By James Stem, UTU National Legislative Director The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) was not all that rail labor wanted in a safety bill, but it was a good start, and contains much of what we have long sought. Work still needs to be done, including an end to limbo [...]
We know many UTU-represented bus drivers who would cherish for their systems the same zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct that is in effect in Milwaukee. A bus passenger there was escorted off the bus and fined $500 for using obscenities in front of other passenge [...]
Some $1.1 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis are about to flow to the State of Illinois after the Illinois DOT, Amtrak and Union Pacific reached an agreement on how to accommodate freight and passenger trains on the affected track, rep [...]
Two tentative four-year agreements have been reached between the UTU and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). One of the tentative four-year agreements covers FEC conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen represented by the UTU. The second tentative four-year pact covers FEC y [...]
WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration nominations of Republicans to key transportation regulatory positions — one to the National Mediation Board; the other to the Surface Transportation Board — were returned to the White House by the Senate this week withou [...]
Come May 1, Social Security and Railroad Retirement checks for new recipients no longer will be mailed. The Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board are going paperless — sending payment electronically (direct deposit) to those receiving retireme [...]
The 2 percentage point reduction in payroll taxes for railroad workers covered by Railroad Retirement, and bus and aviation workers covered by Social Security, will NOT have a negative impact on either the Railroad Retirement or Social Security trust funds, as has been wrongl [...]
WASHINGTON — A former John McCain operative has been nominated by President Obama to fill a Republican seat on the Surface Transportation Board. The nomination requires Senate confirmation. It is not clear whether there is sufficient time for the lame-duck Congress to a [...]
DESOTO PARISH, La. — Two KCS workers, including UTU member Timothy Council, were wounded when a gunshot came through their locomotive window here Dec. 20, according to the Shreveport Times. The engineer, Paul Griffin, 44, was inside the cab of his locomotive when a bull [...]
Almost 10,000 train and engine workers returned to work on Class I railroads through the first 11 months of 2010, with T&E jobs up almost 10 percent compared with November 2009, says the Surface Transportation Board, which tracks the data. The STB says 61,819 train & [...]
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