Jay L Schollmeyer Local Chairman 1637 Portland, OR 97215 Email jay@jaysworks.com

      Mr. Fitzgerald, please note the declination I just received from payroll which is instructing me to address all future appeals to Barry Stoltz. The last couple months my declinations have come with Mr. Stoltz letterhead.

Has the BNSF properly notified you of changes in the appeal process?

     To date I have not had any appeals approved by Mr. Stoltz. Claims that are well documented by agreement and have been resolved by Labor Relations in the past are coming back declined. Such as the Yard Switching issue at Wishram WA where Labor Relations agreed with our position on proper payment are coming backed declined.

    My first impression was that Mr. Stoltz was unable, unwilling or just unqualified to research claims that came over his desk. But I am told that Mr. Stoltz handles all appeals on behalf of Mr. Mead and Mr. Stoltz is just overwhelmed.

    Which goes back to my letter to Dennis Mead on July 16, 1999 when I expressed my concern over claims conferencing.

Is the BNSF in compliance with US Code Title 45 Chapter 8 Subchapter 152?

Sec. 152. General duties

It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, and to settle all disputes.

All disputes between a carrier or carriers and its or their employees shall be considered, and, if possible, decided, with all expedition, in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the carrier or carriers and by the employees thereof interested in the dispute.

JL Schollmeyer
Local Chairman 1637

cc: DL Mead

Jay L Schollmeyer Local Chairman 1637 Portland, OR 97215 Email jay@jaysworks.com

Mr. Mead,

     I am writing you in the hopes of finding a solution to the problem of claims conferencing. If you recall in the past we would have a local conference with an unbiased carrier officer.

    Labor Relations has made a point to remove any authority the local Director of Administration had, including not allowing to waive time limits while waiting for a local conference. DOA has a tendency to support a Superintendent's position regardless of schedule rules.

    So now all local Chairmen are forced to submit all claims to your office. What is happening is valid claims are just getting a once over and sent back "Declined". This is creating a very unnecessary burden on Labor Relations and the General Chairmen and as 2^nd Assistant General Chairman I have a first hand view of claims coming into the General Chairman's office.

    The ideal solution would be to schedule a claims conference with the area Timekeeping Manager as we did in the past. But I know that is not realistic considering the distance and the number of Local Chairmen.

    The only other option I can think of would be to have a teleconference about every 45 days. At least this way Local Chairmen can have some kind of interaction and support the claim.

   With the coming of TK2000 the DOA will not be able to approve claims at all, I foresee this problem getting worse.

I am open to any and all ideas. The current process does not work.

JL Schollmeyer
Local Chairman 1637

cc: JD Fitzgerald