Author: paul

By UTU International President Mike Futhey

We accept that managing employees isn’t a popularity contest. But it need not be an unpopularity contest.

I share with each of you the concern over ratcheted-up harassment, intimidation and excessive discipline. There is no more economic sense to make out of this than there is common sense.

I was recently told of an incident where an experienced conductor’s work was interrupted no fewer than 18 times over a six-hour period to quiz him on operating rules. Such unjustifiable scrutiny contributes to an unsafe workplace, as the results are used to punish rather than to educate.

When employees in safety-sensitive positions are put in a position where their primary focus at work is defending themselves, their ability to do their jobs efficiently and safely is jeopardized. That is not in the offending carrier’s best interest, certainly not in the customers’ best interest, and absolutely not in the best interests of operating efficiently and safely.

We are putting a coalition together with other labor organizations to stop this unwarranted activity. First, we want to hear from you. On the UTU’s home page, at www.utu.org,  there is a link to contact information for each of the International’s senior officers.

Please, tell us the problems, with examples and details. Help us to teach the carriers we are going to represent our members and are not going to be silent while our members continue to be harassed, intimidated and excessively disciplined to the point of putting their limbs and lives in jeopardy. These members cannot focus on doing their jobs efficiently and safely.

No member should constantly have to look over their shoulder.

As the carriers’ attempt at tortured interpretations and applications of our agreements, we will fight them in the courts in Fort Worth, we will fight them on the properties from Jacksonville to Norfolk to Omaha, and we will not go quietly into the night. We will stand and fight.

Our message to the carriers is simple: We want our members properly trained, and then we expect the carries to leave us alone and let us do our work efficiently and safely.

On behalf of our members, we will — in the words of former President Al Chesser — “stand and fight with fire in the belly for what is right.”

A new federal law requires railroad workers to provide the Social Security numbers of their dependents.

The Medicare secondary payer statute and regulations contain a series of rules for determining whether Medicare is the primary payer for a person who has both Medicare and other health coverage.

In order to satisfy these regulations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for administering health-related programs, has implemented new reporting requirements.

Consequently, the national railroad carriers, the UTU Health and Welfare Plan and the Railway Employees National Health and Welfare Plan (“The Plan”) are participating in an all-out effort to obtain Social Security numbers (SSNs) for all covered dependents (wives, husbands and children) in order to achieve compliance with these new reporting requirements.

In addition, the Medicare Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) will also be required for any dependent eligible for Medicare.

In order to get this initiative underway, Railroad Enrollment Services will begin mailing information to those members identified with missing dependent SSNs and/or HICNs.

The members identified with missing dependent information should provide this information through a special direct mailing in early June.

Outlined below is a brief summary that will be included in the instructions you will receive from Railroad Enrollment Services:

• If The Plan records do not show a SSN for any given dependent, you will be asked to provide all nine digits of the number. For information on how to obtain a Social Security number for a newborn child or newly adopted child, visit http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10120.html.
• If any dependent is Medicare eligible, Railroad Enrollment Services will ask you to provide all digits and/or characters of the HICN, which is on the front of the red, white and blue Medicare health insurance card under the words “Medicare claim number.”
• By July 15, 2009, the Social Security number reporting form must be signed, dated and returned to Railroad Enrollment Services at the address provided in the mailing.

Please be assured that when Railroad Enrollment Services transmits the SSNs and/or HICNs to CMS, they will maintain all physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your personal information.

For additional information regarding the new CMS federal law pertaining to this requirement, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MandatoryInsRep/.

By Vic Baffoni

Vice President, Bus Dept.

Thank you to all who attended regional meeting workshops in Denver and Nashville, and those who made presentations. By the comments received, the workshops were a great success.

Our bus workshops had the largest attendance in many years, and we are working on improving them even more for the 2009 regional meetings in San Francisco and New Orleans.

On the legislative front, our national legislative office has achieved two significant successes.

First, our UTU PAC-supported lobbying helped to convince the U.S. DOT to postpone a proposed new rule requiring direct-observation drug and alcohol testing.

Second, our legislative efforts are behind legislation to halt the Bush administration’s green light for operators of Mexican trucks and buses to send their vehicles and drivers across our border and onto U.S. highways, with few restrictions. We haven’t achieved total victory, but we are making progress on our members’ behalf.

In San Rafael, Calif., Local 1741 concluded negotiations that won a three-year contract that rewards school bus drivers with increases each year of 6.1 percent, 6.2 percent, and 6.8 percent. Some operators will realize as much as a 26-percent raise through a change in the number of years’ seniority required to reach top scale. Many thanks to Pamela Williams, Lois Correa, Gary Romero, Paul Stein and Jim Charas for their hard work and perseverance.

Finally, vote your job on Election Day. VOTE OBAMA-BIDEN.

Wall Street may be in a devastating financial free fall, but UTU finances are solid and growing.

That’s the conclusion of the two UTU International officers responsible for UTU finances.

“I asked for a thorough review of our finances after hearing that mischief makers are deceiving some UTU members that the UTU is in financial difficulty,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey.

“These unscrupulous individuals are spreading a vicious, unfounded deception that if the UTU doesn’t merge with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association immediately, the UTU is facing financial failure,” Futhey said. “This is a continuation of the misinformation that a federal court found with the previous administration.”

Assistant President Arty Martin said, “While UTU finances have been, and continue to be, strong, our evidence is that the SMWIA has a hand in the spreading of these false rumors about UTU finances.”

The SMWIA merger is on hold by order of a federal district court, which found that the previous administration failed to make UTU members aware of conflicts between the existing UTU constitution and the SMWIA constitution prior to seeking a ratification vote.

The court said that “absent information about the possible changes to their own governing document, the UTU members’ votes cannot be said to be meaningful.”

Moreover, the UTU membership was given incorrect information as to why the previous administration sought the merger. Recall that the attempted merger between the UTU and the SMWIA was predicated on severe UTU financial problems.

“When Arty Martin, Kim Thompson and I took office Jan. 1, and gained access to the books, it became apparent that UTU finances were not as dire as had previously and wrongfully been presented to us and our members,” Futhey said. “And as a result of our financial stance taken, UTU finances have continued to improve since taking office on Jan. 1.”

Of the current false rumor being spread about UTU finances, UTU General Secretary and Treasurer Kim Thompson said, “This is the same outrageous, incorrect and irresponsible allegation that was made by the previous UTU International president when he attempted his merger cram-down last year. The allegation was wrong then. The allegation is even more wrong today.”

The UTU’s executive director of finance, Stu Collins — who shares with the GS&T a legal and ethical responsibility to provide accurate financial reports — said, “Aggressive budget monitoring has improved the International’s funds by 50 percent since Jan. 1. The general fund, alone, has increased by more than 85 percent this year,” Collins said.

One example provided by Kim Thompson is the UTU convention fund. “The previous administration said we had been wiped out by the 2007 convention. In fact, more than $1 million in the convention fund went unspent.”

Said Kim Thompson: “Action taken by delegates to the 2007 convention mandated the GS&T prepare an annual budget for the operation of the UTU.

“The budget President Futhey, Assistant President Martin and I prepared for 2008 was developed with a goal of improving the reserves of the International funds by 50 percent by year end,” Kim Thompson said. “Within just the first eight months of 2008, we have accomplished that goal — and our funds continue to grow.

“Every effort is being made to put International funds to the best use for the membership — the most bang for the buck,” Kim Thompson said. “We are improving our financial situation as we deliver more to the membership.

“Since the Futhey administration took office, we negotiated a new national agreement with substantial back pay, we have stepped up organizing efforts in the rail and bus departments, and we have begun a training program for our local, general committee and state legislative officers through the UTU University,” Kim Thompson said.

“Within the UTU International headquarters operation, we have improved office productivity by ending the war that was started against International employees and their own union by the previous administration,” Kim Thompson said.

“Natural attrition has helped us cut costs,” Kim Thompson said. “At the International-officer level, we are doing more with fewer International vice presidents by utilizing each of them in the most cost-effective manner, including reduced travel budgets.”

UTU Executive Director of Finance Stu Collins said, “We remain on track to exceed the goals of the 2008 budget. The general fund has increased since Jan. 1 from $1.8 million to $3.9 million. Total International funds have increased from $7.6 million to $11.3 million, since Jan.

“Even the Discipline Income Protection Fund, which previously had difficulties, now exceeds expenses by $572,000, which is a tremendous turnaround since 2007,” Collins said.

“As for our union assets that are invested, they are invested primarily in cash accounts and short term bonds, and are largely unaffected by the stock market problems,” Kim Thompson said.

“As for the UTU Insurance Association, it has assets — like those of all insurance providers, and even the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund — invested in the stock market, as well as in bonds and cash accounts, but the UTUIA investments are generally conservative in nature,” Kim Thompson said.

Brothers & Sisters:

I am writing this as I return from the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

A high point of my week was an invitation-only luncheon with Michelle Obama and Jill and Joe Biden on Friday, Aug. 29.

What a privilege it was to hear Michelle Obama speak first-hand of her husbands’ concern and support for working families, for making our tax code more equitable, for strengthening laws in support of organized labor, and investing in transit and Amtrak. Sen. Biden also voiced a similar message of support.

Sitting with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka, in a box above the convention floor to hear Sen. Obama deliver his historic acceptance speech, was another special event.

I also had opportunity to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, and House Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota — who, incidentally, is among those mentioned as in the running to join President Obama’s cabinet as our nation’s transportation secretary.

I also had a chat with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who shares many of our concerns about CSX and its management.

For sure, I was afforded these opportunities NOT because I am International President of the UTU. It is because the UTU has one of the largest political action committees (PACs) among organized labor, and one of the most effective Washington legislative offices.

The UTU PAC has helped countless labor-friendly candidates win and hold office, and those candidates never forget the assistance from our 125,000 active and retired members whose careers are, and have been, dedicated to keeping freight trains, intercity-rail and bus-passenger operations, and local transit on time and safe.

As high an honor as it was to represent UTU members in Denver, the real benefit of our political involvement occurs every day that the House, Senate and state legislatures are in session. It is on those days that UTU PAC contributions pay their compound interest, as our political friends — those who share our dreams, our concerns and our sense of justice — go to work for us in support of laws that advance the economic interests of working families.

Speaker Pelosi knew that many of our members are not Democrats. And she understood that the UTU is bipartisan in its political dealings — that we support Republicans, as well as Democrats, so long as the candidate is labor-union friendly.

Speaker Pelosi also noted that the overwhelming majority of Democratic lawmakers vote in support of working families, and that is why it is so essential to keep the House, Senate, White House and state legislatures from being controlled by anti-labor conservatives, who would privatize and endanger Social Security and Railroad Retirement, forever block the Employee Free Choice Act, destroy Amtrak, cut transit spending, continue exporting jobs, and tilt our tax codes even more in favor of corporations and the super-wealthy.

I assured Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid and all our other friends in Congress with whom I met that what the UTU would concentrate on during this election season is to help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House.

We will do this, I said, by concentrating our efforts in registering our members, their families, neighbors and friends to vote. And we will then devote our efforts to explaining in a positive way to our members why it is so essential they vote their paychecks on Election Day.

While working families have legitimate differences on various social issues, we all agree that goal number one is job security, as well as better wages, benefits and workplace safety. To achieve these goals, we depend on judges and regulators (nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate) who are labor friendly. A President Obama will make those appointments; a President McCain will not.

It was anti-labor conservatives who set in motion policies that eliminated labor protection in railroad short-line sales.

It is anti-labor conservatives who want to turn Social Security and Railroad Retirement over to the free-wheeling, private-sector financial whiz-bangs who brought us the Enron, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacles.

It was anti-labor conservatives who called Federal Railroad Administration safety inspectors “meter maids,” and who oppose stiff carrier fines for serious safety violations.

It is anti-labor conservatives who are trying to eliminate the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA).

It is anti-labor judges to whom the carriers run for injunctions against strikes.

And it is anti-labor lawmakers and regulators who keep in place such horrendous laws and regulations that, for example, put a commercial driver’s license at risk for minor traffic infractions in a private automobile, or who impose degrading direct-observation drug-testing procedures.

These are our paycheck issues, which can insure or destroy a secure economic future for our families — now and in retirement. A labor-friendly White House is essential to change in support of working families.

As I spoke with delegates, other labor leaders, and, especially, so many young Americans who traveled to Denver just to be part of the convention, I was reminded of John Kennedy’s thrilling line from his 1961 inaugural address — that, “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans . . .”

Barack Obama is about change — about change that will improve our job security, wages, benefits and workplace safety.

And this is why it is so essential that UTU members, their families, their friends and neighbors come together to help elect Barack Obama president on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

In solidarity,

Mike Futhey

International President

DENVER — “I will not stand down, I will not retreat and I will not surrender until our members have the right to vote on their own constitution,” UTU International President Mike Futhey told some 700 cheering UTU officers and members here at a regional meeting in explaining his position on the court-sidetracked merger with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA).

Futhey’s comments came during his first state of the union message since taking office Jan. 1.

He said the finances of the UTU, the United Transportation Union Insurance Association (UTUIA) and the UTU Discipline Income Protection Plan (DIPP) are showing improvement owing to internal cost cutting and new efficiencies, increased revenue and less aggressive disciplinary actions by carriers.

Futhey pledged to devote every resource at the UTU’s disposal to assuring the November election of Barack Obama and other labor-friendly candidates.

In regard to the SMWIA merger — currently halted by a federal court-imposed preliminary injunction — Futhey said he never opposed the merger. In fact, he voted for it.

But after learning that the “merger promised” wasn’t the merger to be delivered, Futhey demanded — as the federal court subsequently suggested — that a merged-union constitution be written and submitted to the UTU membership for approval.

“I was all for the merger that promised craft and general committee autonomy,” Futhey said. Then, before taking office, Futhey heard former UTU President Paul Thompson tell a UTU gathering that an intent of the merger was to subvert union democracy and “get accomplished what couldn’t be accomplished through democratic procedures” — specifically, an end to the UTU’s long and cherished craft and general committee autonomy.

At that point, Futhey said, he realized that he, and all other UTU members, had been misled — that the promise of the UTU constitution being inserted, intact, into the SMWIA constitution was a sham.

“I want the merger promised me, promised the UTU board of directors and promised UTU members,” Futhey said. To accomplish that, “let’s get a constitution written, put it out to our members, and let our members decide if the constitution written is the one they want.”

Futhey said he had several meetings with SMWIA General President Mike Sullivan to discuss the writing of a constitution for the merged union. Such a constitution has not yet emerged.

In regard to seven members of the UTU Board of Directors who seek, through SMWIA-financed court action, to force the merger’s implementation without an approved constitution, Futhey said he “never asked [them] to change their position. This is a democratic union and they have a right to say what they want to say.” Their appeal of the preliminary injunction is currently pending before the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Chief among the UTU successes in 2008, Futhey said, is a ratified and signed national rail contract reached by the negotiating team “that is superior to the agreement the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen got for their members.”

Futhey also cited recent Bus Department agreements as among “the strongest in the nation,” and praised a new Amtrak agreement that preserves the jobs of all assistant conductors.

“We know workers can do better and we are proving it every day on behalf of our members,” Futhey said, pointing to the UTU’s ramp-up of organizing efforts.

By training UTUIA field representatives in organizing, the UTU added 13 new organizers without increasing costs, Futhey said. “Whether it is eight new members in Alabama, or 800 new members in Orange County, California, we are going to organize them and represent them.”

Futhey also cited, as a recent success, the start-up of a UTU University, whose objectives are to make precedential arbitration awards easier to access and use; create a Web-based communications system tying locals, general committees, state legislative offices and the International together; and provide new Web-based training tools to assist local and general committee officers and legislative directors in serving members more effectively.

Turning to finances, Futhey said the UTU general fund balance has increased substantially following Headquarters consolidation and efficiency improvements, and more effective use of fewer International officers.

“No longer do we have vice presidents with their feet propped up,” Futhey said. “We have VPs out there working, and we have eliminated a vice president of administration,” with that work now accomplished by Assistant President Arty Martin and General Secretary & Treasurer Kim Thompson.

Thompson already has moved to Cleveland — as has Futhey — and Martin is in the process of moving to Cleveland.

Futhey said the UTUIA has increased its sales and turned a profit during the first quarter of 2008.

In coming weeks, Futhey promised to coordinate a strategy using the UTU PAC, state legislative directors, the UTU Auxiliary, UTU for Life, UTU communications channels and International officers to help elect Barack Obama president, increase the labor-friendly majorities of the House and Senate, and elect more labor-friendly legislators at the state level.

“I will not stand down, I will not retreat and I will not surrender until our members have the right to vote on their own constitution,” says UTU International President Mike Futhey in Denver July 9.