TRANSPORT UNIONS TO START SECOND MERGER VOTE

TRANSPORT UNIONS TO START SECOND MERGER VOTE    The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers will conduct a second referendum vote on a merger with the United Transportation Union.
   Don M. Hahs, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers said the new ballots would be mailed to every active member of the union in the United States and Canada on Nov. 7, and counted on Dec. 10.
   A previous United Transportation Union/Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers vote was stopped on Sept. 17 by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aldrich after several Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers said in a lawsuit that the balloting violated the union’s constitution. Aldrich ordered that the ballots cast by the union’s members be impounded.
   Aldrich also ordered that the American Arbitration Association “refrain from making the results of any ongoing or final tally of the votes known to any of the parties or to any third party and to preserve the cast ballots under seal pending the resolution of the lawsuit.” The association was the neutral party responsible for collecting and counting the ballots.
   Hahs said an “agreement between the parties” resolved the lawsuit, which opened the door to a second referendum vote among the Brotherhood members. For the union to approve the merger, a majority of the ballots cast by all active members, both Canadian and American, must favor the merger.