Category: News
RRB announces retiree earnings limits will increasse in 2023
Railroad Retirement annuitants subject to earnings restrictions can earn more in 2023 without having their benefits reduced due to increased limits indexed to average national wage increases. Like Social Security benefits, some Railroad Retirement benefit payments are subject [...]
N.J. designates Oct. 15 as annual Railroad Workers Day
In a rare acknowledgment of the value railroaders bring to the table, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has named October 15 as “Railroad Workers Day”. Gov. Murphy went on the record saying, “Through extreme weather events and a global pandemic, our state’s railroad workers hav [...]Railroad Retirement benefits to see rise in 2023
Most Railroad Retirement annuities, like Social Security benefits, will increase in January 2023 due to a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2021 to the corresponding period of the current year. Cost-of-living increases are calculated in both the [...]
Social Security Administration announces benefit increase for 2023
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will increase 8.7% in 2023, the Social Security Administration announced. On average, Social Security benefits will increase by more than $140 per month starting in January. [...]
SMART MD membership votes to ratify contract with freight rail carriers
October 12, 2022 — The membership of the SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART MD) has voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the carriers, after almost three years of negotiations between the union and the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (N [...]
Medicare Part B premium and deductible for 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Part B premium and deductible costs for 2023. Railroad Medicare processes claims for Part B services. This year saw a modest decrease in both costs. The 2023 annual Part B deductible decreased from $233 t [...]
N.Y. Post reports Amtrak execs net big post-pandemic bonuses
The New York Post reported that Amtrak paid out over $2.3 million in annual bonuses to 10 executives in 2021, despite the carrier seeing its lowest revenues in a decade. In the article published by the Post on Oct. 5, the bonuses were reported by Amtrak to be “earned incentiv [...]
SMART-TD Tentative Agreement update: Oct. 5, 2022
SMART-TD Brothers and Sisters, Due to an immense amount of misinformation, I would like to provide answers to some of the questions and concerns that I have been receiving over the past few weeks, as well as provide an update on where we are in the process regarding the tenta [...]