News Archive
FRA mandates improved locomotive safety, comfort
WASHINGTON – A final rule on improved locomotive cab safety and comfort has been published by the Federal Railroad Administration. The final rule, affecting all new and remanufactured locomotives in road and yard service, follows collaboration among the FRA, rail labor and ca [...]Michelle Obama to visit KCS rail yard April 12
SHREVEPORT, La. — First Lady Michelle Obama will visit a Kansas City Southern Railway facility in Shreveport, La., Thursday, April 12, where the UTU represents various crafts, to celebrate the 50,000 veteran or military spouses hired by American companies nationwide as [...]Former Canadian officer Dennis Schweitzer dies
Dennis J. Schweitzer, former chairperson of the UTU’s Canadian Legislative Board and the Ontario Provincial Legislative Board, died April 4. A member of the former UTU Local 472 at Windsor, Ontario, Schweitzer, 64, had also served as vice chairperson of the Canadian Workers’ [...]Points of light for labor in Wisconsin
Republican Gov. Scott Walker, the architect of anti-union legislation in his state, faces a recall election in June. He becomes the first governor in Wisconsin history to face recall. The UTU, through its Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, worked with other labor organizati [...]
BNSF rescinds rule following UTU, SMWIA complaint
After BNSF announced it would demand highly personal information from employees relating to off-duty medical procedures and issues, the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate. T [...]CSX hiring in Tennessee, Maryland and Alabama
CSX says it is looking to fill 150 positions in Tennessee, mostly in and around Nashville; 140 jobs in Maryland, mainly in Baltimore and Cumberland; and 90 positions in Alabama, primarily in Birmingham. The hiring comes as the company prepares to meet the demands of a growin [...]Conservatives pressing attack on working families
Public transportation funding, transportation jobs, workplace safety, Railroad Retirement and Medicare are under a mean-spirited and sustained attack by congressional conservatives who are trying to muscle their agenda through Congress prior to the November elections. The UTU [...]EPA proposal threatens coal & rail jobs
WASHINGTON – Few commodities are as essential to railroads and railroad jobs as coal. Fully 25 percent of railroad revenue, one-in-five railroad jobs and 40 percent of freight cars owe their existence to coal, according to the Association of American Railroads. But a proposal [...]