Year: 2011

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In a state-of-the-union speech uncharacteristically short on laundry list projects and policies, President Obama Tuesday night conspicuously singled out high-speed rail as “the most reliable way to move people,” saying that “within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail, which could allow you go places in half the time it takes to travel by car.

“For some [high-speed rail] trips, it will be faster than flying — without the pat-down,”said the president. “As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.”

The White House press office said the president will release more details on his desires for high-speed rail, transit and Amtrak improvements when he delivers his fiscal-year 2012 budget request to Congress in early February.

“Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do,” said the president in his state-of-the-union speech. “China is building faster trains … We have to do better. America is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad.”

Many Republicans, however, have signaled they will oppose Obama’s high-speed rail spending proposals and also seek to reduce federal subsidies for Amtrak during congressional budget deliberations.

However, the chairman of the House Rail Subcommittee, Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), indicated he is not opposed to more spending on high-speed rail and Amtrak, but has reservations. Shuster said:

“The Obama administration’s high-speed rail grants, rather than focusing on a small number of projects with the most potential for success, have been spread among numerous projects. Most of these have been grants to Amtrak, and nearly all are slower-speed rail projects.

“In addition, the administration has virtually ignored the one region of the United States where high-speed rail makes the most sense and would have the most national benefit — the Northeast Corridor between Washington, New York and Boston. Amtrak’s Acela currently serves this route, but at an average speed of only 83 mph.”

And Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the subcommittee’s parent, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, has voiced support for more high-speed rail funding in the Northeast Corridor and for a limited number of high-speed rail projects — but with a caveat: private sector investment in addition to federal funding.

It was a mighty good fourth quarter and calendar-year 2010 for CSX, which reported Jan. 24 that its operating profits grew by 46 percent in the fourth quarter (versus fourth quarter 2009), and by 35 percent for the 12-months of 2010.

In announcing that CSX had reduced its operating ratio from 75 to 71.1, CEO Michael Ward said, the railroad “expects to produce record financial results, including a high-60’s operating ratio in 2011.” Operating ratio — a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue — is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. 

Ward said the CSX employee head count, at almost 30,000 at year-end 2010, had increased by more than 2 percent from year-end 2009. Ward predicted another 2 percent hike in employment in 2011, but did not indicate how many new train and engine positions would be added. However, a Wolfe Trahan report on CSX earnings indicated export coal loadings on CSX could increase by as much as 33 percent in 2011, obviously requiring more T&E starts.

CSX operates some 21,000 route miles in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Employees of four railroads in Alabama and Florida have chosen the UTU as their bargaining representative.

On South Florida Tri-Rail, a commuter railroad where the UTU already represents both sides of the cab, employees of the operations center have chosen the UTU as their bargaining representative.

In Alabama, train and engine workers on Conecuh Valley Railroad, Three Notch Railroad, and Wiregrass Central Railroad voted “UTU, yes.” All are owned by shortline holding company Gulf and Ohio Railways.

UTU organizer Mike Lewis worked with employees of both railroads to explain the UTU’s history, structure and representation strength. Lewis praised the efforts of Local 762 (Montgomery, Ala.) Chairperson Toby Mullins and UTU Florida State Legislative Director Andres Trujillo for their assistance. 

South Florida Tri-Rail operates over 71 miles for former CSX track linking West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Owned by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Tri-Rail is operated by Veolia Transportation. 

Conecuh Valley Railroad operates over former Central of Georgia (now Norfolk Southern) track between Troy, Ala., and Gadsden, Ala. 

Three Notch opeates from Andalusia, Ala., to Georgiana, Ala. over former CSX track.

Wiregrass Central operates between Enterprise, Ala., and Newton, Ala., over former CSX track.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Republican John Mica of Florida, has named subcommittee chairs.

Following are the chairs of the three subcommittees dealing with air, bus and rail issues:

Subcommittee on Highways and Transit

John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) chairman
Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) vice chairman

Subcommittee on Railroads

Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) chairman
Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) vice chairman

Subcommittee on Aviation

Thomas Petri (R-Wisc.) chairman
Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) vice chairman

WASHINGTON — Democrats have finalized appointments to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, whose ranking member is Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.)

Most transportation legislation affecting aviation, bus and rail originates in this committee.

The Democratic members, in addition to Chairman Rahall (26 in all), are:

Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Tim Bishop (N.Y.)
Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
Corrine Brown (Fla.)
Michael Capuano (Mass.)

Russ Carnahan (Mo.)
Steve Cohen (Tenn.)
Jerry Costello (Ill.)
Elijah Cummings (Md.)
Peter DeFazio (Ore.)

Donna Edwards (Md.)
Bob Filner (Calif.)
Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
Tim Holden (Pa.)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas)

Rick Larsen (Wash.)
Dan Lipinski (Ill.)
Michael Michaud (Maine)
Jerry Nadler (N.Y.)
Grace Napolitano (Calif.)

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.)
Laura Richardson (Calif.)
Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Albio Sires (N.J.)
Timothy Walz (Minn.)

To view the 33 Republican members of the T&I Committee, click on the following link:

https://www.smart-union.org/news/democrats-named-to-ti-committee-6/

Private sector and public sector union membership fell sharply in 2010, reports The New York Times.

In the domestic private workforce, the percentage of workers represented by unions tumbled to 6.9 percent (from 7.2 percent in 2009), while in the public sector, the percentage dropped to 36.2 percent (from 37.4 percent in 2009), reports the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Private sector union employment is at its lowest point in more than a century, says the BLS.

Total union membership — combined private and public sector — is now at its lowest point in 70 years, or 11.9 percent of the total work force (down from 12.3 percent in 2009), says the BLS.

The good news, reports The New York Times, is that the median weekly earnings for union members is now $917, or $200 more than the median weekly earnings for non-union members. The median separates the highest 50 percent from the lowest 50 percent, meaning half of union workers earn more than $917 weekly and half less than $917 weekly.

States with the highest unionization rate (public and private sectors) are Alaska, Hawaii and New York; the lowest rates being in Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina, says the BLS.

SAN FRANCISCO — First Student school bus drivers here, represented by UTU Local 1741, have ratified a new wage and benefits agreement by a 72 percent majority.

“Our strategy was to keep negotiations limited to economics because the work rules in our contract are the standard by which most other school bus drivers measure their contracts — by any measure, one of the best contracts for school bus drivers in the country,” said General Chairperson Paul Stein. “Also, our health insurance benefits far exceed most San Francisco city workers.”

“Negotiators for the local were able to hold on to our health-insurance plan without premium increases,” Stein said. “We asked for wage increases for ourselves and a series of raises for the office staff and dispatchers that would bring them up to the level of the drivers. The increases we got for the staff was very nearly what was asked for, and was viewed by most as a victory.

“The unity of drivers and staff and the hard work of the members of the local committee who did the hands-on work of negotiations is a tribute to the abilities of working people willing to fight for what they deserve,” Stein said.

WASHINGTON — Rail traffic for the week ending Jan. 15 continued its upward climb, reports the Association of American Railroads.

Carloads were up by 7.5 percent compared with the same week in 2010, and intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) showed a gain of 5.8 percent over the same week in 2010.

The AAR reported that for the first two weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported an increase of 13.5 percent in carloads and 7.2 percent in intermodal.

The UTU International is receiving questions about the quadrennial convention, Aug. 8-12, at the Westin Diplomat, Hollywood, Fla.

Delegates will receive, by early April, a packet explaining room reservation procedures and other convention details.

Room reservations will be handled by the UTU International. Room reservations will not be accepted until after the packets have been mailed.

On the same day (Jan. 20) Union Pacific reported record fourth quarter and record calendar year 2010 profits, UP Chairman Jim Young said he is headed to Washington to meet with President Obama’s economic advisers to oppose a congressional mandate that railroads implement crash-avoidance positive train control by year-end 2015.

UP told investors its 2010 fourth quarter earnings had soared by 31 percent from the same quarter in 2009, and that its calendar year 2010 profit rose by 47 percent to a record $2.8 billion.

Twice during 2010, Union Pacific raised its common stock dividend, raising the dividend by 40 percent in 2010. Since 2001, the Union Pacific common stock dividend rate has been raised by 280 percent, for an average of 28 percent annually.

Young called 2010 the “most profitable year in Union Pacific’s nearly 150-year history.

“Economic indicators point to growth [in 2011], and if jobs improve, there will be even greater strength,” said Young, according to progressiverailroading.com. “The bar is raised, and last year the floor was set. We’re setting our sights even higher.”

UP repeated a previous announcement that it will increase its workforce by more than 4,000 in 2011 — an increase of almost 10 percent in its workforce — while bringing back the remainder of furloughed workers.

As for the Washington trip, in which Young said he will be joined by executives from other railroads, the Journal of Commerce reported that Young “strongly complained about the heavy expense of developing and deploying positive train control technology, which means outfitting locomotives with automated braking gear and tying it into trackside warning devices and other remote control systems.”

The railroads’ opposition to PTC — that its costs outweigh benefits — is disputed by independent studies, some commissioned by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board has long advocated implementation of PTC as a necessary safety overlay. The UTU and other rail labor organizations similarly support implementation of PTC.