Rallies in support of public-employee collective bargaining are being held in scores of cities across America to protest legislative efforts in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin to revoke that right. A new attack on public-employee collective bargaining was launched Feb. 23 in Idah [...]
WASHINGTON — President Obama Feb. 23 named BNSF CEO Matt Rose, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and United Food and Commercial Workers’ Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Hansen to the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. The three join a long list of mostly busi [...]
A senior Ohio Democrat promises that if Republicans there are successful in passing legislation to revoke collective bargaining rights for public employees, a ballot initiative would be drafted to repeal the law in the next general election, reports the Columbus Dispatch news [...]
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the legislative standoff continues in Wisconsin, Ohio takes center stage Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the battle to preserve collective-bargaining rights for state workers. The Columbus Dispatch newspaper reports that as many as 20,000 pro collective-bargain [...]
By UTU International President Mike Futhey The right of workers to join a labor union and bargain collectively with employers over wages, benefits and working conditions is the foundation of workplace democracy. Brave and dedicated trade unionists before us risked their lives [...]
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 [...]
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — Members of UTU Local 153 here, employed as school bus drivers by Chestnut Ridge Transportation, have ratified a three-year wage, benefits and work rules agreement. The agreement provides the drivers with wage increases retroactive to Sept. 1, 2010, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
SMART Union