Intense wildfires have affected thousands of people in California, including SMART Transportation Division members.
To help assist those who have had their lives impacted by these disasters, Your Track to Health has compiled a list of services and information for behavioral health, prescription providers, vision, dental and health insurance resources and counseling.
To see the entire list, visit this link.
Author: bnagy
SMART TD Nebraska State Legislative Director Bob Borgeson invites all SMART members in his state to come out to Lincoln to participate in a Veterans Day parade at 2 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 9.
“I hope for a good turnout,” he said.
A large portion of both the TD and Sheet Metal membership are veterans, and our union’s participation in these events help show an appreciation for U.S. armed forces veterans’ service to our country and the freedoms we in the United States enjoy.
TD Local 305 in Lincoln is the host Local for the event and has contributed toward defraying transportation costs for the event. Borgeson said other contributions to help offset those costs would be greatly appreciated and can be mailed to the Nebraska State Legislative Board’s office, 3333 S. 24th St, Omaha, NE 68108.
Checks should be made payable to the Nebraska State Legislative Board: NSLB LO030.
For additional information, contact Borgeson at (402) 679-0872 or SMARTDIRECTOR@cox.net.
An update on the railroad industry’s implementation of positive train control (PTC) will be one of the major topics covered in the next meeting of the Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) scheduled 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 26, according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
The meeting will be at the National Association of Home Builders, 1201 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005. Representatives from 29 member organizations, including SMART TD, will convene at the meeting, which is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
The agenda also will include remarks from FRA Administrator Ron Batory and committee reports from the Working Groups for Tourist and Historic Railroads; Track Standards; Passenger Safety; Part 225 Accident Reporting; Train Dispatcher Certification; and Signal Employees Certification and is subject to change, the Federal Register notice stated.
RSAC is a federal advisory committee to the FRA intended to develop railroad safety regulations through a consensus process.
More information about RSAC and a finalized agenda for the meeting will be posted on the RSAC website at least a week in advance of the meeting.
General President Joseph Sellers Jr. and TD President Jeremy Ferguson both participated in a town hall meeting and informational rally in Kansas City on Nov. 4 and 5 to draw attention to Union Pacific’s closure of the Neff Yard that resulted in about 200 lost jobs.
The event received local media coverage and was a success, said Kansas State Legislative Director Ty Dragoo.
“it was a great event,” Dragoo said. “We had over 170 members there. We’re definitely moving forward.”
More coverage of the event will be forthcoming.
To SMART TD members whose carriers are in national handling:
Pursuant to the moratorium provision in the last national agreement, today was the first day the carriers were permitted to serve notice to open the next round of National Bargaining and negotiate a new agreement, and they have accordingly served us this morning.
As TD President, I wanted to let you know that we will be reviewing the carriers’ notice over the weekend. We will be responding to the carriers with our own Section 6 notice early next week. Our notice has been crafted and refined by our District 1 Rail General Chairpersons and the Section 6 committee awaiting the time to serve.
The carriers’ notice is linked for your review. The contents of their notice should not come as a surprise given the recent lawsuit filed regarding our crew-consist moratoriums. As usual, their notice contains unrealistic expectations of the outcome that they hope to achieve.
We will proudly be going into this national round of negotiations in solidarity not only with the BLET once again, but with an unprecedented group that includes the American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/SEIU, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Transport Workers Union of America, and the Transportation Communications Union. I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with BLET National President Dennis Pierce and the leadership of the other unions in our Coordinated Bargaining Coalition as we move ahead in this process.
In solidarity,
Jeremy R. Ferguson
President — Transportation Division
CLEVELAND, Ohio and WASHINGTON, D.C., (November 1, 2019) — Top leaders of 10 rail unions announced today that their organizations will be participating in coordinated bargaining in the round of national negotiations that began on Nov. 1, 2019. The unions comprising the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition are:
- American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA)
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen / Teamsters Rail Conference (BLET)
- Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS)
- International Association of Machinists (IAM)
- International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB)
- National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/SEIU (NCFO)
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
- Transport Workers Union of America (TWU)
- Transportation Communications Union / IAM (TCU)
- Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART TD)
The following statement was jointly issued by ATDA President Leo McCann, BLET National President Dennis Pierce, BRS President Jerry Boles, IAM General Vice President – Transportation Sito Pantoja, IBB Director of Railroad Lodge Services John Mansker, IBEW Railroad Department Director Bill Bohne, NCFO President John Thacker, SMART TD President Jeremy Ferguson, TWU Railroad Division Director John Feltz, and TCU National President Bob Scardelletti:
“We are pleased to announce the creation of the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition as we are on the threshold of the most critical round of national bargaining in a generation. Our Coalition is founded on two key values that we all share. One is that we understand the importance of each Union’s autonomy to pursue membership-specific goals within a framework of broad solidarity to defend and improve the wages, benefits and working conditions of our members. The other is that we will spare no effort to defeat the attack by the railroads on the very foundation of our members’ economic security.”
Jointly, the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition unions represent more than 105,000 railroad workers covered by the various organizations’ national agreements, and comprise over 80% of the workforce who will be impacted by this round of negotiations.
Disregarding comments by the SMART TD New York Legislative Board to the contrary, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has granted an exemption to Brookfield Asset Management and DJP XX LLC that clears the way for their acquisition of short-line/regional railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming.
Genesee & Wyoming controls Class II and III railroads in 41 states and, if considered collectively, its holdings qualify it as a Class I carrier with more than 13,000 track miles.
The notice, published in the Federal Register Nov. 1 after a 3-0 vote by the board, concludes a postponement of the $8.4 billion acquisition put forth by the STB in late July. The acquisition, when completed, will make G&W a privately held company.
Brookfield Asset Management owns and operates assets in the utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe while DJP XX LLC is a subsidiary of GIC, a global investment firm that manages Singapore’s foreign reserves.
In early September, an attorney representing New York State Legislative Director Samuel J. Nasca filed reply comments asserting that the notice of exemption should be rejected or revoked because of the magnitude and nature of the transportation involved.
Nasca’s filing expressed concern regarding the role of foreign interests, including GIC, which would own 27% of equity in DJP XX and has links to the government of Singapore, and was not listed on the exemption application to the STB. He also identified Brookfield as controlling rail investments in Brazil — more than 10,000 km of rail tracks and stated that GWI controls rail carriers that are located in other countries including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom and are not subject to Board jurisdiction.
Moreover, Nasca argued, employees could face negative ramifications if the deal went through.
“A number of the GWI carriers operate in or through New York State, and are represented by SMART/TD in collective (bargaining). Those GWI carriers not so represented by SMART/TD are nevertheless important for SMART/TD employees as such carriers interchange traffic with other GWI-represented carriers, or with other carriers outside the GWI family,” his filing stated. “Accordingly, SMART/TD employees stand to be adversely affected by Brookfield management decisions revising the structure of GWI or taking actions which may divert business to other units of the Brookfield organization.”
The board disregarded the concerns expressed for workers, about foreign interests and about the scale of the acquisition as well.
“SMART/TD-NY’s comments about the magnitude and nature of the transportation at issue do not support rejection of the notice or revocation of the exemption,” the board stated in the Federal Register notice.
STB member Marty Oberman, while voting to approve the exemption, did express some reservation about the magnitude of the exemption, stating in the Federal Register filing:
“This is by far the largest and most geographically diverse collection of railroads impacting the U.S. freight network ever to be processed as a class exemption under the Board’s existing regulations,” Oberman wrote. “In my opinion, this proceeding raises significant questions regarding whether transactions of this magnitude were contemplated when the class exemption regulations were adopted, and therefore raises questions as to whether it is appropriate for such major transactions to be eligible under those regulations in the first place.”
The proposed acquisition of G&W is expected to close by the end of 2019 or early 2020 pending review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Read Sam Nasca’s filing that opposes the exemption.
Read the entire Federal Register notice here.
Most Railroad Retirement annuities, like Social Security benefits, will increase in January 2020 due to a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2018 to the corresponding period of the current year.
Cost-of-living increases are calculated in both the Tier I and Tier II benefits included in a Railroad Retirement annuity. Tier I benefits, like Social Security benefits, will increase by 1.6 percent, which is the percentage of the CPI rise. Tier II benefits will go up by 0.5 percent, which is 32.5 percent of the CPI increase. Vested dual benefit payments and supplemental annuities also paid by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) are not adjusted for the CPI change.
In January 2020, the average regular Railroad Retirement employee annuity will increase $36 a month to $2,875 and the average of combined benefits for an employee and spouse will increase $50 a month to $4,174. For those aged widow(er)s eligible for an increase, the average annuity will increase $20 a month to $1,428. 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. Almost 52 percent of the widow(er)s on the RRB’s rolls are being paid under the 2001 law.
If a Railroad Retirement or survivor annuitant also receives a Social Security or other government benefit, such as a public service pension, any cost-of-living increase in that benefit will offset the increased Tier I benefit. However, Tier II cost-of-living increases are not reduced by increases in other government benefits. If a widow(er) whose annuity is being paid under the 2001 law is also entitled to an increased government benefit, her or his Railroad Retirement survivor annuity may decrease.
However, the total amount of the combined Railroad Retirement widow(er)’s annuity and other government benefits will not be less than the total payable before the cost-of-living increase and any increase in Medicare premium deductions.
The cost-of-living increase follows a Tier I increase of 2.8 percent in January 2019, which had been the largest in seven years. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will announce Medicare Part B premiums for 2020 later this year, and this information is available at www.medicare.gov.
In late December the RRB will mail notices to all annuitants providing a breakdown of the annuity rates payable to them in January 2020.
Railroad Retirement annuitants subject to earnings restrictions can earn more in 2020 without having their benefits reduced as a result of increases in earnings limits indexed to average national wage increases.
Like Social Security benefits, some Railroad Retirement benefit payments are subject to deductions if an annuitant’s earnings exceed certain exempt amounts. These earnings restrictions apply to those who have not attained full Social Security retirement age. For employee and spouse annuitants, full retirement age ranges from age 65 for those born before 1938 to age 67 for those born after 1959. For survivor annuitants, full retirement age ranges from age 65 for those born before 1940 to age 67 for those born after 1961.
For those under full retirement age throughout 2020, the exempt earnings amount rises to $18,240 from $17,640 in 2019. For beneficiaries attaining full retirement age in 2020, the exempt earnings amount, for the months before the month full retirement age is attained increases to $48,600 in 2020 from $46,920 in 2019.
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 2020, the deduction is $1 for every $3 of earnings over the exempt amount in the months before the month full retirement age is attained.
When applicable, these 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 for this purpose.
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 2020. The monthly disability earnings limit increases to $990 in 2020 from $950 in 2019.
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.
New Jersey Transit (NJT) is expanding its de-escalation training for front-line employees to include curriculum from Rutgers’ National Transit Institute (NTI), the carrier said in a press release on Monday.
NTI presented a “Train the Trainers” program on conflict de-escalation techniques for bus and rail operations and New Jersey Transit police recently.
“These highly effective techniques will be incorporated into existing internal NJT de-escalation training programs to create a set of best practices for use in real-world situations,” NJT said in its release.
“This new de-escalation training demonstrates our commitment to our front-line employees and to their safety,” said NJT President & CEO Kevin Corbett.
“One of our main missions as a police department is promoting the safety of our customers and crews, and this expansion of our de-escalation training fits squarely in that space,” said NJT Police Chief Christopher Trucillo. “It is always preferable to have situations managed before it rises to the level of police involvement.”
“The best way to help employees at risk of on-the-job assaults is to help them prevent the assault in the first place,” said NJT Employee Court Advocate Michael Rubin. “With this expanded training program our bus operators, conductors, police, and other customer-facing employees will have additional tools at hand to de-escalate situations and protect themselves and their customers from possible assaults.”
All of NJT’s employees who work with the public on buses, trains or as police officers receive training on how to manage difficult situations to minimize the possibility of violence. With the assistance of NTI, the trainings will be more robust and help to reduce assaults on bus operators, conductors, police, and other personnel.
“SMART TD Local 60 applauds N.J. Transit’s efforts in protecting our front-line employees from assaults. NTI’s de-escalation training is a great step in the right direction,” said Jerome C. Johnson, president and alternate delegate of the local and general chairperson of GO-610 (New Jersey Transit). “We look forward to collaborating further with N.J. Transit to reduce assaults and provide training for our brothers and sisters in conflict avoidance.”
NJT is the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 251 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines, and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations, and more than 18,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia.