ORLANDO, Fla. – As lawmakers prepare to debate passenger rail reauthorization, leaders of AFL-CIO transportation unions are calling on Congress to set a long-term future for Amtrak that meets the demands of a growing ridership, invests in the railroad’s decaying equipment an [...]
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a new report on the status of fatigue among railroad industry employees. In 2001, the FRA began examining the fatigue status of safety-critical railroad employees by using logbooks to collect work and sleep data over a period of [...]
By James Stem, National Legislative Director – As a new Congress begins its largely partisan struggles, which are sometimes difficult to understand and frequently disturbing, the job of the National Legislative Office is to convince lawmakers that the legislative agenda of S [...]
The following message was sent to the UTU National Legislative Office from Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo: In his State of the Union Address last week, President Obama spoke about the importance of investing in our infrastructure as a path to create new jobs and lay [...]
According to Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) policy, every annuitant has the right to manage his or her own benefits. However, when physical or mental impairments make a railroad retirement annuitant incapable of properly handling benefit payments, or where the RRB determines [...]
By SMART General President Joe Nigro – We are one! Not only as a result of our recent merger, but also by the pledge we make to one another as union brothers and sisters. The strength of organized labor lies in the hearts and minds of every union member who understands the m [...]
Members planning to attend one or both of the UTU’s regional meetings this summer can now complete their registration online through the UTU website. The secure pages on the UTU website provide for safe and convenient registration. There’s no need for filling out a paper regi [...]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In the last three years in Duval County, four people have been killed walking on railroad tracks. That number may seem pretty small, but there are the unseen victims to consider in these cases as well: The men and women who have to witness a train k [...]
Transportation funding in Missouri has been a hot topic at the state capital this session, State Legislative Director Ken Menges reports. In its last session, the Missouri legislature appointed a committee to study the state’s transportation needs and UTU was invited and made [...]
Contract talks on Amtrak are continuing, General Chairperson Dirk Sampson reports. “As these negotiations are ongoing and sensitive, I am not a liberty to release the details,” he said. “My main priority with Amtrak is getting this contract settled,” [...]