By UTU International President Mike Futhey We continue making progress in negotiations to amend the national rail agreement, affecting some 40,000 UTU members employed by BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and many smaller railroads represented b [...]
By James StemUTU National Legislative Director January brings a new session of Congress and the start of state legislative sessions across the country. Our UTU legislative team in Washington and our state legislative directors will be on guard protecting the interests of our [...]
We know many UTU-represented bus drivers who would cherish for their systems the same zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct that is in effect in Milwaukee. A bus passenger there was escorted off the bus and fined $500 for using obscenities in front of other passenge [...]
WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration nominations of Republicans to key transportation regulatory positions — one to the National Mediation Board; the other to the Surface Transportation Board — were returned to the White House by the Senate this week withou [...]
Come May 1, Social Security and Railroad Retirement checks for new recipients no longer will be mailed. The Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board are going paperless — sending payment electronically (direct deposit) to those receiving retireme [...]
The 2 percentage point reduction in payroll taxes for railroad workers covered by Railroad Retirement, and bus and aviation workers covered by Social Security, will NOT have a negative impact on either the Railroad Retirement or Social Security trust funds, as has been wrongl [...]
WASHINGTON — A former John McCain operative has been nominated by President Obama to fill a Republican seat on the Surface Transportation Board. The nomination requires Senate confirmation. It is not clear whether there is sufficient time for the lame-duck Congress to a [...]
WASHINGTON — A national ban on cell-phone use by bus drivers has been proposed by the U.S. DOT. It is expected to be put in place before March. Bus drivers already are banned by federal regulation from texting while working. “Every time a commercial truck or bus d [...]
Now that Congress has approved, and sent to President Obama for signing, the compromise tax cut and jobless benefits legislation, the question UTU members have, is, “What does it mean for me?” For the jobless — and there are currently some five applicants fo [...]
Last week was not a good one for two Midwest bus drivers. In Urbana, Ill., a transit driver who chose to run smack dab over a snowman lost her job, reports the Chicago Tribune. The snowman had been built in the middle of a University of Illinois campus street. A YouTube-poste [...]
SMART Union