For too many years, many railroads have tied managerial bonuses to low reportable injury rates among employees, creating a culture of fear through harassment and intimidation – a culture that discourages the reporting by workers of on-duty injuries and allows railroads to cla [...]
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A BNSF Railway yard worker, Thomas F. Bleyenberg, a member of UTU Local 5, Kansas City, Mo., was killed Mon., Aug. 15, when he became trapped between two rail cars at the carrier’s Argentine Yard here. Bleyenberg was working a two-person remote [...]
Former International President Tom DuBose(1991-1995) Having served as a member and as chairperson of UTU national negotiating committees, and as a UTU International officer for 28 years, I found that the failure to reach an agreement on the national level carries the risk of [...]
Long Island Rail Road car inspector Russell DeCeck, 48, a member of Local 722, Babylon, N.Y., was killed Sunday, Aug. 14, when he reportedly came in contact with the third rail while working at the carrier’s Babylon yard in West Islip, N.Y. DeCeck, of Coram, N.Y., had 2 [...]
WASHINGTON – Passenger and commuter train conductors and engineers face new hours-of-service rules effective Oct. 15 under a final rule published Aug. 12 by the Federal Railroad Administration. The new rules differ in certain areas from hours-of-service regulations imposed on [...]
A coalition of labor unions and community groups didn’t take back the Wisconsin state senate from anti-union extremists Tuesday night, Aug. 9, but voters enraged over the extremists’ political agenda did unseat two of the six senators targeted for recall. “Seeing that we were [...]
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Mike Futhey was elected to his second four-year term as president of the United Transportation Union Aug. 8 during the UTU’s 11th quadrennial convention here. Futhey was re-elected by a vote of 453-34 against challenger Scott Cole, delegate from UTU Local 27 [...]
TULSA, Okla. — A BNSF employee and UTU member was killed in a yard accident here Aug. 4 when a vehicle in which she was riding was struck by a flatcar during a hump operation, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and reported by the Tulsa World newspaper. Deborah An [...]
Total train and engine employment on Class I railroads increased by 7.49 percent in June 2011 versus June 2010, although not all major railroads increased hiring. T&E headcounts on CSX and Canadian National (U.S. operations) declined in June 2011 versus June 2010, but all [...]
Risch WASHINGTON — New jobs building and operating high-speed rail “are American jobs that can’t be shipped overseas and would be a Godsend in this economic downturn,” UTU Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch told a congressionally sponsored forum here Aug [...]
