Send message to our politicians: ‘Improve our wages’

By Bonnie Morr, Vice President, Bus –  As I travel around the country working on grievances, arbitrations, negotiations and labor agreements, as well as the health and well-being of our locals and our members, one underlying issue is always present: wages. Our wages are not k [...]

Two New Members Appointed To SMART’s General Executive Council

On February 1, 2014, Local 293 Financial Secretary-Treasurer and Business Manager Arthur Tolentino and Local 73 President and Business Manager Rocco Terranova were sworn in as SMART’s Tenth and Eleventh General Vice Presidents, respectively. A graduate of Ohio State Universit [...]

GST Sellers: Protecting Our Health Care Coverage

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT You don’t need to be told how complex healthcare has become, especially with the changes involving the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This legislation has afforded millions of Americans a chance at securing health insurance that cover [...]

Apprenticeship Programs As An Alternative To College

The cost of college tuition rose at an alarming rate over the past three decades causing students, organizations and politicians to speak out against sky-rocketing rates while offering plans to stem the rise in higher education costs. Cost regulation and debt forgiveness are [...]

More Americans see middle class status slipping

WASHINGTON – A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity. Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, more people are comi [...]

UP conductor relives train accident

“I didn’t want to go back and look at the accident, because I didn’t want to see what happened. I didn’t want to see the after affects,” says Glenn Thompson, retired Union Pacific Railroad conductor. Glenn Thompson is a retired conductor that worked fo [...]

Wabtec signs $16.6M contract with Alaska Railroad

Wabtec Corp. has signed contracts valued at $16.6 million with Alaska Railroad Corp. to provide Positive Train Control equipment and services, the Wilmerding-based company announced Wednesday (April 2). The systems will be installed on the railroad’s 525 miles of contro [...]

UP begins work at N.M. facility

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Union Pacific Corp. has begun operations at a massive new railroad facility in southern New Mexico near both the U.S.-Mexico border and El Paso, Texas. The Omaha, Neb.,-based railroad will use its newly constructed hub facility in Santa Teresa to transfer [...]

BNSF sees Bakken-area tie-up lasting until year-end

BNSF Railway Co., the carrier owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will need the rest of 2014 to untangle train tie-ups in the corridor that serves North Dakota’s Bakken shale region. A system-wide traffic jam, caused by surging grain and crude-oil volumes coupl [...]