Transportation News

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Charlotte bus drivers vote ‘yes’ for UTU

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 546 bus operators employed by Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) have voted by more than a 2-1 margin to return to the United Transportation Union. Calvin Studivant, alternate vice president of the UTU Bus Department, will now assist those bus op [...]

Court: Cab cams don’t violate privacy

LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit brought by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen against Los Angeles Metrolink to eliminate inward-facing video cameras in the cab has been dismissed by a judge here. Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin said the inward-facing cameras, [...]

Transport-employee fatigue continues to kill

While sleep scientists have established that going to work fatigued is like going to work drunk, there remains a disconnect among those who manage transportation firms. And people are needlessly dying and being seriously injured as a result. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHoo [...]

Record pay boost in UTU tentative rail pact

A 17 percent pay increase, retention of the $200 monthly cap on health care cost-sharing, FRA certification pay, a faster process for new hires to reach full pay rates, and no rollback of the January 2011 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) highlight the new five-year national r [...]

Amtrak contract talks: June 2011 update

  By International Vice President John Previsich Collective bargaining with Amtrak over revisions to the current wages, benefits and work rules agreement continues. This report to the membership follows a briefing we provided the general committee during its recent quadr [...]

RRB to withhold Medicare Parts C&D premiums

The Railroad Retirement Board will begin June 1 to withhold from benefits checks premiums for Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage plans) and Medicare Part D (prescription drug plans). Withholding is voluntary, and beneficiaries should contact their plans to request withholdin [...]

Union-busting efforts face glare of sunlight

Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis coined the term, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Indeed, sunlight cast by labor-union members on the dark-of-night action by political extremists in the Wisconsin legislature is having a meaningful impact in Wiscons [...]

PTC installation could be trimmed 10,000 miles

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration suggests scaling back by 10,000 miles a federal mandate that positive train control (PTC) be installed on some 140,000 miles of freight and passenger track no later than Dec. 31, 2015. The 10,000 miles represents track over which fr [...]

Amtrak privatization scheme voiced in House

WASHINGTON — Two House Republicans with transportation oversight authority — House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Rail Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) — want to transfer ownership of Amtrak’s No [...]

Melanoma: Early detection a life saver

It’s almost summer. The sun is higher in the sky. We spend more time outdoors. Thus, we invite skin cancer — the most common form of cancer in America. And dark skin does not mean you are immune. More skin cancer cases are diagnosed each year than breast, prostate [...]