MONTREAL – The union and lawyers representing two railway employees accused in the Lac-Megantic disaster are urging the Crown to drop the charges in light of recent findings by the Transportation Safety Board.
Engineer Tom Harding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, the manager of train operations, each face 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death – one for each victim of last summer’s oil-train derailment in the Quebec town.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Blue Ribbon Panel studying safety and maintenance practices at its three railroads yesterday announced 29 recommendations to improve operations and safety.
Created a year ago after a series of safety-related incidents at MTA Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and New York City Transit (NYCT), the panel identified Metro-North’s safety culture as an area of particular concern, noting the railroad’s emphasis on on-time performance did not leave employees with enough time to perform necessary track inspections and maintenance work, MTA officials said in a press release.
In a landslide vote held Aug. 27, employees of Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad voted for SMART representation. Of the 53 eligible voters and 42 total votes, 37 voted for SMART Transportation Division representation while five voted for no representation.
Phillip Craig, member of the SMART TD Executive Board, had a large part in organizing the property.
“I was the general chairman back when the property was owned by the DM&E. I organized it 25 years ago when it was the DM&E. I went out to the property prior to it being sold and the members all felt good about their SMART TD representation. So I called Washington and I talked with John Risch and then Rich Ross and we went out there.”
“When I organized it the first time, it took three years. This time it took less than 90 days.”
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. acquired the former CP DM&E line and started operations under the new name June 1. The short line runs a total of 670 miles in four states: Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska. The railroad transports about 52,000 carloads annually of grain, ethanol, bentonite clay, fertilizer and other products.
“I’d like to thank South Dakota State Legislative Director BJ Shillingstad, Vice Local Chairperson Mike Decker (L-64), Nick Boyer (L-64), Gus Manolis (L-64), Director of Organizing Rich Ross, National Legislative Director James Stem, Alt. National Legislative Director John Risch and President John Previsich. They were all a big help to me.”
The SMART Transportation Division is beginning the process of formulating Section 6 notices to be served on rail carriers negotiating under the umbrella of the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which will include proposals to increase wages, benefits and improve working conditions.
As mandated by the Railway Labor Act and the current national agreement, these Section 6 notices will be served on most of the nation’s rail carriers on or about Nov. 3, 2014, to become effective no earlier than Jan. 1, 2015.
The serving of the Section 6 notices is the first step in reaching a new national agreement with railroads represented by the NCCC.
The carriers represented by the NCCC also have been working on their own wage and rule notices that they will serve at or about the same time the SMART TD notices are served.
All officers and members are invited to submit proposals for the Section 6 notices to the SMART TD headquarters.
The proposals submitted by members will be catalogued during the months of August and September.
A committee of general chairpersons from the Association of General Chairpersons, District No. 1, will review the proposals submitted and begin to fine-tune those suggestions into the notices to be served on the carriers.
The full Association of General Chairpersons, District No. 1, will then be convened to review and finalize the union’s Section 6 notices.
Soon thereafter, the Section 6 notices will be reproduced and mailed to all U.S. general chairpersons for serving on the affected railroads on or about Nov. 3.
“All affected members will be kept informed regarding the Section 6 notices and developments in negotiations, when possible, through the SMART Transportation Division News and the SMART TD website,” Transportation Division President John Previsich said.
Under the Railway Labor Act, the current national agreement between the SMART TD (UTU) and NCCC will remain in effect until a new agreement is reached.
As specified in the current national agreement, a three-percent general wage increase will be paid on Jan. 1, 2015.
AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka drew several standing ovations during an electrifying speech to delegates and guests on the fourth day of the SMART Convention Aug. 14.
The former United Mineworkers’ president began his speech by addressing the merger of the former Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association and the former United Transportation Union into SMART saying, “A merger like yours isn’t easy, but it has potential for tremendous, tremendous value.”
“I know how hard it is to unite a movement, how hard it is to unite a diverse membership. It’s difficult to strike the right balance. But it’s worth the effort – that’s how you achieve greater strength. The merging of cultures for greater power, for greater strength – that’s called unionism, that’s the power of unionism – plain and simple.”
Trumka said that the AFL-CIO and its affiliates plan to help more working families, through our unions to build stronger careers and a stronger future for the United States.
“The best way to fair pay, the best way to retirement security, and best way to a better tomorrow, so you can get your family a decent life and future, is through a union contract,” he asserted.
He brought the delegation to their feet when he forcefully stated, “We’re the workers of America. We build systems and we make them run. We lift the loads, and we answer the call. We wake our country up every day and we tuck her into bed every night. We won’t be turned aside, we won’t sit down, we won’t back up, and we won’t shut up. This is our country!”
Trumka said that the endless pursuit of higher profits by corporations and the wealthiest one-percent at the expense of human lives must end, using as an example railroads seeking to operate trains with one-person crews.
“We need our trains fully staffed. We’re talking about the safety of our communities, us,” he shouted, receiving a prolonged standing ovation.
“We’re talking about the lives of our workers. Shortcuts are simply too dangerous. Hundreds and thousands of us die every year because of those shortcuts.”
Trumka said that the unequal distribution of wealth did not just happen. The AFL-CIO’s new program, Common Sense Economics, tells workers how corporations and the wealthy did it to us.
“The economy is not like the weather—there are rules that decide the way it works, and the people who make the rules are the people we elect.
“When it comes to politics, you won’t find us coming together with just any candidate. We’ll work for anyone who works with us, and we won’t hesitate to hold anyone’s feet to the fire.”
Speaking about political support and the Red–Blue divide, Trumka said labor must support candidates who can say, “I can, I will, and I have done…for working people.”
“And we’re asking every candidate who seeks our support some hard questions. Tell us how you’re going to do it, before we get on board.
He asked everybody in the convention hall to get involved in the political process.
“This electoral season, be the first to knock on doors, to work a phone bank, to motivate working people. If you want all of us to get our fair share, then we need the right leaders in every corner of the United States.”
To view a video of Trumka’s complete remarks, click here.
An important highway in northeast Arkansas could stay closed into next week as crews clean up the wreckage left from a head-on train collision, a highway official said Wednesday.
Two railroad workers were killed and two others were injured when the Union Pacific freight trains crashed.
When planning a foreign trip, it’s highly unlikely your first thought would be, “Will Medicare pay if I get injured or have a medical emergency before I get back home?”
Many patients think their Medicare benefits will provide coverage, wherever they go. Unfortunately, this isn’t true and can lead to costly, and avoidable, mistakes.
Generally, Medicare doesn’t pay for medical services to patients outside of the United States. Medicare describes the United States as the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territorial waters adjacent to these areas.
“United States,” in this interpretation, would not include any United States Armed Forces bases. So whether you are heading to Europe, the Caribbean, or anywhere outside the U.S., you may wish to consider travel insurance. Here’s why: Medicare only pays, under very limited circumstances, for a limited number of services outside the United States.
Medicare won’t pay for medical treatment or prescription drugs, even if you receive them on board cruise ships, unless the ship is in U.S. territorial waters. “Territorial Waters” means the ship is in a U.S. port, or within 6 hours of when the ship arrived at, or departed from a U.S. port.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have listed the rare instances in which other coverage may exist, such as for:
Emergency inpatient hospital services if you fall ill in the U.S, but the closest hospital that can treat you is outside of the U.S.
Emergency treatment at a Canadian hospital if you are traveling straight through Canada (between Alaska and another state) and the closest hospital you can be treated at is in Canada.
Should the services meet criteria for payment in those situations, physician and ambulance services may be covered as part of, or immediately prior to, that stay. However, Medicare will not pay for transport back to the U.S. after a medical emergency that occurs outside of the U.S.
Knowing this, when you plan a trip abroad, you may want to look into what coverage you do have. Some Medigap or Medicare supplemental plans have travel-related benefits. If you don’t have a supplemental plan, or that plan does not pay for services you might receive outside of the United States, you may want to purchase a travel insurance plan that includes medical coverage.
Don’t let the expense of an unplanned medical emergency ruin your travels. Plan ahead and have a great trip!
If you have questions about your Medicare benefits, call Medicare’s toll-free Beneficiary Contact Center at (800) 833-4455, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. ET. Medicare also offers a TTY/TDD line at (877) 566-3572. This line is for the hearing impaired with the appropriate dial-up service and is available during the same hours customer service representatives are available.
Visit Railroad Medicare’s website at www.PalmettoGBA.com/RR/Me. You can receive email updates about changes to the Railroad Medicare program by visiting its website and signing up in its ‘Stay Connected’ portion at the bottom left of the site.
FARGO, N.D. – The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills.
The backlog is only going to get worse, farmers said, as they prepared this week for what is expected to be a record crop of wheat and soybeans.
Gordon Russ was a railroad man all his life — and beyond.
Russ died last year at 94 in Tacoma General Hospital, where he was born in 1919. A train engineer at heart until the end, he left his four children with one last request.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority needs to buy more than 550 pieces of property to build its first 29-mile stretch of rail line between Avenue 17 in Madera to American Avenue south of Fresno.
And along the next 100 miles between Fresno and Bakersfield, as many as 1,150 more parcels of “affected” property have been identified that the agency may need to acquire in full or in part.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Blue Ribbon Panel studying safety and maintenance practices at its three railroads yesterday announced 29 recommendations to improve operations and safety.
When planning a foreign trip, it’s highly unlikely your first thought would be, “Will Medicare pay if I get injured or have a medical emergency before I get back home?”
FARGO, N.D. – The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority needs to buy more than 550 pieces of property to build its first 29-mile stretch of rail line between Avenue 17 in Madera to American Avenue south of Fresno.