Retirees receiving Railroad Retirement Tier I or Social Security benefits will see their payments rise by 3.6 percent beginning Jan. 1 – the first increase in those benefit payments in two years. Increases in Railroad Retirement and Social Security benefits are tied to the De [...]
Some 430 UTU represented conductors and brakemen employed by Canadian National properties Wisconsin Central; Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific (DW&P); and Duluth Missabe and Iron Range (DM&IR) have ratified an implementing agreement — effective Jan. 1 — cons [...]
LIMERICK, Maine – Former Alternate National Legislative Director Gene Plourd (1993-1997) died Oct. 15 at age 79. Plourd, 79, born in Providence, R.I., hired out on Maine Central Railroad in December 1954, and was promoted to fireman in 1955, and engineer in 1962. Early in his [...]
As the perfectly healthy man told the obituary editor of his local newspaper, “Reports of my demise are grossly exaggerated.” And so it is with the UTU Insurance Association (UTUIA) and the UTU’s Discipline Income Protection Plan (DIPP). Vicious and absolutely false rumors ar [...]
WASHINGTON – A bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to bring financial relief to distressed transit systems and to help stem cuts in transit jobs and service. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Rep. Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) have introduced H.R. 32 [...]
Rail and bus workers continue to call out to the United Transportation Union for representation in these troubling times. The UTU’s ability to negotiate industry-leading contracts, process grievances and achieve workplace safety improvements are most often cited as the reason [...]
Janna Shaver, 49, daughter of retired Colorado State Legislative Director Jack Shaver, and his wife Barbara, died Oct. 10. Janna would have graduated from The University of Denver Law School next May. She is also survived by her sister, Lisa. Donations made in Janna’s h [...]
Qualitest Pharmaceuticals has issued a voluntary nationwide recall of its oral contraceptive owing to a packaging error that could leave women at risk of an unintended pregnancy. Medco, which supplies many UTU members and family with prescription drugs, is notifying its patie [...]
During the first six months of 2011, 37 serious injuries occurred during switching operations, resulting in three fatalities and eight amputations; while over the past two years, five rail workers have died in accidents involving rolling rail equipment. The Switching Operatio [...]
An arbitrator has ruled that a merger between the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) be implemented and that the presidents of the two unions – or their designees — meet to decide how the implementation is to proceed. Arbitrator Michael H. [...]
