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WASHINGTON — The White House fiscal year 2012 budget request submitted to Congress Feb. 14 is unexpectedly generous toward the various modes of transportation.

That said, the FY 2012 budget that emerges from a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-controlled Senate later this year is likely to be quite different. FY 2012 begins Oct. 1.

The president’s budget request is the traditional starting point for congressional budget deliberations, which this year are expected to be quite polemical and fiery. In fact, Congress still has not finalized the FY 2011 budget, almost five months into the FY 2011 fiscal year. The federal government continues to operate under what are called “continuing resolutions,” which keep in place FY 2010 spending amounts.

Fiscally conservative Republicans already are on the attack against the Obama FY 2012 budget. For example, while the president’s budget request would provide Amtrak and high-speed rail with billions more in funding, House Republicans will consider this week significant cuts to Amtrak’s current fiscal federal funding, which, if enacted, could result in thousands of layoffs of Amtrak workers.

Substantial cuts in Amtrak funding and employment rolls would directly impact the Railroad Retirement system, placing Tier II Railroad Retirement benefits for all current and retired rail workers in jeopardy. For more on that concern, see the link at the end of this article.

The president’s FY 2012 budget request includes:

  • $8 billion for intercity passenger rail, to include operating, capital expenditure and debt service funds for Amtrak’s national intercity rail passenger network, as well as for new high-speed rail projects. The budget request intends for some of the funds to be used to accelerate refurbishment of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor linking Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and for 40 additional Acela Express train sets.

The budget request, however, requires Amtrak to compete for funds against high-speed rail projects in what President Obama calls a “race to the top process.”

A request to create a more broad Transportation Trust Fund — encompassing all surface transportation project funding, including passenger and freight rail, transit and highways — is certain to spark congressional controversy. The trucking industry has long been protective of the Highway Trust Fund, which would be included in the enlarged trust fund.

  • $233 million for ramped-up Federal Railroad Administration safety inspections, including additional safety inspectors. A provision requiring railroads to begin paying a safety user fee totaling $80 million annually is expected to meet opposition from the carriers in the form of heavy lobbying to prevent imposition of the user charge.
  • $4.9 billion for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for tougher enforcement of truck and bus safety.
  • $22.4 billion for the Federal Transit Administration for new starts, rehabilitation of transit rolling stock and to help transit agencies continue full operations during difficult economic times.  The budget request also calls on Congress to allow some funds already earmarked for new equipment to be used, instead, for operating costs — a request made by the UTU. The budget also recommends Congress give the FTA safety oversight authority over rail transit operations.
  • $195 million in essential air services grants to small communities — a subsidy important to commuter airlines whose pilots and flight attendants are represented by the UTU. The program, begun in 1978 to preserve rural air service following airline deregulation, would be limited in the future to those communities already receiving essential air service grants. Separately, fiscally conservative House Republicans are pushing to eliminate the program entirely.
  • $5 billion for a National Infrastructure Bank, whose grants and loans could be used for a variety of transportation projects, including freight and passenger rail and transit.

To learn more about the House of Representatives attack on Amtrak and high-speed rail, click on the following link:

www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=53889

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee this week will consider a proposal to cut more than $200 million from Amtrak’s current fiscal year 2011 federal subsidy, which could result in reductions of Amtrak service and layoffs of Amtrak workers.

Also under consideration by the House Appropriations Committee is eliminating all federal funding to states for high-speed rail projects.

Should the committee approve those cuts, they still would face a vote on the House floor and in the Senate.

Amtrak carried 2.1 million passengers in January — the 15th straight month of ridership growth – and 4.6 percent more passengers than in January 2010.

A cessation of Amtrak service — proposed by the most fiscally conservative of Republican House members — would have a devastating impact on the Railroad Retirement system.

Amtrak’s almost 20,000 workforce represents some 9 percent of the some 220,000 active rail workers nationwide, who pay — along with their employers — into Railroad Retirement. Tier II of Railroad Retirement, funded solely by rail employees and employers, would suffer a significant loss were Amtrak eliminated, putting Tier II in immediate jeopardy.

UTU members employed by Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) have ratified two new four-year agreements affecting wages, benefits and working conditions.

Conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen ratified their tentative agreement by a 75 percent plurality, while Florida East Coast yardmasters represented by the UTU were unanimous in ratifying their new agreement.

Both agreements are retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, extend through Dec. 31, 2012, and include retroactive pay.

UTU negotiators included General Chairperson John Hancock and Vice General Chairperson John Whitaker (both, GO 851), Local 903 Chairperson Jim Bush, and Local 1138 Chairperson Jim McCorkle. The UTU negotiating team was assisted by UTU International Vice President Robert Kerley.

Florida East Coast is a Class II, or regional, railroad, operating more than 350 miles of mainline track along Florida’s east coast. During 2010, the railroad completed 2,000 consecutive days of on-time service to UPS — a record for any transportation company serving the logistics giant. During that almost 5 1/2 year period, FEC delivered 125,000 on-time intermodal trailers and containers.

By Assistant President Arty Martin

As I travel the nation attending local and regional meetings, I am often asked, “What has the union done for me?”

Brothers and sisters, there is no “me” in “union.” Your union cannot make agreements for one individual, or a small sector of the seniority roster.

It has long been the practice of the UTU to make agreements that protect all members — from the youngest to the oldest on the seniority roster.

In unity, there is strength in numbers. Union is about bringing together, unifying, combining and blending.

By working together — mobilizing, collecting facts and speaking collectively in a single and strong voice — we have achieved gains that could not be possible otherwise.

A union is about the collective power of strength on behalf of all its members — protecting all members from discrimination of any form, making each of us a contractual employee rather than an employee at will, ensuring the right to a given job as defined by the collective bargaining agreement, and providing health and retirement benefits beyond what is found in other industries.

As we face inevitable change from technological discoveries and economic cycles, our membership has specific needs that the union works to satisfy at the bargaining table, in grievances, and before regulatory agencies, state legislatures and Congress.

Assuring equal protection for all members is the objective. As elected officers at all levels strive to achieve that objective, we must consider the entire membership and not one individual or a small group on the seniority roster.

The more active and involved local members are, the stronger the local, general committee, state legislative board and International will be.

It is essential that every member be active in their local, understand our collective bargaining agreements and learn to document carrier violations by making detailed notes of events, the exact location, who said what and witnesses.

By attending union meetings our members gain a better understanding of how a union works on behalf of its members.

It is the carrier that attempts to reduce or eliminate jobs, benefits and improved working conditions. Without the UTU, carriers would have a free hand in replacing you with someone willing to work for less, for fewer benefits and under less safe working conditions.

The next time you hear a disgruntled union brother or sister say what the heck has the union done for me, please respond in support of your union.

Together, through preparation and hard work, we must continue — with fire in the belly — the fight for what is right. But we must do it collectively with one voice and behalf of every member.

The UTU is unique in the labor movement. We are structured from the bottom up, meaning that you, as a member, vote for and elect your local representatives, who, in turn, elect general committee officers, state legislative directors and International officers.

This form of representation has served our members well.

Moving forward, we must continue to have solid, active members and locals to continue to provide the quality jobs, wages, benefits and protections that the UTU is known for.

The Federal Railroad Administration has a stark message for rail workers with safety-related duties:

Only use your cell phone when allowed or you could lose your job.

Emergency Order No. 26, which went into effect in October 2008, restricts the use by train crews and others in safety-sensitive positions of cell phones and other electronic devices.

The ban becomes permanent in March.

There is not an exception for personal emergencies.

How serious is the FRA about compliance?

The FRA warns that it can and will subpoena cell phone records, which show the date, time and location of cell-phone use.

In fact, when an accident occurs, the FRA routinely subpoenas the cell-phone records of all crew members involved, and sometimes of those employees on adjacent trains or yard crews.

If the FRA finds that a rail employee in a safety-sensitive position used their cell phone unlawfully during their tour of duty (even if it was hours before the accident) the FRA will notify the employer, who will then terminate the employee.

Workers found violating the ban also face being taken out of service by the FRA, and they face a $25,000 civil fine.

Be aware, also, that carriers may set up a sting to catch you in violation of the ban, such as by calling your cell phone number under the guise of testing compliance with the ban.

The simplest means of avoiding violation of the emergency order is to turn off all personal electronic devices when reporting for duty, stow them away from your person, and not retrieve or activate them until you are relieved from duty by the carrier.

The FRA issued the following statement:

“49 USC 20107(a)(1)-gives the Secretary of Transportation authority to conduct investigations and issue subpoenas in carrying out the railroad safety laws.

“49 USC 20902-grants the authority to investigate and issue subpoenas when railroad accidents [resulting] in serious bodily injury or damage to railroad property.

“18 USC 2703(c)(2)–The “Stored Communications Act”, permits FRA to issue subpoenas for certain basic stored electronic communications information, as we have subpoena authority granted via the two federal statutes listed above.

“The Secretary of Transportation has delegated his subpoena authority above to FRA at 49 CFR 1.49. FRA’s regulations also permit subpoenas to be issued, at 49 CFR 209.7(a) and at 49 CFR 225.31(b).”

Note, also, that if your phone is off and stowed and a rail official demands to see your phone, you can deny them on the grounds of personal privacy. However, do not put yourself in a position where you could be charged with insubordination.

If a confrontation occurs, report the incident to your local officers, general committee officers and/or state legislative director immediately as a violation of your personal privacy rights. As with all reports, it is important to write down the exact time and location, the name of the official, the names of witnesses and other information related to the matter.

The easiest way to avoid trouble? If in doubt, don’t.

For more information on the FRA’s cell-phone and electronic device ban, click on the following links:

https://www.smart-union.org/news/fra-to-make-cell-phone-ban-permanent-7/

https://static.smart-union.org/worksite/PDFs/Cell_phone_prohibition.pdf

The Railroad Retirement Board reports it has adjusted benefits — effective with February benefits checks — for more than 140,000 beneficiaries to reflect new federal income tax withholding rates.

The new rates comply with provisions of the congressionally passed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.

The new rates apply to withholding from the non-Social Security equivalent portion of Tier I, Tier II, vested dual benefits, and supplemental annuity payments, and will remain in use for the remainder of 2011.

The Railroad Retirement Board says that in the absence of a request not to withhold federal income tax or to withhold the tax at specific amounts, the board will withhold taxes only if the combined portions of the non-Social Security equivalent portion of Tier I, Tier II, vested dual benefit, and supplemental annuity payments are equal to or greater than an annual threshold amount.

In that case, the RRB withholds taxes as if the annuitant were married and claiming three allowances.

The annual threshold amount for 2011 is $1,587.99. The threshold amount for 2010 was $2,063.51.

Annuitants can use form RRB W-4P (Withholding Certificate for Railroad Retirement Payments) to request:

  • No federal taxes be withheld from their Railroad Retirement payments
  • Federal taxes be withheld based on the marital status and the number of allowances they wish to claim
  • An additional amount be withheld from Railroad Retirement payments

Form RRB W-4P may be downloaded at www.rrb.gov by clicking on “Benefit Forms and Publications,” and then clicking on “Income Tax.”

Annuitants who have questions regarding their tax liability should contact the nearest office of the IRS or visit www.irs.gov.

A BLET member working a conductor assignment on Norfolk Southern was killed in a conventional shoving movement accident in Kankakee, Ill., Feb. 8; and a UTU member conductor is hospitalized in critical condition following a fall from a bridge into a frigid river in Covington, Va., Feb. 8 while working a switching move on CSX.

A fellow UTU member is being hailed a hero in saving the UTU conductor’s life.

Killed in the Kankakee accident was BLET member and engineer Stanley Watts, age 43, with five years seniority, who was working a conductor job as part of a three-person switch crew at a flat yard. Remote control was not involved.

A preliminary Federal Railroad Administration report said Watts was “crushed” between a car he was riding and another car. Kankakee is some 60 miles south of Chicago.

This was the first railroad on-duty fatality in 2011, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. There were 20 railroad on-duty fatalities in 2010 — eight of them UTU members.

In Covington, Va., about 60 miles northwest of Roanoke, Local 623 member Alvin Boguess, age 24, fell some 50 feet from a CSX bridge into the Jackson River while part of a three-person crew switching cars into a Westvaco paper mill around 7 p.m. Feb. 8. Remote control was not involved.

According to reports, the train’s switchman and Local 623 member Dale Smith, age 48, scrambled down an embankment and into the frigid water, risking his own life, to rescue Boguess, who was face down in the river. Smith is being treated for hypothermia, and Boguess was airlifted to a Roanoke hospital, where his condition is reported as critical.

Boguess signed on with CSX in December 2008, while Smith signed on in November 2008.

WASHINGTON — The senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, introduced legislation Feb. 8 to reduce the rail route miles over which positive train control (PTC) must be implemented before January 2016.

Senate co-sponsors include John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandated PTC be installed, and the Federal Railroad Administration followed with a regulation ordering PTC to be installed on some 73,000 miles of track — those carrying passengers and freight cars containing toxic inhalation hazard chemicals — by Dec. 31, 2015.

PTC is a collision-avoidance overlay system for locomotives, using global positioning satellites and computer software.

In a Jan. 8 press release, Hutchison said her legislation is not intended to roll back the congressional mandate, but rather reduce the number of track miles on which PTC must be installed.

“Traffic patterns for shipping toxic chemicals are changing,” Hutchison said. “This means that at least 10,000 route miles used to move chemicals in 2008 are no longer expected to transport these products in 2015.”

The proposed legislation follows a visit by railroad CEOs in late January to officials of the Obama administration, in which they reportedly said they are in the process of concentrating toxic inhalation hazards on fewer miles of track, and that the PTC mandate should affect traffic patterns expected in 2015 rather than traffic patterns in 2008.

Hutchison called the FRA’s PTC mandate “an example of regulatory excess that is costing America’s businesses billions of dollars with no obvious benefits. We must rein in the regulatory bureaucracy in order to unleash innovation and investment and spur job growth,” Hutchison said. “This commonsense bill would reduce compliance costs without impacting the safety or security of our country’s rail lines.

“By requiring the use of the 2015 traffic patterns, this bill will do much to address the mistakes made by the FRA in implementing this mandate,” Hutchison said.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is pushing for a six-year, $53 billion investment in high-speed, higher-speed and expanded passenger rail service, but a fight is brewing with congressional Republicans.

An initial $8 billion in funding for these rail projects is expected to be included in the president’s fiscal year 2012 budget request that will be transmitted to Congress next week.

Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood lifted the curtain on the proposal Feb. 8 at a Philadelphia press conference, announcing the Obama administration wants the $53 billion focused on three areas of development:

  • Core express that will develop electrified high-speed trains operating between 125 and 250 mph on dedicated track reserved for these trains.
  • Regional trains that will operate between 90 and 125 mph.
  • Emerging rail where trains will operate up to 90 mph — intended to expand rail service to regions of the nation not currently served.

No specifics were provided.

Said Biden: “As a longtime Amtrak rider and advocate, I understand the need to invest in a modern rail system that will help connect communities, reduce congestion and create quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that cannot be outsourced.”

Republican leaders were quick to respond — and not positively. Congressional approval of the Obama administration rail plan must begin with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), and the chairman of the Rail Subcommittee, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), called the administration’s rail plan equivalent to “giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio.” Madoff is serving a 150-year jail term, having been convicted of what was called the largest investor fraud in U.S. history.

Mica and Shuster criticized the Obama administration’s rail policies, alleging “the Federal Railroad Administration is neither a capable grant agency, nor should it be involved in the selection of projects.”

They said that what the Obama administration so far has “touted as high-speed rail ended up as embarrassing snail-speed trains to nowhere.”

Mica said he would prefer federal money to be spent on the federally owned Northeast Corridor, operated by Amtrak, which he called “the most congested corridor in the nation.” The Northeast Corridor connects Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

Federal spending on passenger-rail projects, some of which will benefit freight railroads, is part of a broad jobs-creation initiative of the Obama administration. In his State of the Union message in January, Obama spoke of providing high-speed rail access to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.

During 2010, the administration, through the Federal Railroad Administration, awarded $10.5 billion in federal grants to 15 state for rail projects. Two of the states — Ohio and Wisconsin, both with Republican governors — rejected the federal money, saying their states couldn’t afford to pay for the bulk of the projects’ costs and the expected future operating subsidies.

Included in the $10.5 billion grants in 2010 was $2.3 billion toward a $40 billion, 800-mile California high-speed rail project intended to link Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego; and $1.25 billion toward a $2.3 billion, 84-mile Florida high-speed rail project intended to link Tampa with Orlando (and, eventually, Miami). Mica, from Florida, has not opposed that Florida project outright, but said he wants to see the private sector commit at least $300 million to the project before it moves forward.

If a congressionally ordered railroad risk reduction program is to be effective, the Federal Railroad Administration must include railroad employees and their labor unions in the process of evaluating and managing the program.

That is the message seven rail labor organizations sent to the FRA Feb. 8 in response to an earlier FRA notice of proposed rulemaking implementing a risk reduction program.

The program was ordered by Congress in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA). Its purpose is to reduce the consequences and rates of railroad accidents, incidents, injuries and fatalities.

The UTU was joined by the American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen and Transport Workers Union in commenting to the FRA.

Congress specifically concluded that having railroads “unilaterally decide issues of safety would not be in the public interest,” the UTU and the other labor organizations told the FRA. Yet, the notice of proposed rulemaking “undermines” that congressional intent.

To ensure an effective risk reduction program, the FRA must solicit rail labor input and participation, said the labor organizations. Specific to train and engine workers, such participation must include:

  • Technology implementation.
  • Fatigue management.
  • Risks posed by joint operations, including passenger and commuter trains.
  • Security risks.
  • National Transportation Safety Board recommendations.
  • Disclosure of all carrier bonus, incentive and compensation systems that reward management employees for meeting or exceeding safety related goals, targets, benchmarks or milestones.
  • Disclosure of policies and data related to waiver and discipline practices that in any way discourage accurate reporting of accidents, incidents, injuries or close calls.

The labor organizations also asked the FRA to develop historical data on the following:

  • Number of disciplinary charges filed for rule violations.
  • Number of whistle-blower cases filed by employees.
  • Number of employee dismissals.
  • Number of FRA reportable injuries.
  • Number of meet and confer sessions related to safety.
  • Safety records of regional and shortline railroads.
  • Retaliation, intimidation and overall culture, attitude and policy toward safety reporting by employees.
  • Safety incentive programs and policies that create peer pressure within work groups not to report injuries in order to preserve incentive prizes.
  • A carrier’s past response to risk, hazards, defects, near misses and safety complaints reported by employees.
  • The effectiveness of operating rules and practices in risk reduction.
  • The effectiveness of safety and training programs.

Additionally, the labor organizations asked the FRA to “pay particular attention to railroads that regularly intimidate employees to cut corners [and] hold formal hearings and discipline employees whenever accidents or injuries are reported.”

The process for evaluating and managing a risk reduction program must also include direct employee input, said the labor organizations. “There is no substitute for interviewing employees actually doing the work,” and such interviews should mask the identity of employees to ensure “they may speak freely.”

Of special importance to train and engine workers is the implementation of a fatigue management plan. “A human being cannot possibly be rested to work safely unless that human being knows when they must report for service,” said the labor organizations. “Often, safety critical employees are forced to report for service even when fatigued, or [they] face disciplinary hearings and loss of employment.

“We encourage the FRA to take immediate action to require 10 hours of advance notification for all operating employees not otherwise on assignments with defined start times,” said the labor organizations.

To read the comments of the seven labor organizations, click here.

To read the FRA’s earlier notice of proposed rulemaking, click on the following link:

www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-12-08/pdf/2010-30836.pdf