James A. Paddock Additional Papers

James A. Paddock spent his entire life working in the railroad industry. After completing his education at the University of San Francisco in 1937, he entered train service as a brakeman and switchman for the Bingham and Garfield Railway, part of the Kennecott Utah Copper rail line in Salt Lake County, Utah. He was promoted to conductor in 1941. Starting in 1938, Mr. Paddock became active with the Order of Railway Conductors [ORC] as a General Committee Member. In 1948, he accepted full-time employment as Assistant to the President of the International Union, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1954, he was elected to the office of Senior Vice-President, and in 1958 to the Office of President. During his tenure as president of ORC, he served on the Presidential Railroad Commission from 1959-1961. In 1961, Mr. Paddock retired from the ORC presidency in order to seek treatment for his alcoholism.



In 1963, Mr. Paddock returned to work in the railroad industry, joining the Association of Western Railways as a Special Representative to the Law Department, working on matters where labor and management had a mutual interest, such as safety on grade crossings. He retired from active railroad employment in 1970 because of a health issue.



In 1971, Mr. Paddock began training as a counselor specializing in alcohol and drug addiction. With his new training, Mr. Paddock began to work as an independent consultant in the area of industrial programs and other aspects involving alcohol and drug related research and development in the work place. In this capacity, he assisted the Milwaukee Road, the Illinois Central, and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway in setting up Employee Assistance Programs [EAP] and other services designed to improve safety and operations. In 1973, he began consulting for the Federal Railroad Administration in this capacity. He took part in two major studies of alcoholism and drug abuse in the railroad industry in 1976 and 1979, conducting research and writing the reports. The 1979 report became known as the REAP report. He continued his work in this area with officers of the United Transportation Union [UTU], specifically Daniel Collins, in the 1980s. Using the EAP of the Union Pacific as their model, the UTU championed a labor- management supported program called Operation Red Block designed to help railroad operating employees with substance abuse problems and to help their co-workers know how to appropriately respond and help their fellows. A key component of these programs are the so-called "Rule G By-Pass Agreements." Rule G is the prohibition against operating while intoxicated. The By-Pass Agreements allow for voluntary self-reporting or co-worker reporting on a one time basis so that an employee might avoid serious disciplinary measures for the first offense and be put into a counseling program to address their addiction.



Mr. Paddock, in a speech he gave in 1983, called this work his avocation.