From Progressive Railroading on May 9.

The U.S. Class I workforce expanded again in March -- albeit by a miniscule amount -- but remained below last year's level. As of mid-March, large railroads employed 163,430 people, up 0.2 percent vs. February's total and down 2.1 percent from March 2007's level, according to Surface Transportation Board data. The workforce previously inched up 0.1 percent between mid-January and mid-February.

The transportation (other than train and engine) workforce totaling 6,637 in mid-March posted the largest drops, falling 1.7 percent compared with mid-February's count and 7.9 percent compared with March 2007's total. Executives, officials and staff assistants totaling 10,095 declined 0.2 percent month over month and 0.9 percent year over year, while professional and administrative staff totaling 13,701 decreased 0.9 percent vs. mid-February's level and 1 percent vs. March 2007's count.

Transportation (train and engine) ranks in mid-March stood at 68,074, up 0.4 percent month over month but down 3.7 percent year over year. The maintenance-of-way and structures workforce totaling 34,587 rose 0.9 percent compared with mid-February's count but remained down 0.3 percent year over year.

Finally, maintenance of equipment and stores ranks totaled 30,336, inching up 0.1 percent from mid-February's level and declining slightly (by 0.2 percent) from March 2007's count.

The Oklahoma State Legislative Board held its meeting on April 10-11 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

During the meeting, representatives from the six BLET Divisions in Oklahoma held elections of officers and also discussed the upcoming 2008 national elections.

Four of the six State Legislative Board Officers retired this year. Don H. Douglass of Division 721 (Enid, Okla.) was elected Chairman and Terry Schulenberg of Division 721 was elected First Vice-Chairman. Craig Fack of Division 578 (Tulsa) was elected Secretary Treasurer and Clint Trindle of Division 141 (Oklahoma City) was elected Second Vice-Chairman.

The results of the elections were "very satisfactory," according to outgoing State Legislative Board Chairman Perry Renfro, who hosted the meeting.

The group was joined by John Tolman, BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative. Vice President Tolman discussed the BLET’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama and discussed the Congressional races in the state.

The newly elected State Legislative Board officers thanked Jerry Schlichter and John Tolman for attending the meeting.

The board also expressed their appreciation for their predecessors -- especially Perry Renfro who has done so much for the Oklahoma State Legislative Board.

The Oklahoma State Legislative Board is composed of six divisions and approximately 200 members, from BNSF, Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific.

From Progressive Railroading in May 7.

Three out of seven. That's how many Class Is the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has determined were "revenue adequate" in 2006.

According to the board's annual decision on revenue adequacy among the seven Class Is, only BNSF Railway Co., Norfolk Southern Corp. and Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiary the Soo Line Railroad Co. made the grade in '06.

The STB determined the large roads' rate of return on net investment (ROI) as follows: BNSF, 11.43 percent; CSX Transportation, 8.15 percent; Grand Trunk Corp. Consolidated (Including all Canadian National Railway Co. U.S. affiliates), 9.47 percent; Kansas City Southern Railway Co., 9.31 percent; NS, 14.36 percent; Soo Line, 11.6 percent; and Union Pacific Railroad, 8.21 percent.

The STB considers a railroad to be revenue adequate if it achieves an ROI equal to the current cost of capital (i.e., the cost of borrowing). Congress directed the board to conduct revenue adequacy determinations on an annual basis. The STB recently determined that the rail industry's cost of capital in 2006 was 9.94 percent.

From Progressive Railroading on May 6.

The U.S. Senate currently is debating a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). An amendment to the bill would replenish the Highway Trust Fund without using transit dollars and provide financing for high-speed rail projects.

Proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007 (H.R. 2881) would authorized transferring money from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund to repay $3.3 billion in emergency expenditures to cover damages from hurricanes and terrorist attacks -- without adversely affecting public transportation revenue sources, according to an American Public Transportation Association Legislative Update released yesterday.

If passed, the bill would eliminate the need to use other means to address the trust fund shortfall, such as borrowing funds from the Mass Transit Account, which the president proposed earlier this year. In addition, the Rockefeller amendment authorizes issuing tax-credit bonds to promote high-speed-rail investment.

On May 1, the BLET held a joint meeting of State Legislative Board Chairmen and General Chairmen.

The meeting was a strategic planning session between the groups and the focus of the meeting was communication. Cooperation and communication will be imperative during this important election year, and this meeting focused on these elections, the BLET's legislative agenda and continued cooperation between the General Chairmen and State Legislative Board Chairmen.

The meeting was facilitated by members of the Teamsters Training and Development Department, Sally Payne and Bill Munger. Brother Munger is a member of BLET Division 439 (Allston, Mass.) and works for the Training and Development Department. Sally Payne is the Associate Director and Western Region Training Coordinator. She has an extensive background in meeting facilitation.

The Chairmen broke up into small groups to begin the meeting in order to identify what they saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization's communication. They also tried to determine the priorities for officers and staff and discussed communication plans to achieve individual objectives and organizational priorities. The participants acknowledged that there is room for improvement.