Signalmen official nominated for RRB seat

March 1, 2011

Walt Barrows, secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen since 1999, has been nominated by President Obama to fill the labor chair on the three-member Railroad Retirement Board, succeeding Butch Speakman, who is retiring.

The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

Barrows began his railroad career as a signalman with Norfolk & Western Railway (now part of Norfolk Southern) in 1974.

Since 2004, Barrows has been the labor trustee of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, a position earlier held by former UTU General Secretary and Treasurer Dan Johnson.