Rail Labor Chief Calls Union Merger Plan 'Dead'

A controversial 2007 plan to merge two large labor groups in the AFL-CIO, the United Transportation Union of train conductors and other rail workers with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, is now “dead,” the top UTU official said.

Malcolm Futhey, UTU’s international president, made the comment July 8 at a conference in San Francisco of his union’s western regional members.

"There will not be a merger today. There will not be a merger tomorrow. There will never be a merger with the Sheet Metal Workers," Futhey said told the group. His remarks were posted on the UTU Web site.

The UTU is the single largest U.S. rail union, with members at every Class I carrier.

Proponents of the merger plan said it was needed to shore up fragile UTU finances, and said it would give the union more clout in its lobbying efforts.

Opponents said it would upend the rail union’s internal structure, and fought it in court. An election that year brought Futhey and other officials into office with a pledge to review the deal. A number of high-ranking UTU officials continued to fight for it, aided by the SMWIA, so the union’s leadership had a major split over the legal issues.

A federal court halted the merger in December 2007 shortly before it was to take effect at the start of January 2008, the same time the new officers would take over UTU leadership. The legal cases continued, and the two unions have not negotiated changes or a new merger agreement.

Futhey said his board overwhelmingly told to “walk away” from efforts to re-do the merger plan.

A leader of the UTU dissidents who kept fighting for the merger, former National Legislative Director James M. Brunkenhoefer, died last December. Some of the UTU vice presidents who continued the fight with him have left office.

Meanwhile, Futhey said, UTU finances have improved. And its clout has been in evidence as President Obama named former UTU official Joseph Szabo to head the Federal Railroad Administration that oversees industry safety issues and financing programs. He has tapped another UTU official, associate general counsel Daniel R. Elliott III, to chair the Surface Transportation Board that regulators rail economic issues.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.