Year: 2014

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OSHA logo; OSHADENVER – Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC retaliated against a Mandan, North Dakota, worker in December 2013 after he reported a work-related injury and submitted a physician’s treatment plan, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has ordered Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF to pay more than $30,000 in back wages and damages and to take other corrective action.

The former employee submitted a whistleblower complaint to OSHA alleging violations of the anti-retaliation provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. As a result, OSHA investigated and determined the work-related injury reporting and subsequent treatment plan were contributing factors in terminating the employee, a direct violation of the FRSA.

“Reporting an injury and a subsequent treatment plan ordered by a physician — regardless of an employer’s policy or deadline — is protected activity by law,” said Gregory Baxter, OSHA’s regional administrator in Denver. “BNSF failed to prove that its personnel actions were anything other than retaliation.”

OSHA ordered the employer to reinstate the worker at the same or an equivalent job, restore seniority and benefits, and pay $6,000 in compensatory damages, plus attorney’s fees.

Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or 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. More information is available online at http://www.whistleblowers.gov/index.html.

BNSF or the former employee may file objections or request a hearing before the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receiving OSHA’s order.

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.

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.

abcThe Associated Builders and Contractors, a strongly anti-union, anti-worker contractor group, has lobbied against improvements in workplace standards and jobsite safety for years while keeping construction workers’ wages depressed.  When its not lobbying against the hiring of veterans on construction sites, the group interferes in local construction decision making processes by filing frivolous lawsuits when its members lose out on bids.
The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California has recently produced an excellent and  compelling video that pulls back the curtain from the slick public relations efforts of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and exposes the true nature of its destructive business model.  From striving to keep wages low in the construction industry, to making virtually no investments in apprenticeship training and workforce development, the ABC has for generations been an anathema to preserving middle class standards for careers in the construction industry.
This hard hitting video lifts the veil around this group and exposes it for its’ hypocrisy.
 
 
 
 

BNSF Railroad will invest $235 million in its system in Washington state this year, nearly double the amount invested in 2013.

This suggests that the company is continuing to upgrade a system that supported $28.5 billion in state economic activity, according to a study released Monday.

Read the complete story at Puget Sound Business Journal.

WASHINGTON — Two railroad industry trade groups have quietly asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to drop its requirement that rail carriers transporting large volumes of Bakken crude oil notify state emergency officials.

The railroads have maintained that they already provide communities with adequate information about hazardous materials shipments and that public release of the data could harm the industry from a security and business standpoint. But they haven’t been successful in convincing numerous states or the federal government.

Read the complete story at The Columbian.

Train operators in Canada’s burgeoning freight rail industry report falling asleep at the controls and coming to work exhausted at an alarmingly high rate, according to an ongoing CBC News investigation into rail safety.

“I have had instances where I have just snapped back into reality, and kind of, for a few seconds, not really realized or recognized where I am,” one Ontario-based CN rail engineer told CBC News, recalling how he’d missed a signal at the controls of a three-kilometre-long train.

Read the complete story CBC News.

SMART Transportation Division-represented trainmen and yardmasters employed by the Terminal Railroad Alabama State Docks have ratified a new six-year agreement by an overwhelming majority.

The new agreement provides for six, three percent annual general wage increases retroactive to April 1, 2012, with the final three percent general wage increase on April 1, 2017, resulting in a cumulative wage increase of 19.1 percent over the life of the agreement, with full back pay.

The agreement establishes a $5 certification pay for yard foreman; increases meal periods to thirty minutes with a one hour meal payment on certain assignments; provides a thirty minute training payment for yard foreman, helpers and yardmasters, and reduces the vacation qualifying years to 12 years for four weeks of vacation and 23 years for five weeks vacation.

The agreement provides for calculating paid military leave days as a start for five day work weeks and allows employees to bank up to 60 personal leave days.

Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted in negotiations, thanks General Chairperson Mark Cook (GO 898), Alabama State Legislative Director Neil Elders, Local 598 Chairperson Blake Kyser and Local 598 Vice Chairperson Billy Johns, “for putting forth exceptional effort in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with substantial improvements in wages and working conditions.”

SMART Transportation Division-represented trainmen, engineers and yardmasters employed by Lake Terminal Railroad have ratified a new six-year agreement by a unanimous vote.

The agreement provides for six annual wage increases, beginning July 1, 2013, and rolls in previous cost-of-living adjustment increases, resulting in an 18.7 percent cumulative wage increase over the life of the contract.

It also includes lump sum back pay, establishes a $5 certification pay for conductors, engineers and remote control operators, increases carrier-matching contributions to 401(k) accounts to $1,300, and establishes an additional retirement account for new hires with a $75 monthly carrier contribution. There will be limits on employee health and welfare contributions to 12 percent of the plan costs and a freeze on co-pays and deductibles for the life of the contract.

SMART Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with the negotiations, congratulates Lake Terminal General Chairperson Brad Elias and Local Chairperson Russ Tolson for “the exceptional effort put forth in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with significant improvements in wages and working conditions.”

Update:  KNOE 8 News has learned that the two railroad employees injured in Sunday’s train derailment are now both being treated for their injuries in a Shreveport hospital.

Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stevens says the train engineer has a compound fracture to his leg and some bumps and bruises. The chief says the conductor has numerous broken ribs. He had surgery to remove his spleen and heart surgery related to the broken ribs.

Visit KNOE 8 for updates on this story.

Original Post:
MER ROUGE, La. – Two Union Pacific engineers were injured when their train derailed in Mer Rouge early Sunday (Oct. 5) afternoon after colliding with a truck that was stuck on the tracks.

The driver of the truck was uninjured after bailing out as the train approached. “The driver jumped out of the truck and took off running,” said Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stephens. “That was all he could do.”

Read the complete story at The News Star.

Amtrak LogoNEW YORK – A new engineering report details damage to the Amtrak-owned Hudson River and East River tunnels following Superstorm Sandy and recommends a phased process to take individual tubes out of service for extended periods to perform the work required to maintain reliability of train movements in and out of New York City.

The report underscores the urgency to advance the Gateway Program which includes building new, two-track tunnel capacity under the Hudson River that can help alleviate service impacts to the region as the needed work on the tunnels is underway.

“Public awareness of the critical needs of the tunnels is important to build regional understanding of what must be done to provide current and future train service levels into New York,” said Amtrak Chairman Tony Coscia. “The Northeast region needs to make the Gateway Program a priority and we must get about the business of moving it forward as fast as we can.”

Superstorm Sandy created a storm surge that resulted in sea water inundating both tubes of the Hudson River tunnel and two of the four tubes of the East River tunnel. The report found no evidence that the tunnel linings themselves are unsound, but it did find that chlorides and sulfates caused, and are continuing to cause, significant damage to key tunnel components such as the bench walls and track systems as well as the signal, electrical and mechanical systems.

The tunnels are safe for passenger train operations. Amtrak has a robust tunnel inspection program, conducts regular maintenance work and will be performing interim work as needed. However, a permanent fix is required soon so that the tunnels remain available for long- term use by the traveling public.

Amtrak engineers are working with expert consultants on designs to rehabilitate the two damaged tubes of the East River tunnel and will coordinate with other agencies to minimize impacts to train service and other projects. The rehabilitation work for both damaged tubes of the Hudson River tunnel cannot

reasonably begin until after the new Gateway tunnel is built and operating. This will allow rail traffic to shift to the new tunnel and avoid major service impacts. Amtrak is advancing the Gateway Program and seeking to begin as soon as possible the environmental review process.

Through the design process and additional planning work, Amtrak will develop a schedule for performing the work recommended by this report. Amtrak will ensure the safety of all passengers and balance efforts to minimize service impacts while also advancing as soon as possible the permanent fix needed for the long-term reliability of the tunnels for train service to Penn Station in New York.