SMART UnionU.S. Class I railroad traffic continued its growth trend through the Christmas holiday week, reports the Association of American Railroads.
Carloads were up almost 30 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) was up more than 25 percent versus the same holiday week in 2009.
The AAR reported that for the first 51 weeks of 2010, carloads are up more than 7 percent and intermodal is up more than 14 percent over the first 51 weeks of 2009.
Norfolk Southern has won final funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its long planned 2,500-mile Crescent Corridor linking New Orleans, Memphis and the Northeast, reports the Journal of Commerce.
The Crescent Corridor improvements, when completed, will increase height clearances and speed double-stack movements along the route, and expand intermodal terminals where trailers and containers are loaded onto and unloaded off of trains.
The most recent $105 million federal grant will be used to help develop a 261-acre intermodal terminal near Birmingham, Ala., and a 380-acre intermodal terminal near Memphis, reports the Journal of Commerce.
“By diverting 1.3 million commercial trucks from Interstates, the Crescent Corridor will greatly improve air quality along the route, reduce traffic congestion and generate significant fuel savings,” said the DOT in finalizing the grant.
What better gift to your health and your family’s health could there be than to resolve to stop smoking in 2011?
Easier said than done. That’s for sure.
But help is available. For UTU rail members covered by the national contract health plans, each of the medical benefits have smoking cessation programs included in their wellness programs.
Additionally, there is a specific benefit associated with the prescription drug program for smoking cessation aids.
UTU members covered by other health plans should check with their health care plan administrators or directly with their health plans.
For those covered under Railroad Medicare, counseling is included as benefit with no cost to the insured. Check with your Medicare provider for more details.
Or, www.Medicare.gov and click on the smoking cessation page.
Or, www.palmettogba.com/medicare and scroll to the section, “People with Railroad Medicare.”
While smoking rates have fallen over the past 30 years, those rates have not declined since 2005.
Look at the numbers and decide for yourself if you should seek help to stop smoking. Better yet, share the numbers with your family members and ask them.
SHAWNEE, Kan. — Robert G. Martin, a former UTU general chairperson (GO 457) on Kansas City Southern Railway, died here Dec. 24 at age 80.
A native of Beaumont, Texas, he was a member of UTU predecessor Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and, later, UTU Local 20 in Beaumont. Martin worked as a yardman for KCS in Beaumont from the 1950s until 1980, when he moved to Kansas City, Mo., following his election as a general chairperson. He retired in 1999.
Martin is survived by his wife of 44 years, Cara, as well as two sons, a stepson, a stepdaughter, four grandchildren, a brother and a sister.
No services are planned. Condolences and messages may be posted at www.amosfamily.com; or mailed to: The Amos Family, 10901 Johnson Dr., Shawnee, KS 66203-2829.
By James Stem, UTU National Legislative Director
The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) was not all that rail labor wanted in a safety bill, but it was a good start, and contains much of what we have long sought. Work still needs to be done, including an end to limbo time, advance notice of start times, and an end to arbitrary discipline tied to unreasonable availability policies.
We said after passage of the bill that we would work with our friends in Congress to refine and improve the bill.
The process has begun.
In his final days in Congress, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) introduced H.R. 6519, the Railroad Hours of Service Act.
Rail labor and Mr. Oberstar, one of the best friends rail labor has ever had in Congress, knew there was not time in the lame-duck session of Congress for the bill — which includes improvements to hours-of-service provisions of the RSIA — to pass.
Thus, H.R. 6519 was intended as a place-setter — a bill whose provisions already are winning support among UTU lawmaker friends and which will be re-introduced by other friends of the UTU in the new Congress in 2011.
The UTU, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen will be working closely on a new bill with our congressional friends of labor come January and the start of the new Congress.
Provisions of the bill include:
Although some provisions we also want were not included in H.R. 6519, we will be working to have them included in the new bill this next session of Congress.
They include:
The UTU also will support additional provisions specific to railroad signalmen as sought by their organization.
The new Congress will include 100 new members, and many were elected with the support of rail labor organizations. We have already begun discussions with those new members and are continuing discussions with our other friends in Congress toward early introduction of the Oberstar place-setter, with the additional provisions included.
Two tentative four-year agreements have been reached between the UTU and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC).
One of the tentative four-year agreements covers FEC conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen represented by the UTU.
The second tentative four-year pact covers FEC yardmasters represented by the UTU.
The tentative agreements, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, and extending through Dec. 31, 2012, cover wages, benefits and working conditions. The tentative agreements must be ratified by the crafts, and include retroactive pay.
Town hall meetings, to explain the tentative agreements prior to a ratification vote, will be conducted across the property during January.
UTU negotiators included General Chairperson John Hancock and Vice General Chairperson John Whitaker (both, GO 851), Local 903 Chairperson Jim Bush, and Local 1138 Chairperson Jim McCorkle. The UTU negotiating team was assisted by UTU International Vice President Robert Kerley.
FEC is a Class II railroad, operating more than 350 miles of mainline track along Florida’s east coast. In November, FEC completed 2,000 consecutive days of on-time service to UPS — a record for any transportation company serving the logistics giant. During that almost 5 1/2 year period, FEC delivered 125,000 on-time intermodal loads for UPS, consisting of more than 200 million packages.
We know many UTU-represented bus drivers who would cherish for their systems the same zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct that is in effect in Milwaukee.
A bus passenger there was escorted off the bus and fined $500 for using obscenities in front of other passengers.
Although the passenger, who was collared by an undercover police officer, told WISN television news that he considered it “un-American” to be slapped with the disorderly conduct fine, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department said there is a zero-tolerance approach to disorderly conduct on county buses.
Some $1.1 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis are about to flow to the State of Illinois after the Illinois DOT, Amtrak and Union Pacific reached an agreement on how to accommodate freight and passenger trains on the affected track, reports the Springfield State Journal-Register.
The Illinois DOT predicts that when the high-speed rail line is completed in 2014, the passenger train trip between Chicago and St. Louis will be 4 hours, 10 minutes — about a 30 percent reduction in the current passenger-train time and faster than an automobile traveling non-stop at the legal speed limit. Passenger-train speeds are projected to be 110 mph.
WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration nominations of Republicans to key transportation regulatory positions — one to the National Mediation Board; the other to the Surface Transportation Board — were returned to the White House by the Senate this week without confirmation action and will have to be resubmitted to the Senate in the new Congress.
Republican Thomas M. Beck had been nominated by the president to the three-member NMB, for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2013; and Republican Ann D. Begeman had been nominated to the three-member Surface Transportation Board for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2015. Both agencies have Democratic majorities.
Under rules of the Senate, nominations not confirmed during the session during which they are made must be returned to the White House. The president may nominate them again in 2011, or choose new nominees. There is no indication Beck or Begeman will not be renominated or that the Senate would not confirm they if renominated.
Owing to a busy Senate calendar and the late timing of both nominations, neither was afforded a hearing before a Senate committee — Beck before the Health, Education & Labor Committee; Begeman before the Commerce Committee — an interim step prior to a Senate floor vote on confirmation.
Beck was nominated to succeed Republican Elizabeth Dougherty on the NMB. Dougherty’s term expired June 30, but under NMB rules she may continue serving indefinitely until a successor is confirmed. Since Oct. 2, Beck has been serving as a Senate-confirmed member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). The FLRA administers labor-management relations for non-Postal Service federal employees.
Previously, Beck was a partner in the law firm of Jones Day, practicing labor and employment law. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. Beck also is a part-time professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he teaches courses on legislation and public policy.
The other two members of the NMB are Democrats — Chairman Harry Hoglander, who is serving his third term, and Linda Puchala, who was confirmed to her first term in May 2009
Begeman was nominated to succeed Republican Chip Nottingham on the STB. Nottingham’s term expires Dec. 31, but under STB rules he may continue serving until a successor is confirmed, but no later than Dec. 31, 2011. Begeman is a long-time aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and most recently has been an aide to the Senate Commerce Committee.
The other two members of the STB are Democrats — Chairman Dan Elliott, who is serving his first term; and Frank Mulvey, who is serving his second term.
The STB has regulatory authority over railroad mergers and labor protection for rail employees adversely affected by mergers, line sales and leases, and line abandonments. The agency also regulates railroad freight rates.
Come May 1, Social Security and Railroad Retirement checks for new recipients no longer will be mailed.
The Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board are going paperless — sending payment electronically (direct deposit) to those receiving retirement, disability and survivor benefits.
Those already receiving Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits will have until March 1, 2013 to establish direct deposit at a financial institution, or arrange for the benefits to be credited to a debit card. An exception will be made for those at least 90 years old and those living in remote areas.
The agencies say that eight of 10 benefits recipients already receive them electronically.
Electronic payment eliminates the problem of lost or stolen checks, and makes it easier and more prompt for those away from home to ensure payments are available for use.
Beneficiaries who do not have bank or credit union accounts may obtain a Direct Express debit MasterCard.
For more information and assistance, go to www.GoDirect.org, or call, toll free, (800) 333-1795.