WASHINGTON — Amtrak President Joseph Boardman told the Senate Appropriations Committee May 17 that Amtrak will never “be able to cut costs enough on long-distance trains to make them profitable. It becomes more a question of policy whether we are going to have bor [...]
By General Secretary & Treasurer Kim Thompson Just as you balance your personal checkbook and compare income to expenses in making decisions where to spend and where to save, we at UTU International make similar decisions with your dues. Accepting responsibility to protec [...]
By Calvin StudivantAlternate vice president, Bus Department Fatigue management was a topic of significant importance earlier this month at a National Transportation Safety Board forum I attended in Washington, D.C. The troubling news from the forum is that non-union bus opera [...]
Football season is long over. The New York Jets never made it to the Super Bowl. National Football League players are locked out by their owners. The upcoming football season could be in jeopardy. And how about Norfolk Southern conductor and former Jets defensive back Keith F [...]
GILA BEND, Ariz. — A westbound Union Pacific freight train hit a U.S. Border Patrol SUV here May 12 as two Border Patrol agents, reportedly chasing suspected undocumented immigrants, suddenly entered an unmarked private crossing in their unmarked SUV as the train approa [...]
VICTORIA, Texas — UTU member and Valley Transit bus operator Guadalupe Ruiz escaped injury May 12 when his bus was sideswiped by a pickup truck near here. Ruiz is a member of UTU Local 1670, Laredo, Texas. The Associated Press reports that one of the bus passengers was [...]
By International President Mike Futhey I was asked if our Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, the UTU PAC and our recently inaugurated direct-contact-with-members outreach can stop the assault on labor by conservative extremists. In union there is strength, and when members o [...]
WASHINGTON — An extensive overhaul of air-carrier crew training has been proposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. “This is a major effort to strengthen the performance of pilots, flight attendants and dispatchers through better training,” said FAA Ad [...]
Amtrak provides eligible active and retired UTU/SMART TD members with passes which can be used to get free or reduced-rate travel aboard the passenger railroad. UTU/SMART TD membership alone does not make the employee or retiree eligible for these travel privileges, and many [...]
MIAMI – By a four-to-one margin, UTU-member train and engine workers employed by Veolia Transportation — operator of South Florida Tri-Rail — have approved a new agreement. The UTU represents both sides of the cab on Tri-Rail. The agreement includes pay incr [...]
