesman for the agency declined  to comment on the waiver request while it is being reviewed. The agency said it could not say when it would rule on the waiver.

Union Pacific "shouldn't be allowed to outsource important safety functions like the inspections of trains," Edward Wytkind, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s transportation trades department, said in an interview. The unions' letter also cited national security concerns for opposing the waiver.

Kathryn Blackwell, a Union Pacific spokeswoman, said the Mexican train inspections would be "exactly the same" as those in this country. (Comment: Yeah, Right!)

Posted: 12/04/04