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By Bonnie Morr
Alternate Vice President, Bus Department

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is seeking comments on proposed new rules affecting drivers of commercial motor vehicles, which includes bus operators.

The rules cover revocation or disqualification of a commercial driver’s license (CDL) for traffic violations received while operating a personal automobile, and a ban on cell phone use while operating a commercial vehicle, which also can result in CDL revocation or disqualification.

The disqualification rules proposed are flawed, especially with regard to not providing a right of appeal or to contest disqualification. This strikes to the heart of job security, because any CDL revocation means a loss of employment.

As proposed by the FMCSA, states would lose federal highway funding if they fail to enact the proposed rules.

The UTU’s National Legislative Office, assisted by the Bus Department, is making the following comments to the FMCSA:

  • The final rule should remove any process for civil penalties against drivers.
  • The rule should contain an appeal process for the levels of disqualification.
  • If cell phone use is to be banned, then other appropriate and effective electronic communication devices must be made available by employers for use by drivers — and they must be sanctioned by the FMCSA.
  • Violations of the cell phone ban should be separate from traffic violations that lead to disqualification, and should not be allowed to progress to a lifetime disqualification.
  • Electronic communication devices should be placed so that they can be used by the driver without having to take one’s eyes off the road to use them.
  • Employers should be subject to periodic review of their procedures in communicating with drivers in emergency situations. Employers should also be subject to fines for noncompliance.

The problem of distracted driving goes beyond the bus operator, and involves employers, who have an obligation to provide effective communications devices in the vehicles we operate.

As a professional driver, I receive calls from my employer on my cell phone, with the company knowing that I am driving. These calls often inform me that I must work overtime or cover an additional shift. I am required to take the call.

Moreover, it is important to have the ability to use a cell phone in an emergency situation, which includes reporting dangerous situations involving passengers or abuse of the driver by a passenger.

I have been a commercial driver of school buses and public transit buses for 28 years, and I know that trained professional drivers are among the safest on the highway. We, as an organization representing trained and safe professional drivers, must make our voice heard within the FMCSA.

February is American Heart Month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States, claiming more lives than cancer.
Heart disease can strike at any time. Symptoms of a heart-related incident include:
  • Chest discomfort/pressure/squeezing or pain that lasts more than five minutes or goes away and comes back.
  • Discomfort in other parts of the upper body — in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw, stomach or abdomen.
  • Shortness of breath (which may or may not occur with chest discomfort).
  • A cold sweat.
  • Nausea.
  • Lightheadedness.
  • Awareness that your heart is not beating normally (such as rapid heartbeats or palpitations).

Among ways to keep your heart healthy are:

  • Better nutrition. Select lean meats and poultry, as well as fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Also, choose foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods.
  • Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugar.
  • Avoid salt — it’s almost everywhere and in everything. Become a food label-reader and ensure that you consume fewer than 2.3 grams of sodium a day (about a teaspoon of table salt).
  • Stop smoking and avoid second-hand smoke.
  • After consulting with your doctor, consider starting an exercise routine. Even just 30 minutes per day can help reduce your risk of heart disease. Exercise also helps to reduce everyday stress.
  • Talk with your doctor about risk factors for heart disease, which include blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride numbers, body mass, waist measurements, blood sugar level, and an eating plan best for you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions until you understand.
  • If you have diabetes, follow your doctor’s instructions for controlling your blood sugar. Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

If you suspect you are having a heart attack or other cardiac event, such as a stroke, get help quickly:

  • Stop your activity, sit or lie down, and call 911.
  • If you can get to the hospital faster by car, have someone else drive you. Do not drive yourself to the hospital.
  • At the hospital, immediately alert emergency personnel that you may be suffering a heart attack.

For more information, click on the following link:

www.heart.org

For those covered by Medicare, note that Medicare covers cardiovascular screenings that check for high cholesterol and triglyceride levels every five years. Medicare pays for these tests, so you would need only to pay your Medicare co-pay. Medicare also provides for a yearly wellness exam by your physician.

For more information on Railroad Medicare, click on the following link:

www.palmettogba.com/medicare

FedEx Freight, which is the nation’s largest stand-alone less-than-truckload carrier of freight, is going intermodal.

Less-than-truckload, or LTL, is commonly defined as freight weighing more than 151 pounds and less than 20,000 pounds.

LTL carriers collect these small to medium-size fright shipments from customers in a defined region, then consolidate them into single trailer or container loads for line-haul transportation to a distant destination, where the shipments are broken down for final local delivery to customers.

FedEx Freight is distinct from FedEx Express, which is an express carrier that primarily moves letters and packages via aircraft for the line-haul.

Instead of line-haul movement entirely by truck, FedEx Freight is choosing rail intermodal (trailers and containers atop flat cars) for some of its line-haul business.

Norfolk Southern says it was selected by FedEx Freight as a “preferred eastern rail carrier” for intermodal shipments.

FedEx Freight operates a 350-terminal network nationwide, with annual freight revenue of $4.4 billion. This compares with annual freight revenue of almost $8 billion for Norfolk Southern, and more than $14 billion each for BNSF and Union Pacific, which are North America’s two largest railroads.

Canadian Pacific Railway has job openings for qualified and experienced conductors at 14 Midwest locations.

The locations are:

  • Bensenville, Ill.
  • Davenport, Iowa
  • Elkhart, Ind.
  • Enderlin, N.D.
  • Harvey, N.D.
  • Huron, S.D.
  • Kansas City, Mo.
  • Marquette, Iowa
  • Mason City, Iowa
  • Portage, Wisc.
  • Rapid City, S.D.
  • St. Paul, Minn.
  • Thief River Falls, Minn.
  • Waseca, Minn.   

All applications must be made on-line using the following link:

https://performancemanager4.successfactors.com/career?company=CPR

Other rail job opportunities may be found by clicking on the following Railroad Retirement Board website link:

www.rrb.gov/PandS/Jobs/rrjobs.asp

Members who received disability-claim payments from Anthem or Lincoln in 2010 will be receiving IRS W-2 forms from those insurers.

This does not mean that the benefits are taxable. It is merely a reporting requirement of the IRS.

The payments will be listed in Box 12 with a “J” and the amount received. This notifies the IRS that the disability income is non-taxable.

Warning: Do not try this without your employer’s permission.
That said, a bus driver in Geneva, Switzerland, has gained television stardom there for her singing while at the wheel, reports AFP international news service.
The 49-year-old female driver, Maya Wirz, was given to singing opera while on the job, and soon gained the nickname of Switzerland’s Susan Boyle. “I want to sing for heaven’s sake,” the driver told the AFP.
So after a 13-year career as a bus driver, she is now flirting with national stardom, reports the AFP.
She also sings in the bath, she told the AFP — probably a better place for most wannabe sopranos than on the job.

SAN FRANCISCO — In this city, horribly devastated by HIV and AIDS, 24 members of UTU Local 1741 here are participating in a 565-mile bicycle trek to raise funds for support services and HIV prevention efforts.
Twenty-four members of the school-bus local, under the leadership member Beau Thomson, have participated in the event since 2005.
This year, 28 members of the local have formed their own cycling team, which will ride more than 565 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles over seven days as Team United First, which comes from a combination of United Transportation Union and their employer, First Student.
The team’s goal is to raise $100,000 from contributions. Already, $11,000 has been raised.
Most of the members of Team United First will ride bicycles, but others will serve as roadies, helping riders train and providing support services for the full week of the trip.
“In 2005, I was someone who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day,” Thomson said. “I was overweight and hadn’t done anything athletic in years. This year, I will train and ride with coworkers I’ve known for years. To see them experience this first hand will be priceless.”
Local 1741 President Sharon Wheatley said, “I enjoy helping people, and this ride seems like a good way to join the fight against AIDS, and to experience with some of my co-workers the fulfillment of working together on a fun and productive project. I have wanted to [ride] since 2005, and this is finally the year for me.”
Members of Team United First include Thomson, Wheatley, Marina Acosta, Chris Alexander, Kelly Beardsley, Sheila Bickerstaff, Marilyn Brown, Rosalie Carrico, Gerry Cooper, Lois Correa, Barb Donovan, Kathleen Duffy and Shelby Hall.
Also, Shane Hoff, former member Chris King, Sherrie Klein, David Kush, Terrance Levingston, Rina Luna, Gerardo Martin, Mario Ortiz, John Reardon, Rivas, Renee Roberts, Gabe Rocha, Julio Ruano, Emily Taormina and Dexter Thomas.
To make a donation, visit www.aidslifecycle.com. Select “Find a Participant” and enter “United First” in the team name space.

BOSTON — A coalition of Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) unions, including those representing clerks, carmen, supervisors, signalmen and shopcraft workers, have been released by the National Mediation Board (NMB) from mediation.

The release paves the way for appointment of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to make settlement recommendations for a wage, benefits and work-rules contract settlement under provisions of the Railway Labor Act.

The coalition unions rejected an NMB offer of binding arbitration.

The UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are negotiating separately with the MBCR and are not included in the release. BLET members previously failed to ratify a tentative agreement, and the BLET and MBCR returned to the bargaining table.

Under special commuter railroad provisions of the RLA, a second PEB is possible if the sides cannot accept the recommendations of the first PEB. Self-help is not permitted until 30 days after a second PEB (should it be appointed) has made its recommendations.

(Note that Amtrak and freight railroads are governed by another provision of the RLA that provides for just a single PEB.)

How did major railroads perform in 2010?

Reviewing their calendar-year and fourth-quarter profit statements, one wouldn’t know they were operating in the midst of a nationwide recession.

Profits soared, stock dividends were raised and operating ratios improved. (Operating ratio — a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue — is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability.)

Wall Street analyst Ed Wolfe reports the level of freight car and intermodal loadings for the year registered “the best” year-over-year growth in more than 50 years.

Wolfe and other analysts also point to the railroads’ pricing strength — the ability to raise rates on shippers with limited effective alternatives to railroad transportation. Many long-term contracts for hauling coal are expiring, and substantial rate increases on that traffic already are reflected in new contracts.

Indeed, railroad CEOs are predicting another strongly profitable year in 2011, which was reflected in year-end railroad stock prices, which were flirting with record highs.

Following are profit reports from the major railroads:

 Canadian National:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 19 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 13.5 percent.
  • Operating ratio improved four percentage points to 63.6.
  • The stock dividend was raised 20 percent.
  • The year-end stock price was up 38 percent. Analysts predict CN’s stock price will rise another 4 percent in 2011.

 Canadian Pacific:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 34 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 39 percent.
  • Operating ratio improved four percentage points to 77.6.
  • The stock dividend was raised 9 percent.
  • The year-end stock price was up 45 percent. Analysts predict CP’s stock price will rise another 8 percent in 2011.

 CSX:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 46 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 35 percent.
  • Operating ratio improved four percentage points to 71.1.
  • The stock dividend was raised 26 percent.
  • The year-end stock price was up 62 percent. Analysts predict CSX’s stock price will rise another 6 percent in 2011.

 Kansas City Southern:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 47 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 82 percent.
  • Operating ratio improved 8.8 percentage points to 73.2.
  • The year-end stock price was up 74 percent. Analysts predict KCS’s stock price will rise another 7 percent in 2011.

 Norfolk Southern:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 31 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 45 percent.
  • Operating ratio improved 5 percentage points to 71.9.
  • The stock dividend was raised 11 percent.
  • The year-end stock price was up 41 percent. Analysts predict NS’s stock price will rise another 8 percent in 2011.

 Union Pacific:

  • Fourth-quarter profit increased 31 percent.
  • Calendar-year 2010 profit increased 47 percent. UP Chairman Jim Young said 2010 was the “most profitable year in Union Pacific’s nearly 150-year history.”
  • Operating ratio improved 5.5 percentage points to 70.6.
  • The stock dividend was raised 40 percent.
  • The year-end stock price was up 60 percent. Analysts predict UP’s stock price will rise another 8 percent in 2011.

 BNSF:

As BNSF is now privately held, it no longer reports detailed financial data.

Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) have reintroduced legislation this Congress that would lasso railroad pricing power.

S. 49, introduced by Kohl, would repeal some of the railroads’ antitrust exemptions.

S. 158, introduced by Rockefeller and co-sponsored by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, would increase the size of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (which regulates railroad rates, service, mergers, and abandonments) and require the agency to be more sensitive to captive rail shipper complaints.

Similar bills failed even to reach the Senate floor during the previous Congress.