This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by
Goddess Fish
Promotions. Mike Elliot will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to
a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the
other stops on the tour.
This is the
incredible true story of railroad worker and union official Mike Elliott,
targeted by his railroad employer, BNSF Railway Company, for his safety-related
activities. As the union's state legislative board chair, Elliott was the top
safety official in the state, and the voice for over 900 rank & file
locomotive engineers operating trains around the clock, every day of the
year.
When his members reported a plethora of trackside signal
malfunctions on the BNSF Seattle subdivision, Elliott went to the railroad
first, asking that they fix the problems. When the BNSF failed to act, he
contacted the government's regulatory authority, the Federal Railroad
Administration. That led to an FRA inspection of over 130 miles of the
railroad's track and signal systems turning up hundreds of federal defects –
all with potential to put workers and the public at risk.
What followed was a retaliation plot reminiscent of the
Nineteenth Century Robber Barons: A management-staged conflict at work, police
called in, arrest, jail, criminal charges, and termination from his job – not
once but twice.
The wrath, influence and power of North America's largest
freight railroad is unleased in full force and in an all-out attack on a
whistleblower's life, liberties, and career. An amazing journey of one man's
righteous battle against impossible odds and the nearly unlimited resources of
a multi-billion-dollar corporation.
Read an Excerpt:
Jim Vucinovich called me to the stand. He addressed
background facts concerning my education, current employment, ongoing work for
the BLET, and my past work history, including my USMC service and law
enforcement experience. He asked most specifically about the “instruction and
training in self-defense” I received at the police academy in California and if
that training came into play during the Kautzmann parking lot incident.
“It had,” I answered.
We left this subject for the moment and went into more of my
work experience, including the history of my railroad career. This gave us an
opportunity to explain something about the labor structure in railroading while
establishing my experience and expertise as a conductor and an engineer. We
eventually zeroed-in on my knowledge of signals and safety, the nature of the
signal complaints I received from my Union Pacific BLET members, and, most
significantly, processes associated with tri-annual engineer recertification.
I testified to being through it several times previously,
describing the “Net-Sim” (network simulator), its role in the process and how
Net-Sim scheduling was accomplished through the company payroll computer. Jim
also asked questions about the driver’s license abstract, the requirement it be
submitted along with other documents to BNSF’s Overland Park, Kansas
certification department and how Washington State only allows the licensee to
obtain a copy of their own driving abstract. This was important information
establishing that Dennis Kautzmann had no legitimate reason for contacting me
on March 3rd, 2011, as the Net-Sim scheduling notifications were done through
the payroll computer.
The testimony also laid the foundation for countering BNSF’s
false assertion I had failed to submit my tri-annual recertification paperwork
in a timely manner, or had submitted paperwork from the previous tri-annual
recertification in 2005, by identifying the keeper of those records: BNSF
certification manager Kathy Conkling.
From here, Jim led me through testimony about my safety work
for BLET. I explained that I got into safety because I saw a disconnect between
what workers learned in classroom training and what they experienced in the
field.
