Landslide Fred hardin (after winning re-election in the closest Union vote in the the UTU's short history), and his stooges/protoges, like convicted felon Byron Boyd and fellow co-conspirator Charlie Little, sold out the men back in the 1985 agreement. I had met all of them, but knew Boyd best, and he was particarly greasy.... so his later conviction really came as no great surprise....

Fred had also pulled UTU out of the AFL-CIO and the Railway Labor Executives Association right after the massive support we had recieved from other AFL-CIO unions and the RLEA against the attacks eliminate RR Retirement and the attempt to defund Amtrak, in l983. Fred was also probably the most sued UTU leader of all time, mostly by his own men and locals.

IIRC, Fred was finally defeated on 1991, after the destruction of the full crew and ultimately the UTU, had been successfully accomplished through his efforts and those of his stooges.

The buy outs came just in time at the SP, especially when you realized just how bad it was going to become, with a "company union" in charge of protecting your interests.