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Death by rail: For crew, healing takes time

June 18, 2012 Suicide by rail is no stranger to operators of steel-wheel trollies on Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s Victory Division in suburban Philadelphia. UTU-represented members of this SEPTA property recall having to plead with management to replace the front fa [...]

Tags SEPTA, trolley, Victory Division, Waverly Harris

Neb. UTU member dead; son dies in police shootout

June 15, 2012 ALLIANCE, Neb. — A 62-year-old BNSF Railway conductor, a member of the UTU for 42 years, was found dead in his house June 12, and his 27-year-old son was later shot to death in a standoff with police that left two police officers and a hostage wounded. Dead are BNSF conductor [...]

Tags Alliance, Larry Gonzalez, shootout, Union Pacific

Fund aids family of member killed on job

June 13, 2012 Members of Local 887, Harvey, N.D., have established a fund to benefit the family of conductor Robert J. Glasgow, 38, who died May 28 while setting out cars as part of a two-person crew at a CP yard. Glasgow began railroading on CP in 2005 as a track worker; transferring to t [...]

Maker recalls oral contraceptives

June 11, 2012 The following was received June 11, 2012, from Medco/Express Scripts: On June 5 Sandoz announced it is conducting a voluntary recall of 10 lots of its generic oral contraceptive Introvale in the U.S., following a recent report of a packaging flaw. Introvale is an extended-cyc [...]

Tags Express Scripts, Medco, oral contraceptives, recall

Slain UTU bus operator eulogized at funeral

June 11, 2012 Some 600 mourners – including more than 300 coworkers and UTU officials — attended the funeral June 9 of slain Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) bus operator Alan Thomas, who was murdered May 20 by a lone passenger. Also in attendance wer [...]

Tags Alan Thomas, LACMTA, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Passenger rail essential as population grows

June 11, 2012 By Joe Szabo – Federal Railroad Administrator It seems like just yesterday, as UTU Illinois state legislative director and mayor of Riverdale, Ill., that I joined other mayors to successfully advocate for more frequent rail service from Chicago to downstate Illinois communiti [...]

Tags Amtrak, Federal Railroad Administration, FRA, high-speed rail, Joe Szabo

RRB issuing “Statements of Service”

June 7, 2012 Each year, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) prepares a “Certificate of Service Months and Compensation” (Form BA-6) for every railroad employee who received creditable railroad compensation in the previous calendar year. The forms will be mailed to employees by the R [...]

OSHA holds contest to teach workplace safety

June 7, 2012 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is running a competition to help educate the public about workplace safety. Applicants should use publicly available government information (i.e., DOL/OSHA data, NIOSH data, and other online government resources) to cr [...]

TWIC reforms moving through Congress

June 7, 2012 A Transportation Security Administration effort to help protect ports against terrorism was creation of a tamper-resistant biometric worker-access pass known as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) that is issued, in addition to maritime workers, to rail [...]

Tags H.R. 4251, security, Transportation Worker Identification Credential, TWIC

Wis. voters return labor-friendly majority to senate

June 6, 2012 Voters in Wisconsin appear to have returned control of the state senate to a labor-friendly majority, even though anti-union Gov. Scott Walker, anti-union Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and three political extremist state senate candidates gained a victory in a recall election. T [...]