Year: 2009

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WASHINGTON — Any federal funds flowing to freight railroads as part of a stimulus package, or investment tax credit or loans should be accompanied by a requirement that the railroads not use the money for technology that eliminates jobs.

That was the principal message Jan. 28 of the UTU to the House Rail Subcommittee, which sought public comment on the current state and future of the rail industry.

With the Obama administration and Congress committed to putting Americans back to work and keeping them on the job, any actions by railroads to use public dollars for elimination of jobs would be in violation of public policy, said the UTU. 

UTU National Legislative Director James Stem testified that the slumping economy already is responsible for the furlough of some 12 percent of train, engine and yard employees, and more job cuts are expected.

“We hope that the requirements of receiving any federal funds will neither promote nor allow a race to the bottom on wages or elimination of existing jobs,” Stem said. 

He said that “at least one railroad is planning to pay for the implementation of the positive train control (PTC) system required by Congress by attempting to operate their trains with only one employee on the train, and using federal funds to accomplish the goal.”

Public safety is another reason why single crew-member operation of trains with PTC is not feasible, Stem said.

“The responsibilities of the railroad to operate safely over public rail-highway grade crossings, to inspect the moving train at every opportunity, to open public crossings quickly when blocked by a stopped train, and to interact with emergency responders are issues that are not addressed by any PTC system, and such systems were never designed to do so,” he said.

Two crew persons are required to make simple repairs and to interact with local emergency responders following a derailment, a grade-crossing collision, or a trespasser injury or fatality. Over a recent five-year period, said Stem, more than 22,500 grade-crossing accidents, trespasser fatalities and suicides on train tracks occurred in the U.S.

“The use of federal funds to install a PTC system, while attempting to experiment with single person operation, would disregard the safety of other railroad crews, the communities that are served, and the customers’ well being,” Stem said.

“We strongly encourage Congress to clearly specify how any federal funds could be used by railroads, and to prohibit the use of any federal funds — whether tax credits, grants or loans — in a way that would eliminate jobs.”

The UTU also recommended that Congress allow for the issuance of one federal credential for entry into security controlled sites, rather than requiring rail workers to carry multiple identify cards that include their locomotive and/or conductor certification. A single card displaying all credentials would “simplify the process for railroads and their employees,” Stem said, “and use fewer federal resources.”

Additionally, the UTU observed that the National Transportation Safety Board has diluted the functions of its rail division, with the result that fewer investigations are launched into the cause of rail employee fatalities. Stem urged subcommittee members to work with rail labor and the Obama administration to restore NTSB’s focus on rail accident investigation, which is an important step toward improved rail safety.

 

Click here to read the entire UTU congressional testimony.

 

 

WASHINGTON — By unanimous voice vote, former Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) was confirmed by the Senate Jan. 22 as President Obama’s transportation secretary. A day earlier, the Senate Commerce Committee enthusiastically recommended the confirmation.

LaHood becomes the 16th transportation secretary since DOT was created by Congress in 1967. A listing of his predecessors is found, below.

Over the next week, LaHood is expected to meet with prospective modal agency heads and make his recommendations for nomination to the Obama transition team.

Among DOT agencies of special interest to UTU members for which chiefs are to be nominated are the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration. A nomination to the three-member Surface Transportation Board also is expected.

LaHood now heads the 60,000-employee DOT and its various modal agencies that regulate transportation safety, administer Amtrak and highway funding, and regulate railroad mergers, abandonments and freight rates paid by captive shippers.

At his confirmation hearing, LaHood expressed strong support for Amtrak and increased funding for the national intercity rail passenger network. He said he also would focus on public-private partnerships to increase funding sources for projects bringing roads, bridges and other forms of infrastructure to “a state of good repair.”

Additionally, LaHood expressed support for new infrastructure spending to improve freight transportation by rail, and he supported and increased spending on commuter transit programs.

LaHood said his position as a Republican member of a Democratic president’s cabinet will enable him to find consensus on a variety of issues affecting transportation policy.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), told LaHood that “after years of neglect, Congress finally passed a long-term Amtrak authorization last fall that provides strong support for our national railroad. As secretary, I will be looking to you and the department to fully and quickly implement this bill and to further pursue the development of high-speed rail corridors in areas where such service can help alleviate highway and aviation congestion.

“On the freight rail side,” said Rockefeller, “I’m hoping you’ll help us develop ways to improve competition and service in the railroad industry while ensuring that the railroads are able to adequately invest in their infrastructure to meet growing demand.”

Without being specific, LaHood said that if he is confirmed as DOT secretary, safety would remain the “central focus” of DOT.

LaHood, 63, was chief of staff for former House Minority Leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.) for 10 years before Michel retired and LaHood replaced him in Congress. LaHood took office in 1995 as Republicans gained control of the House for the first time in 40 years, and relations between the GOP and congressional Democrats were at a low ebb.

At his confirmation hearing, LaHood was praised by his Illinois colleague, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who introduced him at the hearing, for efforts to improve relations between Democrats and Republicans.

Earlier this week, the Senate confirmed former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary.

The nomination of former Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), to be labor secretary, remains stalled in the Senate owing to Republican opposition to her congressional support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

The AFL-CIO called Solis a longtime friend of the labor movement. It observed that while in Congress, she not only voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, but also voted to raise the minimum wage, protect the wages of construction workers, strengthen fair and equal pay laws for women, and to impose tough workplace safety standards.

Previous transportation secretaries:

Alan Boyd, January 1967 – January 1969

John Volpe, January 1969 – February 1973

Claude Brinegar, February 1973 – February 1975

William Coleman, March 1975 – January 1977

Brock Adams, January 1977 – July 1979

Neil Goldschmidt, August 1979 – January 1981

Drew Lewis, January 1981- February 1983

Elizabeth Dole, February 1983 – September 1987

Jim Burnley, December 1987 – January 1989

Sam Skinner, February 1989 – December 1991

Andrew Card, February 1992 -January 1993

Federico Pena, January 1993 – February 1997

Rodney Slater, February 1997 – January 2001

Norman Mineta, January 2001- July 2006

Mary Peters, October 2006 – January 2009

By Assistant President Arty Martin and
GS&T Kim Thompson

Among the most difficult challenges facing us in 2009 arrives in November, when we exchange Railway Labor Act Section 6 notices with the carriers — the list of each side’s demands for the next collective bargaining round.

Our national rail contract is open for renewal on Jan. 1, 2010, and this upcoming bargaining round will be among our toughest ever given the deteriorating state of the national economy, the advance of technology and Wall Street pressure on railroads to deliver increased profits.

While the national rail contract affects members on only BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, these national contracts tend to be a trend setter for bargaining on other freight railroads and Amtrak, and are frequently referred to by commuter railroads.

A reasonable individual might have good reason to assume the upcoming bargaining round will be favorable to employees. After all, railroads are among today’s few solidly profitable industries in America, and Wall Street confirms they have unprecedented pricing power. Moreover, the carriers continue to improve productivity, and it is the workers — especially operating craft employees — who are most responsible.

Indeed, the railroads’ own figures, as published by the Association of American Railroads, show that revenue ton-miles per employee — the best benchmark for measuring productivity — has soared five-fold since 1980, from 2.1 million revenue ton-miles per employee to almost 11 million revenue ton-miles per employee today.

Accordingly, the railroads’ labor costs have declined by 43 percent — from 46.5 cents of every revenue dollar in 1980, to 26.4 cents of every revenue dollar today.

This is because the employee headcount has dropped from 532,000 in 1980 to 236,000 today — a 56 percent decline in workers, while productivity has soared. Among train and engine service employees, the head count fell from almost 136,000 in 1980 to fewer than 70,000 train and engine service employees today.

Unfortunately, none of this matters to the carriers at the bargaining table, because it is hot Wall Street dollars that set the tone of carrier Section 6 notices.

Perhaps you have noticed Wall Street investment funds have been buying up shares of the major railroads.

BNSF, for example, is 46 percent owned by Wall Street investment funds. At CSX, the figure is 35 percent; at Union Pacific, 34 percent; at Kansas City Southern, 33 percent; and at Norfolk Southern, 32 percent, according to Bloomberg News.

These investment funds, some of them based in foreign countries, have a narrow focus of increasing stock price and increasing dividend payouts — often without concern to an appropriate level of railroad maintenance, and certainly without concern for employees and their families.

For sure, investment funds are behind the anti-labor policies at Wal-Mart and policies that export good American jobs overseas.

What a labor union does is to fight back — and the UTU will be spending the months leading up to the exchange of Section 6 notices by building our case on behalf of our members.

Who Owns the Railroads

BNSF 
Berkshire Hathaway21.8%

Capital Research Global

5.6%

Barclays Global

3.3%

UBS Global

3.0%

Vanguard Group

2.8%

State Street Corp.

2.7%

Fidelity Mgt.

2.4%

Capital World Invest.

1.7%

JP Morgan Chase

1.2%

Barrow, Hanley

1.2%

Total

45.7%

  

 CSX

 

Citigroup

5.4%

Barclays Global

4.7%

Children’s Invest. Fund

4.5%

3G Capital

4.4%

Deutsche Bank

4.2%

State Street Corp.

3.6%

Vanguard Group

3.2%

Tiger Global

1.9%

Bank of N.Y.

1.6%

JP Morgan Chase1.3%

Total

34.8%

  

 KCS

 

Neuberger Berman

6.2%

Wellington Mgt.

5.7%

Marathon Asset Mgt.

4.1%

Barclays Global

3.6%

Vanguard Group

3.0%

Keeley Asset Mgt.

2.8%

Bank of America

2.4%

Prudential

1.9%

Munder Capital Mgt.

1.9%

AXA

1.8%

Total33.4%
  
Norfolk Southern 

Capital Research Global

5.0%

Marsico Capital Mgt.

4.8%

JP Morgan Chase

4.7%

Barclays Global

4.5%

State Street Corp.

3.2%

Vanguard Group

3.1%

 Fidelity Mgt.

 2.7%

Pioneer Investment

1.3%

Dimensional Fund

1.3%

Capital World Invest.

1.1%

Total

31.7%

  

Union Pacific

 

Marsico Capital Mgt.

6.6%

Children’s Invest. Fund

4.7%

Barclays Global

4.4%

Capital World Invest.

3.4%

State Street Corp.

3.2%

Vanguard Group

3.0%

AXA

2.9%

Fidelity Mgt.

2.5%

Bank of America

1.9%

Berkshire Hathaway

1.8%

Total

34.4%

Source: Bloomberg News

By Vic Baffoni
Vice President, Bus Dept.

It’s a new year. We have a new administration in Washington and a larger labor-friendly majority in the House and Senate. It is a time of new hope.

It will not be easy. The deteriorating economic conditions in this country are serious and will take time to solve. There are no quick fixes.

With the unfortunate death of National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer, we have suffered a serious loss.

As the new Congress organizes itself in January and February, our focus– with assistance from the AFL-CIO — will be to gain Senate confirmation for labor-friendly cabinet and regulatory agency heads nominated by President Obama. Updates on nominees and the confirmation process will be reported at www.utu.org. Members should visit the UTU Web site regularly to check on updates.

President Futhey, Assistant President Martin and Alternate National Legislative Director James Stem will be working to educate new members of the House and Senate — on both sides of the aisle — about the rail industry and transportation labor’s past and present role in improving productivity and safety.

During difficult economic times, UTU members are fortunate to have good benefits, good working conditions and a strong union to provide them and their families with protections.

Even so, it is not going to be easy. Many of our locals will be entering contract negotiations in 2009 and management is going to point to the financial crisis as reasons to seek givebacks.

Your union officers and representatives will be doing their jobs, which is protecting your rights. This union has a proud history in times of crisis, and I am confident that our strengths will be evident in 2009.

By UTU International President Mike Futhey

When my grandchildren ask about the most memorable day of my life — other than my marriage to my lovely wife April, the birth of my children and being elected your International president — I suspect my answer will be, “It was sitting as a special guest of President Barack Obama at his inauguration on Jan. 20, as I intend to do.”

President Obama embodies the words “change” and “hope,” and we are desperately in need of all three during these troubling times following eight years of horribly failed presidential leadership.

In celebrating the soon-to-start Obama presidency, I also think back to April 4, 1968 — a month shy of my 18th birthday in Memphis, Tenn., and the morning paper reporting on Dr. Martin Luther King’s , “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” speech in support of 1,300 striking Memphis sanitation workers, who were protesting horrendous working conditions and low pay.

And that evening, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis.

Those events had significant influence on my decision to become a committed trade unionist.

And what a coincidence that the day before the first African-American is to be inaugurated as America’s 44th president, we will celebrate the birthday of Dr. King.

Who would have imagined — even after President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation — that America one day would elect an African-American president?

Who would have imagined during race riots in 1908 in Springfield, Ill. — civil unrest that sparked formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) — that one day an African-American would begin a successful run for the presidency in that same city?

Who would have imagined in Memphis in 1968 that Dr. King’s Jan. 19 birthday would become a national holiday; and, in 2009, be followed the next day by the inauguration of Barack Obama?

I wish I could read my favorite passage of Dr. King’s, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” speech aloud at every union hall in America to highlight our perennial struggle for equitable wages, benefits and working conditions:

“Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation … It means that we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity.”

Dr. King was a leader with vision and courage whose message was one of equality, inclusiveness, diversity and unity.

In Barack Obama we hear a similar message of vision, courage, equality, inclusiveness, diversity and unity.

Borrowing from President-elect Obama’s historic election night message, “Change has come to America … If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy” then the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is living proof.

God bless the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

God bless the election of Barack Obama to be President of the United States.

God bless America.

By UTU International President Mike Futhey

When my grandchildren ask about the most memorable day of my life — other than my marriage to my lovely wife April, the birth of my children and being elected your International president — I suspect my answer will be, “It was sitting as a special guest of President Barack Obama at his inauguration on Jan. 20, as I intend to do.”

President Obama embodies the words “change” and “hope,” and we are desperately in need of all three during these troubling times following eight years of horribly failed presidential leadership.

In celebrating the soon-to-start Obama presidency, I also think back to April 4, 1968 — a month shy of my 18th birthday in Memphis, Tenn., and the morning paper reporting on Dr. Martin Luther King’s , “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” speech in support of 1,300 striking Memphis sanitation workers, who were protesting horrendous working conditions and low pay.

And that evening, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis.

Those events had significant influence on my decision to become a committed trade unionist.

And what a coincidence that the day before the first African-American is to be inaugurated as America’s 44th president, we will celebrate the birthday of Dr. King.

Who would have imagined — even after President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation — that America one day would elect an African-American president?

Who would have imagined during race riots in 1908 in Springfield, Ill. — civil unrest that sparked formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) — that one day an African-American would begin a successful run for the presidency in that same city?

Who would have imagined in Memphis in 1968 that Dr. King’s Jan. 19 birthday would become a national holiday; and, in 2009, be followed the next day by the inauguration of Barack Obama?

I wish I could read my favorite passage of Dr. King’s, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” speech aloud at every union hall in America to highlight our perennial struggle for equitable wages, benefits and working conditions:

“Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation … It means that we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity.”

Dr. King was a leader with vision and courage whose message was one of equality, inclusiveness, diversity and unity.

In Barack Obama we hear a similar message of vision, courage, equality, inclusiveness, diversity and unity.

Borrowing from President-elect Obama’s historic election night message, “Change has come to America … If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy” then the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is living proof.

God bless the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

God bless the election of Barack Obama to be President of the United States.

God bless America.