News - Page 561 of 626

Wrap up: Major rails’ 2d quarter 2011 profits

July 27, 2011 Canadian National: Canadian National Railway July 25 reported an 8 percent increase in profit for the second quarter 2011 versus the second quarter 2010, citing a 10 percent increase in intermodal loadings (trailers and containers on flat cars) and a 14 percent increase in in [...]

Tags BNSF, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, operating ratio, profits, Union Pacific

Yard accident claims UTU member

July 26, 2011 CHICAGO — A Belt Railway of Chicago switchman and UTU member with three years’ service was crushed to death between two rail cars in a hump yard here just after midnight July 25. Andres Tapia, 34, a member of UTU Local 1597 (Chicago), and working a two-person remote con [...]

Tags Andres Tapia, Belt Railway of Chicago, killed, remote control

Rising bus death toll accentuates safety reform need

July 25, 2011 As the UTU continues to lobby safety regulators and Congress on the need for bus-operator fatigue abatement, improved driver training and tougher bus-safety inspections, tragic events are placing even more emphasis on this topic. Since January, according to Advocates for High [...]

Tags bus safety

National rail contract delivers ‘more, now’

July 25, 2011 AFL founder Samuel Gompers said the objective of labor is, “more, now.” Our national rail agreement fulfills that objective. In an economic environment that has our brothers and sisters in other industries in a vice grip of difficult times, our agreement delivers more than ju [...]

Tags national rail agreement, National Rail Contract

Conductor wins $125,000 in whistle-blower complaint

July 22, 2011 A Wisconsin Central conductor has won a whistle-blower complaint against the carrier – collecting more than $125,000 in compensatory and punitive damages – for unlawful harassment and intimidation as the result of reporting an injury. This was the third successful whistle-blo [...]

Tags BNSF, designated legal counsel, Federal Rail Safety Act, Union Pacific, whistleblower, Wisconsin Central

Former N.O. rail official faces 18 felony charges

July 21, 2011 NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Public Belt Railway’s former general manager, Jim Bridger, reportedly is charged by the state with 18 felony counts of theft from the 15-mile city-owned railroad as well as malfeasance while on the job. The UTU represents many of the railroads’ worke [...]

Tags Jim Bridger, New Orleans Public Belt Railway

Will crewmembers be given free M&Ms?

July 21, 2011 A 130-mile coal railroad, long in the planning stage to stretch from Wyoming into Montana and likely connect with BNSF, is about to be purchased in part by the billionaire whose family controls the candy giant producing M&Ms, Mars bars, Milky Way, Snickers, Skittles, Twix [...]

House T&I chair continues to twist labor’s tail

July 20, 2011 WASHINGTON – The Republican chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Rep. John Mica of Florida, added to his anti-labor reputation July 19 by inserting language in an aviation bill aimed at pressuring Senate Democrats to overturn a National Mediati [...]

Tags FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, Harry Reid, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Jay Rockefeller, Max Baucus, Mica

Two crew members injured in BNSF rear-ender

July 20, 2011 GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Two unidentified BNSF crewmembers – a conductor and engineer — were injured near here July 19 when their 110-car train, with three locomotives, ran into the rear of a stationary and unoccupied maintenance train, reports the Associated Press. The inj [...]

Tags BNSF

UTU wins protection for members on beer railway

July 19, 2011 WASHINGTON – The UTU has won a victory on behalf of 12 train and engine employees represented by the UTU and employed by Manufacturers Railway, a 124-year-old subsidiary of brewer Anheuser-Busch for which Manufacturers performs switching services in St. Louis. In March, the c [...]

Tags Anheuser-Busch, income protection, labor protection, Manufacturers Railway, STB, Surface Transportation Board