Dear Bill

Just a quick note to tell you how things are in PoCo. There are several crews working the Terminal as well as all the local boys and the thing on the tip of everyone's tongue is the contract talks. We have all been through this before, but this one is different. Our men are very upset about the way the talks have gone and they have had enough. It's time that the company treats us fairly and gives us what we deserve. In the Terminal lately, we have cleaned up one derailment after another, one big job after another just to have the company walk away from the table.

Our members have sacrificed so much to not be treated fairly. The snow storms, the wind storms, the washouts, the slides, the derailments, the calls in the middle of the night, the look on your children's faces when you break another promise to spend time with them, because you get that call and have to drop everything. If these 'so-called' negotiators had to spend one day in our shoes dealing with any one of these situations, they would see we are not asking for more than we deserve.

But the thing that most concerns me is the distraction at work. Because our minds are not in the game I'm really afraid that someone is going to get hurt or worse. Our job briefings now all have a message to concentrate on the task at hand and not the contract. We are all being extra vigilant to watch out for each other because, as you know a mistake in this job could mean you don't make it home at the end of the day. So, we all ask that this contract be settled quickly so that we can get back to work without this distraction. We are all behind you. Keep up the good work.

Yours truly,

Lou Viani