SAN FRANCISCO — First Student school bus drivers here, represented by UTU Local 1741, have ratified a new wage and benefits agreement by a 72 percent majority. “Our strategy was to keep negotiations limited to economics because the work rules in our contract are t [...]
WASHINGTON — The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Republican John Mica of Florida, has named subcommittee chairs. Following are the chairs of the three subcommittees dealing with air, bus and rail issues: Subcommittee on Highways and Trans [...]
Decades ago, the chairman of New York Central Railroad complained that while freight could move cross country without being transferred from one boxcar to another, transcontinental passengers often had to change trains in Chicago. Even today, on Amtrak, passengers must change [...]
WASHINGTON — Two friends of labor — Democratic Senators Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) — say they will retire at the end of the 112th Congress in 2012. Conrad is completing his fifth six-year term; Lieberman completing his fourth six-year te [...]
WASHINGTON — Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, announced she will retire at the end of 2012, when her third six-year term ends. The Senate Commerce Committee has oversight of many rail, transit, air and bus issue [...]
In the wake of the horror of Tucson, which reawakened among Americans of all races, religions and cultures the knowledge that there is more that binds us in our hopes and dreams than divides us in our politics, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his “I Have a D [...]
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, whose drivers are represented by the UTU, is phasing out its last diesel engine bus, becoming the nation’s first major urban bus fleet equipped entirely with alternative-fuel technology, which includes compressed n [...]
By Calvin Studivant, Alternate vice president, Bus Department December marked 55 years since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus — “an act that challenged the moral conscience of an entire nation,” said President Obama in honori [...]
Railroad Retirement, Social Security, Medicare and Railroad Unemployment Insurance payroll taxes have changed for 2011. Following are the tax rates: Railroad Retirement Tier I: Paid by employer: 6.20% on wages up to $106,800. Paid by employee: 4.2% on wages up to $106,800. S [...]
WASHINGTON — President Obama has renominated two Republicans to key transportation posts after the Senate failed to take action on the nominations last year. Nominated to the three-person National Mediation Board, for a term expiring July 1, 2013, is Republican Thomas M [...]
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