(Washington, D.C.)– Employees at the Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (CF&E) recently voted to join the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference. The National Mediation Board certified the election on September 28, 2005.

"This was a total team effort by the BLET Organizing Department," said Tommy Miller, Organizing Director for BLET.

A Rail America subsidiary, the CF&E is the BLET's second organizing victory this year, as workers at the New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway voted to join the BLET in January. CF&E carries industrial products from Central Soya, Steel Dynamics, Procter & Gamble, Cargill and National Lime and Stone. Commodities shipped include agricultural products, chemicals, metals, paper and minerals. The 276-mile line runs from Crestline, Ohio to Tolleston, Indiana, east of Chicago.

The CF&E win represents the latest in a string of 13 short line organizing victories for the BLET dating back to 2002, which has brought more than 1,000 workers into the BLET.

"I welcome these new brothers and sisters into the BLET and look forward to securing a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf," said Don Hahs, National President of the BLET.

The Teamsters Rail Conference is comprised of the memberships of the BLET and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division. The Conference represents more than 70,000 rail employees across the United States.