Transportation News

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Annual health & welfare enrollment forms in mail

Annual health and welfare enrollment materials for railroad employees and/or dependents covered under the National Railway Carriers and United Transportation Union (NRC/UTU) Health and Welfare Plan are being mailed by UnitedHealthcare. (Those members covered under the nationa [...]

Obama names PEB to investigate rail labor dispute

WASHINGTON — A five-member Presidential Emergency Board was appointed by President Obama Oct. 6 to investigate and make non-binding recommendations in a dispute between 11 rail labor unions and the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents BNSF, CSX, Kan [...]

Rail revenue adequacy faces challenge; stocks down

WASHINGTON – Individuals choose bank savings accounts based on the interest rate offered, assuming the investment is secure because no depositor has ever lost their principal on a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) backed account. By contrast, corporate investors must con [...]

Shuttle van service fined after deadly BSNF crash

KELSO, Wash. – Shuttle van operator Coach America Crew Transport has been fined more than $13,000 by the State of Washington for alleged safety lapses in the wake of a train-van accident in March that killed a BNSF engineer, a conductor trainee and the van driver, and serious [...]

UTU reaches tentative agreement with Texas shortline

DITTLINGER, Texas — The UTU has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with shortline Western Rail Road on behalf of train, engine and mechanical workers who now will vote on ratification. The negotiations were led by UTU General Chairperson Doyle Turner (G [...]

UTU Arizona SLD helps blunt anti-union extremists

PHOENIX – UTU Arizona State Legislative Director Greg Hynes has seen the political attack on organized labor unfold in the Southeast, the Midwest and north in Idaho, knowing it was but a matter of time before the extremists came knocking on the door in the his state. When the [...]

Rail safety concerns? Questions? FRA all ears

CHICAGO — Here is an opportunity to voice your rail safety concerns directly to the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. A 90-minute town hall meeting on rail safety will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, in Chicago. FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo will take que [...]

North Platte, Neb., retirees to meet

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — UTU Alumni Association Chapter 17 will host its  second annual UTU/UTUe alumni luncheon Tuesday, Oct. 4, at noon, here at the Depot Restaurant, 520 N. Jeffers. All retirees, and their spouse or friends are welcome to attend. For more information con [...]

UTU pact sweet as health care premiums soar

The UTU’s ratified national rail contract – locking in for six years a $200 monthly health care insurance premium — is looking even more attractive following a Kaiser Family Foundation study showing health care costs and health care premiums are rocketing into space. Na [...]

New RRB labor member; NMB nominees await Senate

WASHINGTON – A former secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen – Walt Barrows – is the new labor member of the Railroad Retirement Board following his Senate confirmation Sept. 27. He succeeds Butch Speakman, who chose to retire. Barrows began his railroad [...]