Transportation News

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Funeral services set for slain LACMTA bus driver

Funeral services have been set for Alan Thomas, 51, a bus driver for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and member of Local 1563, who was murdered aboard his bus May 20 by a lone gunman. Services will be held Saturday, June 9, at 10 a.m. at the Secon [...]

Wisc. anti-union governor faces recall Tuesday

Voters in Wisconsin will decide Tuesday, June 5, whether to recall their anti-union Gov. Scott Walker, a recall election engineered largely by working families and union members after Walker successfully pushed state legislation to curtail collective bargaining rights of publ [...]

UTU VP’s niece ends life to escape bullying

Tori Nakol Swoape, a niece of UTU International Vice President Delbert Strunk, was, according to friends, a “beautiful” and “very bubbly” 15-year old high school sophomore. Tori committed suicide in May, the victim, say friends and family, of relentless physical and verbal bu [...]

Parliament ends 9-day CP Railway strike

OTTAWA – Some 4,800 striking Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive engineers, conductors and rail traffic controllers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference are returning to their jobs June 1 following final passage by Parliament of back-to-work legislation. The st [...]

Rail fatality in N.D.; amputation in Missouri

During the month of May, one UTU member was killed  in North Dakota in a rail switching accident, another was murdered on his bus route in Los Angeles, and another lost a foot in Missouri in a yard switching accident. On CP Rail (Soo Line) in Kenmare, N.D., conductor Robert J [...]

One-stop web address for rail health care info

Railroad employees and/or their eligible dependents covered under the national railroad medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits plans may now find information about those benefits on a single web page. The Railroad Information Depot webpage add [...]

Virginia SLD Walter Yeatts dead at 51

UTU Virginia State Legislative Director Walter W. Yeatts (UTU Local 971, Crewe, Va.) died unexpectedly Sunday, May 20. He had celebrated his 51st birthday May 12 and was a UTU member for more than 30 years, including service on Norfolk Southern and predecessor Norfolk & W [...]

Colo. short line is 30th organizing win in 53 months

Train and engine employees on Colorado short line San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad have voted to be represented by the UTU. This is the 30th organizing win in 53 months for the UTU. International Vice President Bonnie Morr led the organizing effort. The 150-mile San Luis &a [...]

LIRR disability probe offers amnesty

In the wake of 10 more arrests of Long Island Rail Road retirees for alleged conspiracy to commit health care fraud in collecting disability payments, the U.S. attorney in charge of the investigation has offered amnesty from prosecution for any retiree who comes forward volun [...]

UTU-member bus driver murdered in Los Angeles

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – A Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) bus driver, and member of UTU Local 1563, was murdered aboard his bus here Sunday morning, May 20, by a lone gunman, according to media reports. Alan Thomas, 51, who began driving par [...]