Monin, who served in the union’s highest office from 1996-1998, began his railroad career as a trainman on the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad in 1964. He was accepted into the railroad’s first Apprentice Engineer training class in May 1966, and earned promotion to locomotive engineer in October 1966, when he joined the BLE. He was a member of Division 78 in Louisville, Ky.
Monin was elected to serve the BLE as International Vice President (1985-1991) and First Vice President (1991-1996). Among his numerous assignments as a member of the BLE Advisory Board, he served as head of the union’s Education and Training Department and Chairman of its Safety Task Force. Prior to serving on the Advisory Board, Monin was elected to three terms as General Chairman of the L&N General Committee of Adjustment (now the CSX Transportation-Western Lines GCA).
During his tenure as International President, Monin launched the union’s Department of Internal Organizing, Mobilizing, and Strategic Planning.
In his later years, Monin was a founding member of the Railroad Worker Benefit Foundation, which has a mission of providing aid and assistance to railroad workers who have suffered career ending injuries.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Monin family in their time of loss,” said BLET National President Mark Wallace.
“Monin often found himself talking about rival United Transportation Union (now the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, or SMART-TD)—the two unions quite often acting as two scorpions in a bottle,” comments Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner. “In 1997, reflecting on UTU’s 1969 creation—through consolidation of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, the Order of Railway Conductors, and the Switchmen’s Union of North America—Monin said, as quoted by Railway Age, that BLE had been asked to be included, but BLE leadership at the time ‘felt that such a move would not benefit the membership of our organization.’
“The two unions maintained their independence despite six subsequent attempts at merger. Following an acrimonious courtship in 2004, BLE chose another bride—the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and UTU found love with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. The dream of uniting all crafts in train and engine service seemingly died forever, although, since their separate marriages, the two have behaved more cordially toward each other.
“Then there was 1998, with BLE and UTU at war, and UTU—banking on the fact it had many more members on each railroad than BLE—secretly sought congressional legislation instructing the National Mediation Board to conduct on all railroads winner-take-all representation election, UTU succeeded in having such language included in unrelated legislation dealing with U.S. military aid to Bosnia, which had declared its independence from Yugoslavia. BLE discovered the subterfuge only because its Legislative Director at the time read every issue of the Congressional Record closely. Said Monin of the incident, ‘The Bosnia amendment was intended to be well hidden, and it almost got through.’
“Monin was not shy about comparing BLE’s greater organizational efficiency to that of UTU, telling Traffic World magazine in February 1998, ‘On Conrail [for example], UTU maintains 11 general committees while BLE has only 1.’”
