Rail Machinists Rerun Contested Election

Machinists in District Lodge 19 repair and maintain locomotives and heavy equipment for rail carriers including CSX, BNSF, and Union Pacific. Photo: Canyon Mike on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED

https://labornotes.org/2024/03/rail-machinists-rerun-contested-election

March 04, 2024 / Joe DeManuelle-Hall

A new election for top officers will be held in Machinists District Lodge 19 on May 3, after complaints about bad addresses and campaigning at polling locations during a close vote last year.

The new vote for president and secretary-treasurer will establish who will set the union’s approach to the upcoming contract fight with the big freight rail carriers. Negotiations between the 13 rail unions and the carriers begin later this year.

District Lodge 19 represents 8,000 machinists who repair locomotives and heavy equipment for carriers including CSX, BNSF, and Union Pacific.

Dissatisfied with how their leaders handled the last negotiations, a group of members put together a “Challenger” slate headed by Reece Murtagh, local chairman of Lodge 696 in Richmond, Virginia. Its platform emphasized greater transparency and a more militant posture toward the employers.

FULL story at link above.