Engineers and conductors at the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (W&LE), members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), are on strike today. Picket lines have been set up at key locations beginning at noon, November 11. W&LE, one of the largest regional railroads in the nation, operates trains on 840 miles of track from Hagerstown Maryland, across West Virginia and Pennsylvania, servicing Pittsburgh and cities in Northeast Ohio, terminating in Toledo.
The strike by 140 engineers and conductors was caused by the railroad’s insistence on using managers to work as conductors. This was a clear violation of the union’s contract and violates an order from the federal courts dating back to 2013, specifically related to this issue at this railroad. In 2013, the W&LE tried to use managers in place of conductors to operate trains and in some instances operate with only one crew member in violation of long-established safety practices and its union contract.
In accordance with the terms of the Railway Labor Act, a violation of the contract in this manner is considered a “major dispute” allowing the union to immediately seek “self-help” as it’s termed in the law or in other words – call a strike. Strikes under the Railway Labor Act are rare and usually only happen after prolonged negotiations, mediation and cooling-off periods. The 2013 dispute between the union and the W&LE also resulted in a strike…