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 [...]
WASHINGTON – The Department of Transportation has ordered the following minimum random drug and alcohol testing rates for 2012: For workers in safety sensitive positions and whose safety is regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration o [...]
Williams LOS ANGELES – The almost 5,000 UTU members employed by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) have ratified a new contract, through June 30, 2014, by better than a three-to-one margin. The new contract provides for wage increases, a signing [...]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Members of UTU Local 1715 have ratified a new agreement with Charlotte Area Transit by a three-to-one margin. The new contract provides for wage increases, freezes employee contributions to health care insurance, restores travel time, adjusts work rules as s [...]
By Bonnie MorrAlternate Vice President – Bus Department Operating a bus may be the most stressful job in America. Early in November, 100 Detroit bus operators walked off the job after repeated passenger assaults. In New York, a study found a pattern of physical and verbal ass [...]
WASHINGTON – A Final Rule has been issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) prohibiting bus (including school bus) drivers and truck drivers, operating in interstate commerce, from using hand-held cell phone while operating their vehicles. Also innclu [...]
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 [...]
By BONNIE MORRAlternate Vice President, Bus Department As some in Congress seek to slash spending on public transit – the only affordable means for millions of Americans going to and from work – ridership is soaring. The American Public Transit Association says more than five [...]
WASHINGTON – A bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to bring financial relief to distressed transit systems and to help stem cuts in transit jobs and service. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Rep. Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) have introduced H.R. 32 [...]
By Calvin StudivantAlternate Vice President, Bus Department In late August, a federal appeals court vacated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule requiring electronic onboard recorders. The court said the rule does not sufficiently protect drivers from [...]