SMART Union
Perhaps sparked by highway congestion or the hassle of air travel, Amtrak’s passenger rail service has been the nation’s fastest growing mode of transportation, according to a new report that urges Congress to push forward with a coordinated national rail plan.
The government-subsidized railway carried a record 31.2 million people last year, a 55 percent increase since 1997, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.
Read the complete story from The Washington Post.
WASHINGTON – Norfolk Southern Railway Co. has been ordered to pay $1,121,099 to three workers following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which found that the company violated the whistleblower provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act.
Two investigations, conducted by OSHA staff in Chicago and Pittsburgh, found that three employees were wrongfully fired for reporting workplace injuries. In addition to monetary remedies, the company has been ordered to expunge the disciplinary records of the three whistleblowers, post a notice regarding employees’ whistleblower protection rights under the FRSA and train workers on these rights.
Railroad carriers are subject to the FRSA, which protects employees who report violations of any federal law, rule or regulation relating to railroad safety or security, or who engage in other protected activities.
“The Labor Department continues to find serious whistleblower violations at Norfolk Southern, and we will be steadfast in our defense of a worker’s right to a safe job – including his or her right to report injuries,” said acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris. “When workers can’t report safety concerns on the job without fear of retaliation, worker safety and health suffer, which costs working families and businesses alike.”
One investigation involved a crane operator based in Fort Wayne, Ind., who was removed from service after reporting an eye injury requiring the extraction of a sliver of metal and rust ring from his eye. The injury occurred while he was operating a crane in support of a bridge-building operation in Albany, Ind. The employee was taken out of service and formally terminated on Aug. 24, 2010, after an internal investigation determined he had made false statements concerning the injury.
OSHA’s investigation concluded that the worker would not have been terminated if he had not reported the injury. The agency has ordered the railroad to pay him a total of $437,591.70 in damages, which includes $100,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering, $175,000 in punitive damages, and $156,518.94 in back wages and benefits. It also includes compensation of $6,072.76 to the crane operator for penalties incurred when he had to cash in savings bonds prior to their maturity date after being terminated. In addition to damages, the company has been ordered to pay reasonable attorney fees. Further, OSHA has ordered the railroad to reinstate the worker to the proper seniority level, with vacation and sick days that he would otherwise have earned.
OSHA’s second investigation involved a thermite welder and a welder’s helper based in western Pennsylvania. Both employees had worked at the railroad for more than 36 years without incident when they reported injuries sustained as a result of an accident caused by another vehicle that ran a red light and hit a second vehicle, which in turn collided with the company truck in which they were riding.
The employees initially reported minor shoulder area pain plus some stiffness and soreness. Later, when questioned by management, they initially declined medical treatment, but as the pain increased, sought and received treatment at a local hospital. They were then taken out of service pending an investigative hearing and formally terminated. Management concluded that the employees’ reports about their condition were false and conflicting and constituted misconduct.
OSHA’s investigation found that the employees were terminated for reporting injuries to management. The agency has ordered the railroad to pay them $683,508 in damages, including $300,000 in punitive damages; $233,508 in lost wages, benefits and out-of-pocket costs; and $150,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering. Interest on back pay due will accrue daily until the employees are paid. In addition to damages, the company has been ordered to pay reasonable attorney fees.
These actions follow several other orders issued by OSHA against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in the past two years. OSHA’s investigations have found that the company continues to retaliate against employees for reporting work-related injuries, and these actions have effectively created a chilling effect in the railroad industry.
“The Labor Department’s responsibility is to protect all employees, including those in the railroad industry, from retaliation for exercising these basic worker rights,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. Railroad workers must be able to report work-related injuries without fear of retaliation.”
Norfolk Southern Railway Co. is a major transporter/hauler of coal and other commodities, serving every major container port in the eastern United States with connections to western carriers. Its headquarters are in Norfolk, Va., and it employs more than 30,000 union workers worldwide.
Any party to these cases can file an appeal with the Labor Department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receipt of the findings.
On July 16, 2012, OSHA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration signed a memorandum of agreement to facilitate coordination and cooperation for enforcing the FRSA’s whistleblower provisions. Between August 2007, when OSHA was assigned responsibility for whistleblower complaints under the FRSA, and September 2012, OSHA received more than 1,200 FRSA whistleblower complaints. The number of whistleblower complaints that OSHA currently receives under the FRSA surpasses the number it receives under any of the other 21 whistleblower protection statutes it enforces except for Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. More than 60 percent of the FRSA complaints filed with OSHA involve an allegation that a railroad worker has been retaliated against for reporting an on-the-job injury.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 21 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, worker safety, public transportation agency, maritime and securities laws. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or to the government.
Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor to request an investigation by OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available at http://www.whistleblowers.gov.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
Some Congressional lawmakers want to allow bigger trucks on the nation’s highways, but the SMART Transportation Division and others are asking them to hit the road.
In a letter to all 435 members of the House of Representatives, the SMART Transportation Division has joined with the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), the Railway Supply Institute (RSI), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), the Transportation Communications International Union (TCU) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) in requesting that they refrain from cosponsoring H.R. 612.
The legislation was introduced on Feb. 12 by Reps. Mike Michaud and Reid Ribble. Specifically, the legislation seeks to increase the maximum truck weight allowed on our nation’s highways from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds at a time when the Department of Transportation (DOT) – as instructed by Congress – is conducting a comprehensive study of this issue.
The letter reminds lawmakers that H.R. 612 would increase the subsidies other motorists provide for the damage caused by heavy trucks; notes that one in every four bridges in the U.S. today is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete; asks lawmakers to consider the serious implications for our environment posed by larger trucks, and, most importantly, points out that the American public overwhelmingly opposes increasing truck weights.
Even some truckers are against the bill.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) sent letters to House members urging them not to co-sponsor H.R. 612.
In the letters, OOIDA President Jim Johnston wrote: “On behalf of our nation’s small business truckers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) urges you to not co-sponsor H.R. 612, legislation to allow heavier trucks on America’s highways.
“Small business truckers make up the majority of the trucking industry in the United States, and they know first-hand the impact that heavier trucks have on their cost of equipment and operations, safety matters, including the handling characteristics of a truck, and the conditions of our nation’s roads and bridges.”
To read the complete letter co-signed by the SMART Transportation Division, click here.
SMART Transportation Division President Mike Futhey and Assistant President John Previsich this week joined the leaders of other AFL-CIO affiliate unions at the organization’s annual winter meeting.
They also meet separately with members of the organization’s Transportation Trades Department to roll out a 2013 transportation investment and jobs agenda, stake out an aggressive stance against irresponsible liberalization of aviation trade and to condemn damaging cuts to transportation programs and jobs that are threatened by sequestration.
“It is the height of irresponsibility for extremists in Congress to use the sequestration battle to tank our economy and use public and private sector working men and women as pawns in their partisan games,” said Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO following the annual winter meeting of its 33-member Executive Committee. “It is time for Congress to end this senseless sequestration stalemate and finally start focusing on an agenda to modernize our failing transportation system and create middle-class jobs.”
The TTD Executive Committee was joined by new House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) who said, “I appreciate today’s opportunity to meet with the Transportation Trades Department’s Executive Committee, and look forward to working with them and all parties interested in a stronger transportation network for our nation. By listening to a diverse set of opinions and working together to build consensus, we can improve America’s infrastructure, make us more competitive, and strengthen our economy.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), ranking minority member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Water Resources Subcommittee, also joined the meeting and said, “Investments in infrastructure put skilled laborers to work now and lay the foundation for a growing economy in the future. I am proud to partner with TTD in advocating for a 21st Century American transportation network and fighting back against destructive budget cuts like sequestration that will undermine vital programs. I am also proud of my work with TTD to extend [Family and Medical Leave Act] protections to airline flight crews, protect fair wages for transportation workers, and ensure our roads, rails, transit operations, ports and aviation system are safe and well funded for the future.”
The Executive Committee also heard from U.S. Department of Transportation Undersecretary for Policy Polly Trottenberg, who said, “Transportation workers are our partners in safety, who build, operate and maintain the roads, rails and runways that every American depends on. The Obama Administration will continue investing in good transportation projects that keep our economy and the traveling public moving forward.”
The Executive Committee adopted several policy statements during the meeting that offer detailed, substantive policy prescriptions on behalf of the workers who operate, maintain and build the world’s largest transportation network.
On the eve of possible federal spending cuts due to sequestration, the Executive Committee condemned threatened draconian cuts to vital transportation programs that form the backbone of our system of commerce. The “ravages of sequestration,” they said, must be avoided and federal workers “should not be made scapegoats” in this dangerous political game. To end the stalemate on long-term investments in public transit and highways, transportation unions offer a bipartisan solution to the “broken and outdated funding system,” noting that the purchasing power of these funds has fallen 33 percent in two decades.
TTD affiliates support an increase in the gas tax indexed to inflation, as well as possibly replacing the current excise tax with a sales tax.
On the globalization of aviation, TTD opposes the European Union’s push to hollow out U.S. airline ownership and control laws, and impose its heavy-handed agenda in talks with the U.S. and in the upcoming meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
As for a long-term plan for Amtrak, TTD laments, “Too many politicians fail to understand the enormous economic benefits of modernizing passenger and freight rail.” Transportation unions will push for a long-term funding plan for Amtrak and oppose “risky” privatization schemes.
Transportation union leaders also vow to preserve a strong maritime industry. TTD unions sharply criticize congressional action to weaken cargo preference laws that ensure most federal government-generated cargo travels on U.S.-flagged ships crewed by U.S. maritime workers.
TTD affiliates will also join the battle to stop the use of “our own transportation system” as a “haven for predatory criminals” that engage in human trafficking.
The affiliates of TTD also pledge their support for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) campaign against the sinister efforts of Patriot Coal, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal to exploit our bankruptcy code at the expense of “hard-working mine workers, retirees, and their families.”
ORLANDO, Fla. – As lawmakers prepare to debate passenger rail reauthorization, leaders of AFL-CIO transportation unions are calling on Congress to set a long-term future for Amtrak that meets the demands of a growing ridership, invests in the railroad’s decaying equipment and network, protects the rights and jobs of workers and rejects “risky” privatization of key routes and services.
“While Americans are clamoring for more transportation options, Congress must ensure that Amtrak and its employees have the resources necessary to meet the nation’s growing rail transportation needs,” said Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD). “Inaction and neglect in Washington have left Amtrak with an enormous backlog of critical upgrades to its infrastructure and rail cars.”
In 2013 both the House and Senate will draft legislation to provide funding and structure to our nation’s passenger rail network. A policy statement adopted by TTD’s Executive Committee urges Congress to replace the current policy of “underinvestment and disrepair” with a long-term plan that modernizes our passenger and freight rail infrastructure and discards proposals to “sell-off the carrier’s most prized routes and assets, and hollow out the remainder of the network.”
Transportation unions emphasized Amtrak’s readiness to lead the nation’s expansion into both higher speed and conventional passenger rail services.
Amtrak has “an extensive reservation system, mature relationships with the freight railroads, the physical infrastructure needed to support high-speed rail initiatives and decades of demonstrated compliance with all federal rail laws,” the Executive Committee declared, adding that as billions in new public investments are rolled out in the rewrite of federal rail policy, “the reauthorization must safeguard the rights, jobs and wages of front-line workers.”
Wytkind added: “We will mobilize behind this sensible plan to rewrite our passenger rail laws and give our government the tools it needs to execute a national rail policy.”
The engineer of one of two ore trains that crashed head-on just outside of Two Harbors, Minn., in 2010 is taking issue with the National Transportation Safety Board report on the accident, disputing that cell phone use by the train crews was a relevant factor.
In an exclusive interview with the News-Chronicle Feb. 20, Dan Murphy, engineer of the northbound train, conceded that he had used his phone on the day of the Sept. 30, 2010, accident, but that the call was less than a minute and in no way interfered with his duties.
Read the complete story at Lake County News Chronicle.
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a new report on the status of fatigue among railroad industry employees.
In 2001, the FRA began examining the fatigue status of safety-critical railroad employees by using logbooks to collect work and sleep data over a period of two weeks from a representative sample of employees in each group.
The research in this report was conducted prior to implementation of the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), which made significant changes to limitations on hours of work for railroad employees. Consequently, the information in this report can serve as a baseline for examining the adequacy of existing statutory or regulatory limitations on hours of work to prevent worker fatigue.
This report draws on the results of several prior studies, all conducted with similar methodology, to characterize the prevalence of employee fatigue in the U.S. railroad industry.
Data from logbook surveys of signalmen, maintenance of way workers, dispatchers, and train and engine service employees were combined to examine the relationship between work schedules and sleep patterns.
Railroaders make up for lack of sleep on workdays by sleeping longer on rest days. This strategy is used to a greater extent among by certain groups such as signalmen working four 10-hour days, first shift dispatchers, and train and engine service workers on jobs with a fixed start time.
T&E workers in passenger service with a split assignment have a shorter primary sleep period than those working straight through or working extra board assignments, but they have similar total daily sleep because they sleep during their interim release.
Overall, U.S. railroad workers are more likely than U.S. working adults to get less than seven hours of total sleep on workdays, but railroad workers average more total sleep when sleep on workdays and rest days are combined.
Logbook data for work and sleep indicates that T&E workers and third shift dispatchers have the most fatigue exposure and passenger T&E workers have the least. Railroad workers in all groups had less fatigue exposure than those involved in human factors accidents.
The key findings of this report are as follows:
•The risk of a human factors accident is elevated 11 to 65 percent above chance by exposure to fatigue.
•The economic cost of a human factors accident when an employee is very fatigued is approximately $1,600,000, compared to $400,000 in the absence of fatigue.
•Amount of sleep and the time of day when sleep occurs account for 85 to 96 percent of fatigue exposure. Work schedules determine the amount and time of day of sleep.
•Dispatchers and T&E workers have the highest exposure to fatigue. They are also the groups that have the longest work hours and work at night.
•T&E as a group has significant fatigue exposure, but passenger T&E is the group with the least fatigue exposure. The predictability of passenger T&E schedules and less nighttime work explains this difference.
•The fatigue exposure of all groups is less than that of employees involved in human factors accidents, which indicates a relationship between fatigue and accidents.
•Significant differences resulting from job type and schedule exist in the sleep patterns of railroad workers. Analysis of data collected through a logbook study allows for identification of the differences that are not otherwise apparent.
•The sleep pattern of railroad workers differs from that of U.S. working adults. Railroad workers are more likely to get less than seven hours of total sleep on workdays, which puts them at risk of fatigue. On average, however, they obtain more total sleep than U.S. working adults, when total sleep hours on workdays and rest days are combined.
•Railroad workers in all groups reported sleep disorders that exceed U.S. norms for working adults. Of these, all but 2.4 percent were receiving treatment.
•The FRA fatigue model (FAST) provides a valid method of assessing fatigue exposure as a function of work schedule and sleep pattern.
These findings suggest that strategies for reducing railroad worker fatigue include improving the predictability of schedules and educating workers about human fatigue and sleep disorders.
To view the complete report, click here.
By James Stem,
National Legislative Director –
As a new Congress begins its largely partisan struggles, which are sometimes difficult to understand and frequently disturbing, the job of the National Legislative Office is to convince lawmakers that the legislative agenda of SMART members is the ideal recipe.
The education process itself can be brutal, as evidenced by these numbers: In this Congress there are 84 new House members, 11 new senators and 17 new members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, where air, bus, rail and transit legislation often has its beginning.
The job of the National Legislative Office and the state legislative directors is to provide members of Congress with facts and be available as a resource when they have questions or are approached with different points of view by others.
High on the list of issues important to SMART members is a stable and sufficient source of funding for Amtrak and mass transit, which are carrying record numbers of riders and which are expected to swell further with demands from budget travelers, seniors and those frustrated with airline delays and increasing highway congestion.
Of importance to the safety of rail members is preventing further delay in implementation of positive train control, and refining some of the language in the hours-of-service law passed by Congress in 2008.
As discussions proceed on how to deal with America’s substantial debt and deficit spending, we are working with other labor organizations to ensure that middle-class Americans don’t face the brunt of the problem. For example, it is imperative we preserve the home mortgage-interest tax deduction and that Congress does not attempt to require employees to pay income taxes on their health care benefits.
Preserving the financial integrity of Social Security is another issue. Also, we expect conservative lawmakers, who don’t understand that Railroad Retirement is entirely funded by the taxes of rail workers and railroads, to seek again to fold Railroad Retirement into Social Security.
Returning to hours-of-service regulations, among our objectives is to gain new legislative language providing predictable and defined work/rest periods, a 10-hour call for all those in unassigned road service, and a mandate that the 10-hour undisturbed rest period be immediately prior to performing covered service instead of immediately following service. We also want all yardmaster assignments to be covered under hours-of-service regulations and that there be a two-hour limit on limbo time per tour of duty.
Our plate is full, but we are heartened that much, if not all, of the anti-labor conservative agenda expected to be proposed will be defeated either by a more sober-thinking House majority or in the Senate, where the labor-friendly majority was increased in the November elections.
In 2012, UTU PAC played a meaningful role in reducing the anti-worker majority in the House and increasing the labor-friendly majority in the Senate.
Your UTU PAC contributions continue to be a great tool in facilitating face-to-face conversations with members of Congress and helping keep our friends in office.
I urge you to become a PAC member if you are not yet one, or increase your PAC contributions to a minimum of a dollar-a-day level. UTU PAC contributions are one of the most effective investments you can make in job security, improved wages and benefits.
Healthy drivers are happy drivers
As the year kicks off, I must ask you: “How are you doing?”
“I am healthy and happy” is the answer I’d love to hear, but, sadly, it’s the answer I hear less and less.
Consider our work schedules, and the nature of our jobs: We sit all day strapped in a seat. We tend to bounce around as we vibrate down the road. Meals are often on the run. We are usually rushed and often eat whatever we can get our hands on.
As drivers, we also are exposed to all types of chemicals, as well as noxious exhaust fumes.
Also, our work schedules can range anywhere from eight hours to upwards of 15 hours.
But help is on the way. A group of researchers are working on the health of the bus operator. Federal funding has been set aside specifically to study what has been happening to our health.
Preliminary findings are that drivers are at increased risk of contracting diabetes, high blood pressure, poor circulation and respiratory problems, as well as weight problems.
At our upcoming regional meetings (see the center of this paper), we are hoping to have some presentations on bus operator health concerns. Don’t forget to register as soon as possible.
Also, we in the UTU stand in solidarity with New York City school bus operators who are currently on strike. The city and Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union are in dispute over seniority and other issues. If you see a striking school bus operator please give them a thumbs up.
By Dr. Norman K. Brown
UTU Medical Consultant
Recent studies of women exposed to second hand smoke showed statistical increases in dementia over time as compared to unexposed women. Similarly, particulate air pollution exposure appears to increase the chance of dementia in later years.
People with periodontal gum disease have a higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. However, brushing your teeth and seeing your dentist for a cleaning regularly will help greatly to prevent gum disease.
Recently, it has been found that two major components of our so-called Western diet, namely saturated fatty foods – think French fries – and simple carbohydrates such as sugar in soda pop, can alter brain cell function.
Most interestingly, it is theorized that one result of this impaired hippocampus is a tendency to overeat, leading to a vicious cycle of ongoing weight gain.
Although it seems paradoxical, our brains depend upon sugar for all their energy; yet, sugar surges in the blood stream from high sugar foods can apparently be difficult for the brain. Our brains need a steady, continuous flow of the sugar glucose from our blood, such as from complex carbohydrates like starch in fruits and vegetables, but jolts such as after drinking soda may be not so good.
There is some consensus that the following food items may help our brains to function better longer:
• Complex sugars (e.g., vegetables, fruits) that are embedded with fiber so the payout of sugar to our bloodstreams is slow and steady.
• Antioxidant-containing foods: berries, especially blueberries, spinach, and tomatoes.
• Omega 3 containing fish, especially salmon, flax seed oil, cod liver oil, or fish oil pills.
• Bananas for potassium.
• Avocados and nuts, raw or dry roasted, which contain unsaturated fat.
Please also think about some of the conditions in your family such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, for which a double effort to prevent these conditions will in turn benefit your general health, including your brain.
I believe in the concept that in future years there will be more tests available to detect a genetic tendency a toward particular condition and, furthermore, that there will be some biochemical interventions to help certain patterns.
But before that time, please work on the basics: good diet, weight control, supplements and exercise, which we know are good for all of us.