Burlington Northern Santa Fe has designated the National Carrier's Conference Committee (NCCC) to represent them in the handling of notices requesting changes in wages and working conditions. Robert F. Allen acts as the Chairman and chief negotiator for the NCCC, a group of railroads around the country that have voluntarily chosen to bargain jointly in "national negotiations." Mr. Allen served formal notice under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act requesting sweeping changes in health and welfare benefits, pay structure and work rules in a letter to UTU International President Charles L. Little dated November 1, 1999. General Committee GO-001 is not a part of these "national negotiations" at the present time, but it is anticipated that Mr. Allen will serve similar notices on this Committee shortly. We will then serve our counterproposals, which were developed on the basis of input received from the membership in response to our May 29, 1999 survey. When we receive the formal notices from the NCCC we will distribute those to the Local Chairmen along with our response. Check this site for further updates as these matters progress.