SMART Transportation Division General Chairpersons Dirk Sampson (GO 769), Robert Keeley (GO 342) and Fran Ariola (GO 663) announced today that they have reached a tentative agreement with Amtrak on behalf of their members employed by the passenger railroad.
The chairpersons convened Jan. 10 and 11 at SMART TD headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, to continue negotiations over a new contract for Amtrak employees represented by the union. Assisted by SMART TD President John Previsich and Vice Presidents John Lesniewski and John England, union officials and Amtrak representatives reached tentative agreements for each bargaining group.
A synopsis of the tentative agreements can be read here.
Each proposed agreement will be submitted for a ratification vote of the affected members.
Copies of the proposed agreement and information on ratification will be communicated by the General Chairpersons to their respective memberships with balloting materials to be prepared and distributed beginning Jan. 15.
Author: bnagy
In November, the federal Department of Transportation finalized a rule that added four semi-synthetic opioids – hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone – to its testing regimen, despite opposition from a number of unions. Brand names of some of those opioids include OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Dilaudid and Exalgo.
Effects of this expansion, which took effect Jan. 1, as reported by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO (TTD) include:
- Employees who are tested for these drugs and cannot offer a legitimate medical explanation such as a prescription will be recorded as testing positive.
- Employees who have a valid prescription and test positive will have their results downgraded to a negative.
- Medical review officers (MROs) cannot deny the legitimacy of a prescription for the purpose of establishing a legitimate medical explanation for the positive test. However, the MRO retains the right to flag safety concerns.
- Clarification of what a “valid prescription” is, especially regarding medication given to take “as needed” as opposed to one prescribed to be taken in a strict time frame is needed and could be affected by the discretion of the MRO.
- The rule establishes three new “fatal flaws” to a test: 1. Absence of a Chain of Custody Form (CCF); 2. A specimen is not submitted along with the CCF; and 3. Two separate collections are performed using a single CCF.
Comments from the TTD opposed the cutoff levels established for a positive test, requested additional training for MROs, sought clearer guidelines to define what constituted a valid prescription and implementation of a process to challenge the findings of an MRO. These suggestions were disregarded. In addition, the DOT also ended its blind specimen testing program over the TTD’s objection.
Members should contact the SMART Transportation Department Legal Department if any issues or difficulties arise from this expansion to the DOT’s drug-testing protocols.
Phyllis Reed of Florence, Ky., passed away Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence. Phyllis was born Aug. 17, 1939, to the late Victor and Mary Osborn.
She married former B&O General Committee General Chairman J.T. “Terry” Reed in 1962, he preceded Phyllis in death on March 5, 2013. Phyllis was self taught and a very motivated person. She enjoyed cooking, crafts and the occasional political debate with her husband.
A visitation is at Floral Hills Funeral Home on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, from noon until time of the Funeral Service at 2 p.m. Burial will immediately follow in Floral Hills Memorial Gardens. Phyllis is survived by her daughter Melody and and son in law Alex Warner; grandson Dave and his wife Tracy Warner; granddaughter and Shelby and her husband Greg Turner; granddaughter Alison Warner; great-grandchildren Joshua, Tristan and Gavin Warner. Please visit www.floralhillsmemorialgardens.com to leave online condolences.
Most railroad retirement annuities, like Social Security benefits, were scheduled to increase Jan. 1 on the basis of the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2016 to the corresponding period of 2017.
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) reports that Tier I benefits, like Social Security benefits, will increase by 2 percent, which is the percentage of the CPI rise. Tier II benefits will go up by 0.7 percent. Vested dual benefit payments and supplemental annuities also paid by RRB are not adjusted for the CPI change.
In January 2018, the average regular railroad retirement employee annuity will increase $42 a month to $2,711 and the average of combined benefits for an employee and spouse will increase $60 a month to $3,937. For those retirement-aged widow(er)s eligible for an increase, the average annuity will increase $24 a month to $1,353. However, widow(er)s whose annuities are being paid under the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of 2001 will not receive annual cost-of-living adjustments until their annuity amount is exceeded by the amount that would have been paid under prior law, counting all interim cost-of-living increases otherwise payable. Some 50 percent of the widow(er)s on the RRB’s rolls are being paid under the 2001 law.
The cost-of-living increase is the largest since 2012, and follows a Tier I increase of 0.3 percent in January 2017.
The RRB was mailing notices in December to all annuitants providing a breakdown of the annuity rates payable to them in January 2018.
Earning limit increases
The RRB also announced that railroad retirement annuitants subject to earnings restrictions can earn more in 2018 without having their benefits reduced as a result of increases in earnings limits indexed to average national wage increases.
For those under full retirement age throughout 2018, the exempt earnings amount rises to $17,040 from $16,920 in 2017. For beneficiaries attaining full retirement age in 2018, the exempt earnings amount for the months before the month full retirement age is attained increases to $45,360 in 2018 from $44,880 in 2017.
For those under full retirement age, the earnings deduction is $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings over the exempt amount. For those attaining full retirement age in 2018, the deduction is $1 for every $3 of earnings over the exempt amount in the months before the month full retirement age is attained.
For employee and spouse annuitants, full retirement age ranges from age 65 for those born before 1938 to age 67 for those born in 1960 or later. For survivor annuitants, full retirement age ranges from age 65 for those born before 1940 to age 67 for those born in 1962 or later.
When applicable, earnings deductions are assessed on the Tier I and vested dual benefit portions of railroad retirement employee and spouse annuities, and the Tier I, Tier II, and vested dual benefit portions of survivor benefits.
All earnings received for services rendered, plus any net earnings from self-employment, are considered when assessing deductions for earnings. Interest, dividends, certain rental income, or income from stocks, bonds, or other investments are not considered earnings.
Retired employees and spouses, regardless of age, who work for their last pre-retirement non-railroad employer are also subject to an additional earnings deduction in their Tier II and supplemental benefits of $1 for every $2 in earnings up to a maximum reduction of 50 percent. This earnings restriction does not change from year to year and does not allow for an exempt amount.
A spouse benefit is subject to reduction not only for the spouse’s earnings, but also for the earnings of the employee, regardless of whether the earnings are from service for the last pre-retirement non-railroad employer or other post-retirement employment.
Special work restrictions continue to be applicable to disability annuitants in 2018. The monthly disability earnings limit increases to $920 in 2018 from $910 in 2017.
Regardless of age and/or earnings, no railroad retirement annuity is payable for any month in which an annuitant (retired employee, spouse or survivor) works for a railroad employer or railroad union.
More information about RRB benefits is available at the agency’s website at www.rrb.gov or by contacting the RRB toll free at 1-877-772-5772.
Brother Nicholas A. Vosejpka, of Hampton, Minn., a switchman with SMART TD Local 1614, died while on duty Dec. 30, 2017, as he worked as a yard foreman at Union Pacific’s Hoffman Yard in St. Paul, Minn.
Vosejpka, 35, was walking in the yard performing an air-test in temperatures well below zero with gusting wind at approximately 7:30 p.m. CST, Local 1614 Chairman Brad Nelsen reported. A student and new-hire switch person were with Brother Vosejpka when he collapsed, Nelsen said.
Emergency personnel responded and were unable to revive Vosejpka. UP yard crews were tied up thereafter.
“Brother Vosejpka was a hard worker, good man and a good rail worker,” said Nelsen.
Brother Vosejpka is survived by his mother, Brenda, young children Carter and Madison and extended family.
Funeral services will be at Rejoice Church in Dundas on Friday, January 5, 2018, beginning at 11 a.m. Visitation will be Thursday, January 4, 2018, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bierman Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service in the church. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery in Lonsdale. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred.
A full obituary is available here.
Brother Vosejpka was the seventh SMART TD member who died while on duty in 2017.
A new version of WinStabs for 2018 — Version 5.09 — is now available for download via iLink and includes updated tax rates.
Follow this link to view PDF instructions about how to download and start a new year in this new version of WinStabs.
Once you have downloaded and started your new year, please ensure that you go to: Add-ins>Tools>Initial Setup Menu>Update Dues Rates & Set Fund Balances. You will need to enter the new International Dues Rate and should refer to the letter that you received from SMART TD concerning the January 2018 dues increase. Then click on the Fund Balances & Setting Rates tab at the top and change the Mileage Rate to $0.545.
If you have any questions please email Fieldauditor@group.smart-union.org
Also, registration remains open for a workshop for local treasurers Feb. 21 to 23 that will provide hands-on training on the responsibilities and duties pertaining to their office, including direct receipts, iLink and WinStabs. It will also focus on proper completion of monthly billings and member record maintenance.
This training will also be LIVESTREAMED for participants who are unable to attend in person at the SMART Transportation Division office — 24950 Country Club Blvd., North Olmsted, OH 44070.
Registration is required for both in-person and web-based attendance. Contact Alyssa Patchin at (216) 227-5281 or apatchin@smart-union.org to register and for discounted hotel rates if you are traveling to the workshop. Space is limited, and attendees will be accepted on a first-come basis.
The three-day session will include all training and materials at no cost to the local. However, the local is responsible for all other costs associated with the treasurer’s attendance at the workshop. Lost time or salary, travel, hotel and meal expenses connected with attendance may be reimbursed if pre-approved at the local meeting as an allowable expense of the local. Local treasurers are responsible for their own travel/lodging arrangements.
Gregory Gabriel Meehan, 87, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, surrounded by his family.
Visitation was at Buckley Funeral Home, 509 Second Ave., Asbury Park, N.J., Dec. 3. Funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 4 at Holy Spirit Church, 705 Second Ave., Asbury Park, N.J.
Born to Joseph and Helen Meehan on May 30, 1930, in Jersey City, Greg lived most of his life in North Arlington before spending his last years in Asbury Park, N.J.
Greg started his career with the Intercity Bus Company which became part of New Jersey Transit and worked as a bus driver for 37 years, many of them out of the Madison Avenue garage in Paterson, N.J. With great pride, he represented his fellow drivers in contract negotiations, grievances and arbitration issues as the chairman of his United Transportation Union local for more than 20 years until his retirement in 1992.
“Serving the UTU as a local chairman was a source of great pride for him,” his daughter, Kerry Dorio, said in an email. “He relished the opportunities at the conventions every four years.”
“We will always remember him tapping away at the typewriter via single finger, during his split to work on his union business.”
Greg was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Constance Meehan, and leaves five children and five grandchildren.
Canadian National has placed the largest power order by a Class I rail carrier in three years, asking for more than 200 ET44AC locomotives to be acquired from General Electric over the next three years, according to a report from Railway Age.
The first round of locomotives are expected to roll off GE Transportation’s assembly line in Texas next year and will be delivered through 2020, Railway Age reported.
For the original article on Railway Age, follow this link.
The Republican tax bill that is being voted on today has the potential to wipe out Railroad Retirement Board-administered unemployment and sickness benefits.
This is your last chance to call and tell your senators to VOTE NO.
A call to action posted by SMART Transportation Division last week told you about $9 million in potential cuts to that RRB benefit if sequestration – mandatory cuts – are triggered in 2018 by the increased debt that the tax plan will bring.
Now an updated analysis by the RRB warns that unchecked sequestration can result in that fund being “zeroed out.”
Under the federal “Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYGO) Act of 2010, federal spending is required to balance or offset any increases to the federal budget deficit (also known as sequestration). As a result, the tax bill would trigger automatic budget cuts across all federal programs including the RRB’s Railroad Unemployment Trust Fund, which is targeted for a 6.6 percent cut or approximately $9 million in the 2018 fiscal year by the administration.
If Congress does not act to avert sequestration run amok, said RRB labor member counsel Michele Neuendorf in an email, pay for sick or unemployed rail workers will be gone.
“Essentially, if PAYGO goes into effect and there is 100% sequestration, there could be 100% reduction in benefits, meaning that these benefits to railroaders will be zeroed out,” she wrote.
Sick and unemployed rail workers may have paid in, but they’ll lose out. The RRB says in its report:
“These benefits are subject to sequestration. Current sickness and unemployment benefits are set at a maximum of $72.00 per day or $720.00 per two-week or 10-day claim period. However, this benefit rate has been reduced by sequestration in effect since FY 2013 due to the Budget Control Act of 2011. The actual maximum benefit currently paid is $672.48 per 10-day claim period which is a 6.6% reduction…
“Any further reduction resulting from another sequestration would significantly degrade the benefit protections enacted by Congress and harm those employees suffering either unemployment or sickness. For example, if 100% sequestration is triggered by PAYGO rules, railroad employees eligible for sickness and unemployment benefits would receive nothing. Their benefit payments would zero out.”
So someone might be getting a gift from this tax bill this holiday, but it’s not our ailing brothers and sisters or those who are out of work.
Call your senators and urge them to vote against the tax bill.
Find out who your members of Congress are by accessing the SMART-TD Legislative Action Center or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Read a PDF of the RRB’s analysis.
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (Dec. 19) — SMART Transportation Division is assisting as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducts its investigation and offers its sincere condolences to the victims and families of those affected by the Dec. 18 Amtrak Cascades derailment outside of DuPont, Wash.
Members of SMART TD’s national Safety Task Force have responded to the accident scene and will work along with the NTSB and other rail investigators to help determine probable cause of the accident and to make appropriate safety recommendations at the conclusion of the investigation.
SMART TD has a Party Status agreement with the NTSB that makes the federal agency the chief source of information for this and other accident probes involving trains. Because of this, neither the union nor its representatives will make any official comments as to the status of the accident investigation or the events leading up to the accident. All media inquiries should be directed to the NTSB, which will provide details about the accident and the investigation. Any comment on the investigation from current or former members does not speak for the union or its membership.
“We will await the facts of the investigation and will not speculate in any way about the circumstances leading up to this accident,” SMART TD President John Previsich said. “We offer our sincere condolences to the victims and families of the victims of the Cascades derailment, and our personnel will help investigators as they look for answers as to the cause of this tragedy.”
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The SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members of the former United Transportation Union, who work in a variety of crafts in the transportation industry.