As we celebrate Black History Month in February, here are some inventions by African-Americans of interest to rail and bus members: * Andrew Jackson Beard, born a slave in Alabama, became a railroad employee and invented the Jenny coupler in 1897 after losing a leg using the [...]
WASHINGTON — Since its creation four decades ago, Amtrak has perennially teetered on the edge of financial extinction, annually fighting down to the wire for minimal funds to keep it operating.This year is no exception. And while UTU member and retiree phone calls ̵ [...]
WASHINGTON — The White House fiscal year 2012 budget request submitted to Congress Feb. 14 is unexpectedly generous toward the various modes of transportation. That said, the FY 2012 budget that emerges from a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democrati [...]
WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee this week will consider a proposal to cut more than $200 million from Amtrak’s current fiscal year 2011 federal subsidy, which could result in reductions of Amtrak service and layoffs of Amtrak workers. Also under co [...]
UTU members employed by Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) have ratified two new four-year agreements affecting wages, benefits and working conditions. Conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen ratified their tentative agreement by a 75 percent plurality, while Florida East C [...]
By Assistant President Arty Martin As I travel the nation attending local and regional meetings, I am often asked, “What has the union done for me?” Brothers and sisters, there is no “me” in “union.” Your union cannot make agreements for on [...]
The Federal Railroad Administration has a stark message for rail workers with safety-related duties: Only use your cell phone when allowed or you could lose your job. Emergency Order No. 26, which went into effect in October 2008, restricts the use by train crews and others i [...]
The Railroad Retirement Board reports it has adjusted benefits — effective with February benefits checks — for more than 140,000 beneficiaries to reflect new federal income tax withholding rates. The new rates comply with provisions of the congressionally passed T [...]
A BLET member working a conductor assignment on Norfolk Southern was killed in a conventional shoving movement accident in Kankakee, Ill., Feb. 8; and a UTU member conductor is hospitalized in critical condition following a fall from a bridge into a frigid river in Covington, [...]
WASHINGTON — The senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, introduced legislation Feb. 8 to reduce the rail route miles over which positive train control (PTC) must be implemented before January 2016. Senate co-sponsors include J [...]
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