WASHINGTON — Congress, unable to agree on very much lately, has agreed on funding for Amtrak, bus transportation, commercial aviation and transit through Sept. 30, 2012. The funding is for fiscal year 2012, which began Oct. 1. Earlier, Congress agreed to legislation extending [...]
Two locals have placed holiday party announcements in the November issue of the UTU News, which may not reach all members in sufficient time to plan attendance. To ensure that members have advance notice of the upcoming get-togethers, see the listing of announcements below: L [...]
WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration, in response to inquiries about when it is permissible for an employee directing the movement to operate a motor vehicle in the context of a pushing or shoving movement, has issued the following advisory: The central concern in [...]
The UTU, as a subcontractor to Amtrak, is in the final stages of developing a training manual – “Emerging Incidents Procedures” – for some 8,000 front-line Amtrak employees. “The manual will be used as part of Amtrak’s 2012 Block Training cycle to assist frontline employees a [...]
Heroism has no timetable, no expectation, no formula. It is displayed instantaneously and accompanied only by rare courage. Enter, center stage, two UTU heroes – Amtrak conductors Richard d’Alessandro and Loxie Sanders – a couple of regular rails, represented by the UTU and s [...]
Previsich Operations center employees of South Florida Tri-Rail, who voted UTU “yes” early in 2011, have their first collective bargaining agreement in place. It provides for a signing bonus; an immediate wage increase, plus additional wage increases in 2012 and 2013; a 40-ho [...]
WASHINGTON – Passenger and commuter train conductors and engineers face new hours-of-service rules effective Oct. 15 under a final rule published Aug. 12 by the Federal Railroad Administration. The new rules differ in certain areas from hours-of-service regulations imposed on [...]
Risch WASHINGTON — New jobs building and operating high-speed rail “are American jobs that can’t be shipped overseas and would be a Godsend in this economic downturn,” UTU Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch told a congressionally sponsored forum here Aug [...]
The likelihood of 300-mph magnetic levitation trains operating in the United States anytime soon took another body blow in July when a private-sector firm planning a maglev route in Pennsylvania filed for bankruptcy. Maglev uses powerful electro-magnets to levitate, propel, g [...]
General Chairperson Roger Lenfest (Amtrak, GO 769), age 65, died July 10 following a short illness. Lenfest, of Sicklerville, N.J., succeeded Al Suozzo as general chairperson following Suozzo’s death in March 2010. Assistant General Chairperson Dirk Sampson becomes acting gen [...]