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Ohio Central workers join BLET CLEVELAND, December 10 — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen scored a short line organizing victory today as a majority of workers at the Ohio Central Railroad/ Columbus & Ohio Rail Road Co. voted to make the BLET their designated collective bargaining representative. The National Mediation Board certified the election results today. The organizing victory brings 47 new train and engine service employees into the ranks of BLET. BLET National President Paul Sorrow welcomed the new Ohio Central workers to the House of Labor and said the organization is anxious to begin negotiations on the first union contract at Ohio Central. “The best way to thank these individuals for joining the BLET is to get to work right away and begin negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement that will give them the benefits of a strong union contract,” President Sorrow said. He also thanked Tommy Miller, the BLET’s Director of Organizing, for successfully orchestrating the organizing drive. “Once again, Tommy Miller has struck gold,” he said. Brother Miller thanked the Ohio Central workers for joining the BLET. “They are a great group of guys who knew they wanted to be a part of Organized Labor,” Miller said. Headquartered in Coshocton, Ohio, the Ohio Central Railroad/Columbus & Ohio Railroad Co. is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (GWI). It is among a group of nine short lines known collectively as the Ohio Central Railroad System, which was acquired by GWI on October 1, 2008. The Ohio Central system operates over a combined 400 miles of track. As a whole, the short lines of the Ohio Central system move about 140,000 carloads annually and service four solid waste landfills, multiple coal mines, a coal-fired power plant and steel producers, among others. GWI owns and operates short line and regional freight railroads in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. Operations currently include 62 railroads organized in nine regions, with more than 6,000 miles of owned and leased track and approximately 3,000 additional miles under track access arrangements. GWI provides rail service at 16 ports in North America and Europe and performs contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Thursday, December 10, 2009 bentley@ble.org © 1997-2010 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

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