Mike Futhey with Bill Lucy (For more than six decades, Bill Lucy has been a labor-union foot soldier. In 1968, as an officer of AFSCME Local 1733 in Memphis, Tenn., he collaborated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the sanitation workers’ strike, during which Dr. King wa [...]
WASHINGTON – Deputy Federal Railroad Administrator Karen Rae is departing the agency Nov. 3 to rejoin the New York State government as deputy secretary of transportation in the office of New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Rae has been the number two to Administrator Josep [...]
LIMERICK, Maine – Former Alternate National Legislative Director Gene Plourd (1993-1997) died Oct. 15 at age 79. Plourd, 79, born in Providence, R.I., hired out on Maine Central Railroad in December 1954, and was promoted to fireman in 1955, and engineer in 1962. Early in his [...]
WASHINGTON – A bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to bring financial relief to distressed transit systems and to help stem cuts in transit jobs and service. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Rep. Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) have introduced H.R. 32 [...]
WASHINGTON — A five-member Presidential Emergency Board was appointed by President Obama Oct. 6 to investigate and make non-binding recommendations in a dispute between 11 rail labor unions and the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents BNSF, CSX, Kan [...]
WASHINGTON – Individuals choose bank savings accounts based on the interest rate offered, assuming the investment is secure because no depositor has ever lost their principal on a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) backed account. By contrast, corporate investors must con [...]
CHICAGO — Here is an opportunity to voice your rail safety concerns directly to the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. A 90-minute town hall meeting on rail safety will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, in Chicago. FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo will take que [...]
WASHINGTON – A former secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen – Walt Barrows – is the new labor member of the Railroad Retirement Board following his Senate confirmation Sept. 27. He succeeds Butch Speakman, who chose to retire. Barrows began his railroad [...]
WASHINGTON – Just when federal funding for high-speed rail appeared dead as a rusted rail spike, Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois exercised his clout and reopened the door – if only slightly. On Sept. 20, the Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee vote [...]
By James StemUTU National Legislative Director Congress is back from its August recess and eyes are focused on the “Super Committee” of House and Senate members charged with finding $1.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next 10 years. Should that committee fail to agree ̵ [...]