December 17 1999

Robert F. Allen, Chairman
National Carriers’ Conference Committee
c/o National Railway Labor Conference
1901 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20036

Re: Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company; Purported Section 6 Notice for Employees Represented by Undersigned General Committees of Adjustment of the United Transportation Union

Dear Mr. Allen:

As we assume you know, the undersigned General Chairman of the Committees of Adjustment of the United Transportation Union have been designated by the United Transportation Union (UTU) as the individuals to act as the bargaining representatives of those employees of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) who are covered by the collective bargaining agreements serviced by these General Committees. Moreover, the BNSF has been informed previously that if it desires to change any agreement concerning the rates of pay, rules, or working conditions applicable to those employees, it must serve its notice of such an intended change on the undersigned General Chairmen. As we assume you also know, Section 2 third of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 152 third, prohibits either the BNSF or the National Carriers’ Conference Committee as the BNSF’s designated bargaining representative from "in any way interfering] with" the UTU’ s designation of the undersigned as the bargaining representatives for those BNSF employees who are covered by the Agreements serviced by these committees.

We are bringing this to your attention because we have been provided with a letter dated November .1, 1999, that you sent to Charles L. Little, International President of the UTU, purporting to serve as a notice of intended change of the existing agreements concerning the rates of pay, rules, and working conditions applicable to various employee, including the BNSF employees for whom the undersigned have been designated as a bargaining representatives. Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act, when read together with Section 2 Third of that Act, requires that you serve the undersigned with any notice of an intended change in the agreements our committees administer and negotiate. Consequently, we ask that you immediately serve us with the appropriate notice if the BNSF intends to propose changes to the agreements applicable to employees within the jurisdiction of our committees.

Of course, there is always the possibility that we have misread the BNSF’s intentions. If the Section 6 notice that was served on behalf of BNSF is not intended to propose changes in the agreements applicable to the BNSF employees we represent, we request that you provide us with that assurance in writing.

However, if the BNSF does intend to propose changes to the existing agreements concerning the rates of pay, rules and working conditions governing the employment of BNSF employees for whom the undersigned have been designated and authorized to bargain, you must serve the BNSF’s Section 6 notice on us and bargain with the undersigned—and no one else-over that notice, for our committees are not willing to engage in multi-carrier, "national" bargaining. AS we informed the BNSF prior to November 1, 1999, and we have since informed it, we intend to bargain solely with the BNSF through whomever that carrier may designate, but we will not bargain with other carriers, for we are interested in reaching an agreement that governs the rates of pay, rules, and working conditions of only the employees we represent and is geared to the specific bargaining interests of our constituents. Accordingly, and again as we informed the BNSF prior to November 1, 1999, our committees will not consent to bargain nationally and we have not authorized the UTU’s national bargaining committee to represent our committees.

Therefore, if the BNSF intends to propose changes to the agreements within the jurisdiction of our committees, we ask that we be served with the appropriate Section 6 notice, at which time we will arrange for a mutually convenient time to hold the initial conference on that notice within thirty (30) days from the date we are served. In the meantime, we remind you of the BNSF’s obligations under Sections 2 First and 2 Third of the Railway Labor Act that require the BNSF, its officers and agents to exert every reasonable effort to maintain its agreements and to refrain from in any way interfering with the undersigned as the duly authorized bargaining representatives for the BNSF employees within the jurisdiction of our committees. We will consider any attempt to bargain with anyone but us over rates of pay, rules, or working conditions for BNSF employees we have been designated to represent as being an improper effort to interfere with our designation as the bargaining representative of those employees, and we will take whatever action we deem to be appropriate to protect our statutory rights.

With best wishes, I am,

Yours truly.

JD Fitzgerald General Chairman	KW Mason General Chairman
R.R. Repstine General Chairman

cc: John J. Fleps, Vice President, BNSF
Charles L. Little, International President, UTU