When Medicare began in the 1960s, it was the primary payer for all services except those covered by workers compensation. In 1980, Congress enacted provisions to shift costs from the Medicare program to private insurers, when possible. This legislation stopped Medicare from m [...]
Last month, a Metro-North Railroad train plunged off the track while taking a sharp curve at 82 miles per hour, killing four and seriously injuring 20. In the aftermath, some experts said the disastrous results could have been prevented by positive train control (PTC). An aut [...]
Labor unions are funneling cash to a super-PAC tied to a former lawmaker that is working to elect centrist Republicans to Congress. Unions have contributed about $765,000 so far to the Defending Main Street Super-PAC, which is associated with former GOP lawmaker Steve LaToure [...]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a case that could invalidate hundreds of National Labor Relations Board rulings and set the agency back more than a year in its workload if it loses. The dispute could also determine when presidents can use so-called “r [...]
Lewis Lavon Nelson, 74, retired general chairperson of former Union Pacific General Committee of Adjustment GO 957 (Northwest District), died Jan. 10 from complications related to lung cancer. A member of SMART Transportation Division Local 1574 at Portland, Ore., Nelson reti [...]
The Long Island Railroad rolled closer to a possible summer strike Jan. 15 when transit executives rejected a proposed series of raises for workers. MTA Labor Relations Director Anita Miller notified the National Mediation Board that the authority would not enact a contract s [...]
With the support of the SMART Transportation Division, AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Edward Wytkind has written a letter to Administrator Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration. The letter, on behalf of the 32 member union’s that make up the T [...]
U.S. governors and mayors are pushing Congress to quickly reauthorize long-term legislation to fund transportation projects across the country, fearing that any lapse in funding could disrupt existing projects and hurt local economies. Testifying at a Tuesday hearing before t [...]
Congressional conference committee members cobbling together an actual fiscal year 2014 federal budget have reportedly agreed on budgetary numbers fairly favorable to Amtrak and Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) programs. Federal high speed rail f [...]
The fatal derailment of a Metro-North train at the southern tip of the Bronx last month has spurred Capitol Hill lawmakers to boost the federal government’s “woefully underfunded” rail inspection program. The bipartisan spending deal reached Monday night by Republican and Dem [...]
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