| R.E. (Dick) Crow was reelected to his fourth term as General Chairman of the Union Pacific-Northern Region General Committee of Adjustment (UP-NR GCA) during the GCA’s quadrennial meeting held earlier this week in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The UP-NR GCA represents approximately 1,500 active and retired locomotive engineers and trainmen from 17 BLET Divisions. Active members run trains for Union Pacific and Metra commuter lines.
Brother Crow is a Union Pacific locomotive engineer and member of BLET Division 404 (Chicago, Ill.). He has served as UP-NR General Chairman since December 2012 and as a Trustee of the BLET National Division since 2018.
Also elected during the meeting were: 1st Vice Chairman Joe Cummins, Division 683 (Chicago, Ill.); 2nd Vice Chairman Joe Schnell, Division 404 (Chicago, Ill.); 3rd Vice Chairman Joe Gish, Division 6 (Boone, Iowa); Secretary-Treasurer Chris Wagner, Division 405 (Milwaukee, Wisc.); and Alternate Secretary-Treasurer Jesse Vargas, Division 656 (Mason City, Iowa). Elected to serve as Trustees were: Joel Mueller, Division 9 (Waseca, Minn.); Joe Schnell, Division 404 (Chicago, Ill.); and David Grimes, Division 125 (Clinton, Iowa).
National President Mark Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best addressed the delegates. President Wallace provided a brief state-of-the-union update before he and First Vice President Best engaged participants in an extended discussion regarding BLET’s ongoing efforts to oppose the UP-NS merger. Best, who has been assigned by President Wallace to lead BLET’s work on the proposed merger, provided additional insight into the union’s progress on the issue. Wallace and Best also spent considerable time answering questions from delegates to the GCA. BLET National Secretary-Treasurer David Estes, head of the BLET Education & Training Department, discussed plans for current and future training programs and provided an update on BLET’s growing membership numbers and financial strength. |
