Category: Transportation
Federal Income Tax and Railroad Retirement Benefits
The following questions and answers describe the tax statements issued by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) each January for Federal income tax purposes. Railroad retirement beneficiaries needing information about these statements, or about tax withholding from their benefi [...]DIPP payments changing to direct deposit March 1
Effective on March 1, 2018, all new and continuing claims for the SMART Transportation Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) will be paid via direct deposit into participants’ accounts. Please complete the authorization for automatic transfer that is attached to y [...]
Working people’s day of action to be held Feb. 24
https://www.facebook.com/AFSCME/videos/10155325175933061/ What is the Working People’s Day of Action? In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life in Memphis, Tenn., to help African-American sanitation workers come together to win freedom and dignity on the job. [...]
Online fundraiser begun for crew hurt in N.Y. derailment
An online fundraising effort has been started for a SMART TD conductor and an engineer who were severely injured Feb. 15 when their train derailed in Attica, N.Y. Conductor Ben Garland of Local 1566 out of Buffalo, N.Y., and engineer Dave Tobey were hospitalized after their N [...]
NTSB issues urgent safety recommendations
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued three urgent safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), acting upon the agency’s findings in two ongoing railroad accident investigations. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) received one u [...]
Three GCAs ratify contract with Amtrak
Amtrak employees represented by SMART Transportation Division General Committees of Adjustment GO-769, GO-663, and GO-342 (Conductors, Assistant Conductors, and Yardmasters) voted in overwhelming favor of ratifying a tentative agreement reached last month. The agreement, effe [...]
Batory confirmed as FRA administrator
After months of having his nomination on hold in the U.S. Senate, Ronald L. Batory was confirmed Tuesday evening as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration by unanimous voice vote. Batory’s ascension to the position came after U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate [...]
Two-person crew bill adds cosponsors
The Safe Freight Act, the two-person crew bill introduced Jan. 30 by U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, has doubled its number of cosponsors in two weeks. On Feb. 12, U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Tina Smith of Minnesota joined in supporting the bill, [...]