Category: News

‘Tis the season for sweets — and restraint

December 28, 2011 By Dr. Norman K. BrownUTU Medical Consultant When I want to get started on a job that I have been putting off, I eat a few chocolate chip cookies (think sugar), and my enthusiasm picks right up and I am on my way. Unfortunately, there is a downside to our easy access to ene [...]

Tags Dr. Norman K. Brown

OSHA website offers winter safety tips

December 28, 2011 WASHINGTON –The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has created a webpage to provide worker and employer guidance during winter weather: http://s.dol.gov/L1 The web page includes links to guidance from OSHA, the Federal Emergency Management Age [...]

Tags OSHA

Two new rail agreements ratified

December 27, 2011 Wier Two new UTU negotiated rail agreements have been ratified by members. UTU-represented trainmen and engineers employed by Evansville & Western Railroad overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year agreement, while UTU-represented trainmen and engineers employed by Iowa Int [...]

Tags Dany Kautzman, Dave McFarland, Dave Wier, Evansville & Western, Iowa Interstate, Jesse West, Local 1525, Local 258, Norman Kitchen, R.W. "Red" Dare

Health care tax benefit for Mass. rail members

December 27, 2011 UTU members in Massachusetts covered under the National Rail Contract and other UTU plans will not face a tax penalty for the 2011 state tax year for dependent child maternity benefits. The Massachusetts state legislature had mandated coverage of dependent child maternity ben [...]

FAA announces new pilot fatigue rules

December 21, 2011 WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced new rules aimed at preventing dangerous fatigue among passenger aircraft pilots. The rules do not affect all-cargo aircraft pilots. The new rules are in response to a Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, N.Y [...]

Tags FAA, fatigue, Federal Aviation Administration, pilots

Fund established for family of member killed on job

December 21, 2011 A fund has been established for the family of Local 1957 member Stacy Rieger, a BNSF conductor, who was killed Dec. 18 when his head reportedly struck a bridge beam while leaning over the railing of his moving locomotive’s side running board in an attempt to check the fuel le [...]

Tags BNSF conductor, bridge, killed, Local 1957, Rieger

OSHA raps UP again for whistleblower violation

December 21, 2011 Once again, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered a railroad to reinstate an employee and pay him back wages for violating an employee’s rights as a whistleblower. In the latest OSHA order, Union Pacific was ordered i [...]

Tags Federal Rail Safety Act, OSHA, Union Pacific, whistleblower

Court cancels UP fines in drug smuggling

December 21, 2011 The Department of Homeland Security has been ordered by a federal district court in Nebraska to cease assessing fines against Union Pacific and seizing its rolling stock following discovery of illegal narcotics on trains originating in Mexico and delivered by Mexican railroad [...]

Tags Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, narcotics, Union Pacific

We are now SMART

December 19, 2011 Click here for a joint letter from UTU International President Mike Futhey and Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association General President Joe Nigro on the merger between our two organizations to become the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation Workers (SMART).

Tags letter, merger, Nigro, SMART

Santa Monica drivers ratify new contract

December 18, 2011 SANTA MONICA, Calif. – UTU members employed by Santa Monica Regional Bus Lines (UTU Local 1785) have ratified a new three-year contract by a three-to-one margin. The contract, which expires June 30, 2014, includes pay raises, maintains and improves work rules, retains full-co [...]

Tags Adhi Reddy, Local 1785, Martin Guerrero, Moses Avila, Santa Monica