CTA train operator fired after Blue Line crash at O’Hare

The Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA, has effectively fired the blue line operator who fell asleep and crashed a train into the O’Hare International Airport terminal. CTA authorities announced today the worker was issued a termination notice, which is effective immediately. They may have fired the operator for now, but this is just the beginning...

The Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA, has effectively fired the blue line operator who fell asleep and crashed a train into the O’Hare International Airport terminal. CTA authorities announced today the worker was issued a termination notice, which is effective immediately.

They may have fired the operator for now, but this is just the beginning of the process. Considering the rhetoric coming from union leadership, it sounds like the union will likely grieve the decision.

If the union files a grievance opposing the firing, the union and management will go through an extremely long and complex procedure outlined in the union contract, which will take many months.

Here’s how it works.

Not only does the employee have the benefit of a long, extensive grievance process to go through, but the CTA may also have given the union ammunition to win.

The CTA said it has the right to fire the employee because she committed two serious safety violations within two months (the worker received a warning one month earlier for blowing through a scheduled train stop).

But today, CTA officials outlined new scheduling procedures to avoid fatigued operators, effectively admitting the policies led to extremely tired employees. The unions will use this against management.

The CTA also admitted they only issued a warning to the employee for a previous offense that occurred a month earlier, stating it would have pursued stronger discipline if leaders knew she was asleep. They cannot go back and change the original discipline now that they discovered new information, because union policies would restrict it.

The following is what the CTA has to look forward to:

Grievance/arbitration process outlined in the transit union’s collective bargaining agreement:

1. The employee and union can file a grievance (technically appealing the firing) – essentially saying management violated the contract and should not have fired the operator.

2. The grievance would go straight to a second-level agenda to be heard at a meeting between the union and employee relations staff.

3. If no resolution is agreed to, management shall submit a written response to the union within 30 days.

4. If the union chooses not to agree to the written response, within 60 days the grievance will be moved to an arbitration hearing.

5. The union side would pick one arbitrator they prefer to hear the case.

6. Fourteen days later, management chooses an arbitrator they prefer.

7. Within seven days after, the two chosen arbitrators would meet to pick a chairman arbitrator to lead the arbitration board.

8. If no chairman arbitrator was agreed upon, a panel of five arbitrators from which to choose would be picked by the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service.

9. A coin toss will then occur.

10. Depending on the outcome of the coin toss – One at a time, each of the two chosen arbitrators would strike a name of an arbitrator they do not prefer off the list, until only one arbitrator remained. This would result with a chairman of the arbitrator board.

11. Within 60 days, they will then conduct the arbitration hearing, where both the union and management would provide their arguments.

12. Within 30 days, arbitrators would render their decisions, where the majority vote would win.

13. If they choose to bring the employee back, it must be done within 10 days – including full reimbursement for any back pay owed – in no less than 21 days.

14. Each party is to pay for their chosen arbitrator and the administration costs of the arbitrator board chairman.

So what does this all mean? What is the worst-case scenario?

After all this, the operator could be brought back on the job and given full back pay for the time she was out. Even worse, it is possible CTA management could put her back behind the controls of a train in her old job.

It is also possible the CTA might try to settle before the conclusion of the arbitration, offering her a different role in the CTA or compensation to drop the grievance. All sorts of deals can take place during the course of a public union’s grievance process.

The union contracts are extremely rigid and complex, which may make it hard for the CTA to permanently fire the train operator responsible for a major accident.

Illinois is one of 11 states that has completely secret public-sector collective bargaining, which makes it much easier for bad contracts to be written. Illinois deserves to review and comment on public-union contracts before they lead to terrible outcomes.