SMART UnionThe pictures were impossible to ignore: crumpled rail cars jigsawed in on one another at a road crossing in a small American town.
The derailment of a Union Pacific train in Mer Rouge, Louisiana, this month was just one of the latest to hit the U.S. rail industry; the engineer and conductor were hurt, but nothing caught on fire and injuries were considered serious but not life-threatening.
Read the complete story at Omaha.com.
Canadian Pacific Railway says it has ended talks with U.S. counterpart CSX about a possible combination and plans no more discussions.
The railway operator did not say why it ended talks, but it did note in a brief statement that regulatory concerns appear to be a major deterrent for railroads considering combinations.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
Faced with public concern about the risks of crude oil shipments, the Union Pacific railroad last month boosted its rail inspection program on mountain passes in California and the West, dispatching high-tech vehicles with lasers to check tracks for imperfections.
UP officials say they have leased two rail inspection vehicles, called geometry cars, doubling the number of computer-based safety cars in use on the company’s tracks. The move comes amid mounting public concern about hazardous-material shipments, including a growing quantity of highly flammable crude oil from North Dakota being shipped to West Coast refineries.
Read the complete story at the Sacramento Bee.
SMART Transportation Division members represented by General Committee of Adjustment GO 875 have approved a new agreement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority that attains all of the goals sought by the committee’s negotiating team.
The general committee represents bus and light and heavy rail operators throughout the county’s transportation system, as well as schedule makers and schedule checkers for the agency.
“The major issues given to the committee’s negotiators by the membership were discipline policies and work rules, an elimination of a two-tier wage scale and the security of the health and welfare trust. This contract accomplishes all of those goals,” said SMART International Representative Vic Baffoni. “The committee sought to address these issues, first and foremost, and our members approved of their accomplishments.
“Preservation of our work rules was paramount, and we totally renegotiated the discipline policy to provide our members with job security and fair treatment.”
The general committee represents approximately 5,000 LACMTA employees and is the largest bus and transit property represented by SMART.
The negotiation team was led by GO 875 General Chairperson James Williams and general committee members Local 1607 Chairperson Lisa Arredondo, Local 1563 Chairperson Robert Gonzalez, Local 1564 Chairperson Ulysses “Butch” Johnson, Local 1565 Chairperson Eddie Lopez and Local 1608 Chairperson John M. Ellis.
In preparation for the negotiations, Williams held meetings with California Gov. Jerry Brown and Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti. Preliminary negotiations with the agency commenced in February, following discussions with members at local meetings to pinpoint their objectives for a new contract. Negotiations with LACMTA officials began in earnest in March.
“This General Committee is extremely proud of the work that was put into crafting the new work rules for our members. Other transportation unions have gone on strike to get a fraction of what our committee was able to accomplish. There is not a doubt in my mind that these rules will serve as a model for other bargaining units in the future,” Williams said.
Under the new contract, an unfair and divisive two-tier wage system was eliminated for good and was replaced by a seniority-based rate schedule. Under previous agreements, operators hired after July 1, 1997, were paid significantly less than operators hired on or before that date.
Employees will now see wage increases after five, six, 10, 11 and 17 years of full-time service.
“If you put in the time and do the job, any operator can now reach the top of the pay scale,” Williams said.
During the life of the contract, all operators will see at least one significant pay increase, with the top-rate employees receiving a 4.5 percent pay increase immediately. Trainees, schedule checkers and schedule makers, and some part-time operators, will receive rate increases as well.
GO 875 represents members of Transportation Division Locals 1563, 1564, 1565, 1607, 1608. LACMTA Metro operates 2,228 vehicles over 1,433 square miles. The authority reports its total calendar monthly system-wide boardings for July 2014 at 38,327,115 riders.
After nearly three years of mediation with Great Lakes Airlines in conjunction with the National Mediation Board, SMART Transportation Division-represented airline pilots employed by the company have finally reached an agreement with the carrier.
Following several requests by the pilots’ local representatives to the NMB to be released from mediation, the affected pilots and SMART representatives reached a tentative agreement in late June.
A four-year contract with significant wage increases and beneficial work-rule changes was approved Sept. 16 with 80 percent of the ballots cast in support of the deal. GO 040 General Committee of Adjustment Vice Chairperson Diane King reports that 92 percent of all eligible pilots voted.
GO 040 General Committee of Adjustment Chairperson Matthew Klundt said many of the GLA pilots were exasperated by the long ordeal. “The word ‘strike’ kept coming up among our members at local meetings, but we were all relieved when we saw a light at the end of the tunnel in June. I personally thank Transportation Division President John Previsich, Vice President Jeremy Ferguson and other union officers for encouraging our members to let the process play out,” he said.
On average, airline captains will receive an immediate 20 percent pay increase, first officers an immediate 22 percent increase, and certified airline transport pilot first officers will see an immediate 50 to 55 percent pay increase, depending on what aircraft they are operating.
All Great Lakes pilots will then receive additional two to three percent wage increases each year, through 2017. Realistically, the increases will amount to about 5.5 to six percent per year with the longevity increases built into the agreement.
Other wage scales have also been negotiated for pilots operating jet airline service in anticipation of the carrier possibly purchasing those aircraft in the future.
“Hopefully, this will come to fruition soon as the number of passengers using Great Lakes’ services has been steadily shrinking due to competition providing faster jet service,” Ferguson said. “The airline’s flights have also decreased due to pilot shortages created by new Federal Aviation Administration regulations which resulted in GLA pilots being recruited by larger carriers. I think this agreement is a win for both sides.”
The airline currently operates only Beechcraft 1900D and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turbo-prop aircraft with available seating ranging from nine to 30 seats.
The new contract also contains the following provisions:
After the tentative agreement was reached in June, several issues remained open for discussion that were resolved by memorandums of understanding. That led to a delay in the ratification vote until September.
Ferguson praised General Chairperson Klundt and Local 40 (Denver) President John Nolan for their patience throughout the negotiating and mediation process. “Both Matt and John were very driven during the entire process and were a huge asset to the negotiating team and their fellow pilots. They were instrumental in getting the final negotiations across the finish line,” he said.
U.S. railroads are rallying customers, including lumber and steel companies, to fight a government proposal to slow trains hauling crude oil.
Urged by railroads, more than a dozen companies and business groups are warning regulators that cutting speeds to 40 mph from 50 mph would have a cascading effect, delaying other trains sharing the tracks carrying cargo such as furniture, grain and electronics.
Read the complete story at Transport Topics.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced the findings and recommendations from its focused safety assessment of Chicago’s Metra. The assessment finds Metra to be generally compliant with federal safety regulations, but also directs the commuter railroad to take immediate steps to enhance its safety culture, which is an area of concern, and to better utilize safety technology.
“Safety is our highest priority and after three serious safety incidents on Metra within a seven day period, we proactively intervened,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Our safety assessment identifies specific actions Metra should take to address risks to improve the safety of all passengers.”
FRA identified and prioritized specific safety concerns and actions Metra should take to mitigate them:
(PTC) systems that monitor and control train movements to provide increased safety.
“Continuous safety improvement must be the goal of every railroad,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “The roadmap we’ve laid out for Metra today is an opportunity for them to renew their commitment to safety and win back the faith of the traveling public.”
FRA announced the launch of the safety assessment on June 6, 2014 after three serious incidents occurred between May 27, 2014, and June 3, 2014, that resulted in the decertification of three Metra locomotive engineers. Review the entire report on Metra. Read our original announcement of the Metra Safety Assessment.
FRA’s strategy for continuous safety improvement is founded on three pillars: a rigorous oversight and inspection program based on strategic use of data; advancing proactive approaches for early identification and mitigation of risk; and capital investments and a robust research and development program.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ark. – Forty-four people were injured as a passenger train collided with a freight train south of West Fork on Thursday morning (Oct. 16), according to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
Of those injured, five are in critical condition while the status of the other 30 is unknown, health officials say. Six crew members of the train were among those injured, said Rick Fahr, a representative with the Department of Emergency Management.
Read the complete story Television Station KFSM.
ECP braking technology is part of DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) proposed ruling to make hauling crude oil safer. If passed, the proposal would require advanced braking systems, called electronically controlled pneumatic brakes or ECP technology, to be installed on trains hauling 20 cars or more of oil or ethanol.
National Legislative Director John Risch recently commented in an article by Energy Wire, stating that ECP braking technology is “the greatest advancement in safety I have witnessed in 30 years on the railroads.”
Risch went on further to say, “By instantaneously applying the brakes on all cars, ECP systems reduce in-train forces and dramatically reduce the distance a train needs to stop.”
Transportation regulators have estimated that if something is not done, the next oil train derailment could cost up to $5.75 billion, more than twice as devastating as the derailment and explosion that occurred in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
The PHMSA’s proposed ruling also includes making oil trains safer by requiring newly designed tank cars with a thicker steel shell. The proposal has three options on the table for new tank cars. Option I is a tank car that features a 9/16 inch steel shell, outfitted with ECP brakes and equipped with rollover protection. Option II would also have the 9/16 inch steel but would not require the car to feature ECP brakes, while option III would have 7/16 inch steel and would also not require the ECP brakes or rollover protection.
In his comments to PHMSA’s proposed ruling, Risch stated, “We support Option I that features tank cars with 9/16 inch steel, outfitted with ECP brakes and equipped with rollover protection. We believe that Options II and III should be eliminated and Option I established as the standard.”
Risch has also suggested in an additional letter to the PHMSA that additional safety measures be taken. “We respectfully recommend that there be a minimum requirement of five buffer cars of sand behind the lead locomotives on all crude oil and ethanol unit cars. These buffer cars will give the crew some time to get out of the locomotive cabs and evacuate the area with their lives after a train wreck.
“During an accident, the sand buffer cars can rupture and spill sand creating a berm on the ground between the crew and draining oil. That spilled sand can also be used to help soak up the spilled oil or ethanol.
“Our nation’s railroads are an inherently safe way to transport ethanol and crude oil and accidents are rare. That being said, safety needs continuous improvement… While prevention is priority, both accidental and intentional incidents are inevitable and must be anticipated by this rulemaking.”
Laurine G. Wildhaber, 82, the mother of former Auxiliary of the United Transportation Union International President Carol Menges, died Oct. 14, at the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics. Carol is the spouse of SMART Transportation Division Missouri State Legislative Director Ken Menges.
Wildhaber was a 1949 graduate of Freeburg High School and later became the co-owner and bookkeeper for Wildhaber’s Marine Sales and Service.
She was a part-time volunteer at St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City, Mo. She was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and assisted with the congregation’s prayer hour.
She is survived by her husband, Kenneth; sons Kenny (Diane) Wildhaber Jr. and Jim (Lisa); daughters Carol Sue (Kenneth) Menges, Mary “Dee Dee” (Don) Mehmert-Cryderman and Cynthia (Greg) Stokes; a brother; three sisters; 12 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held Oct. 19 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Houser-Millard Funeral Home, located at 2613 W. Main Street in Jefferson City, with a prayer service at 1 p.m. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 20, at Immaculate Conception Church, with interment following at Resurrection Cemetery Mausoleum. Expressions of sympathy may be made to Goldschmidt Cancer Center or Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.
Condolences may be left for the family online at www.millardfamilychapels.com.