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Net Earnings: Increased 9.4% to $1.25 billion
Revenue: Increased 2.5% to $5.57 billion
Operating Income: Increased 2.3% to $1.78 billion
Operating Expenses:Increased 2.5% to $3.79 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved by 2 points to 66.5%
Click here to read BNSF’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased 6% to C$786 million from C$741 million
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share increased 8% to C$1.08 from C$1.00 and adjusted diluted EPS increased by 17% to C$1.17
Revenue: Increased by 11% to C$3.5 billion from C$3.2 billion
Operating Income: Increased 5% to C$1.08 billion from C$1.03 billion
Operating Expenses: Increased 14% to C$2.5 billion from C$2.2 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened by 1.7 points to 69.5%; Adjusted operating ratio improved 0.6 points to 67.2%
Click here to read CN’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased 25% to C$434 million from C$348 million
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share increased 28% to $3.09 from $2.41; adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 3% to $2.79 from $2.70
Revenue: Increased 6% to C$1.77 billion from C$1.66 billion
Operating Income: Increased 1% to C$543 million from C$540 million
Operating Expenses: Increased 9% to C$1.2 billion from C$1.1 billion
Operating Ratio: Worsened 180 basis points to 69.3% from 67.5%
Click here to read CP’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased 20% to $834 million from $695 million
Earnings Per Share: Increased 31% to $1.02 from $0.78 per share
Revenue: Increased 5% to $3.01 billion from $2.9 billion
Operating Income: Increased 17% to $1.22 billion from $1.04 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 2% to $1.79 billion from $1.83 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved to a first quarter record of 59.5% from 63.7%
Click here to read CSX’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Decreased to $103.2 million from $145 million
Earnings Per Share: Decreased 27% to $1.02 from $1.40; adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 18% to $1.54 from $1.30
Revenue: Increased 6% to a record $675 million from $639 million
Operating Income: Decreased to $160.3 million from $219 million; adjusted operating income increased 10% to a record $242 million
Operating Expenses: Decreased to $514.5 million from $515 million
Operating Ratio: Worsened 10.4 points to 76.2% from 65.8%; adjusted operating ratio improved 1.6 points to 64.2% from 65.8%
Click here to read KCS’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased 23% to $677 million from $552 million
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share increased 30% to $2.51 from $1.93
Revenue: Increased 5% to a first-quarter record of $2.8 billion from $2.7 billion
Operating Income: Increased 16% to a first-quarter record of $966 million from $835 million
Operating Expenses: Decreased by $8 million to $1.874 billion from $1.882 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved to a first-quarter record 66.0% from 69.3%
Click here to read NS’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased 6% to $1.4 billion from $1.3 billion
Earnings Per Share: Increased 15% to $1.93 per diluted share from $1.68 per diluted share
Revenue: Decreased 2% to $5.4 billion from $5.5 billion
Operating Income: Increased 1% to $2.0 billion from $1.93 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 3% to $3.4 billion from $3.5 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 1.0 point to 63.6% from 64.6%
Click here to read UP’s full earnings report.
 


Net Earnings: Decreased to $38.8 million from $76.0 million
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share decreased 42.9% to $0.68 from $1.19
Revenue: Increased 2.1% to $332.4 million from $325.6 million
Operating Income: Decreased 5.3% to $69.3 million from $73.2 million; adjusted operating income decreased 4.2% to $70.3 million from $73.4 million
Operating Expenses: Increased to $263.1 million from $252.5 million
Operating Ratio: Worsened to 79.1% from 77.5%; adjusted operating ratio worsened to 78.9% from 77.5%
Click here to read G&W’s full earnings report.
 

Notes: 

  • Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.
  • All comparisons are made to 2018’s first-quarter results for each railroad.
  • Figures for G&W are for North American operations only, with the exception of Net Earnings & Earnings Per Share, which includes all G&W operations, as solely North American figures were unavailable in these categories.
  • All figures for CN & CP are in Canadian currency, except for earnings per share for CP

Update:
Police now have a suspect in custody after members of the community identified the man in the video.
“On May 3rd, 2019, Montebello Detectives received information from several citizens who recognized the suspect from the video. Detectives were able to contact witnesses who positively identified the suspect. In an attempt to locate the suspect, Detectives discovered the suspect was currently in custody and being housed at the Los Angeles County Jail for an arrest for domestic violence which occurred on April 3rd, 2019,” Montebello police said in a statement on the department’s Facebook page.
“The Montebello police department will present this bus assault case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration. The suspect has been identified as Vincent Eric Ramirez, 32 years of age. Ramirez is a Montebello resident.
“Thank you to the community for your help and efforts in solving this crime. Your support made the difference in this case.”

Original story:
Police are asking for the help of the public in finding a man who brutally attacked another passenger as they both were exiting a Montebello bus March 12.
According to police and bus surveillance video, the suspect punched the victim in the back of the head as he got off the bus, knocking the victim unconscious. The attacker then kicked the man three times before walking away.
“The suspect appears to be in his mid to late 20’s, medium build with a goatee. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue khaki pants and a black backpack. Please also listen to the voice of the suspect at the beginning of the video,” Montebello police said in a post published May 2 on their facebook page in a plea for help in identifying the suspect.
SMART Transportation Division represents bus operators and mechanics employed by Montebello Bus Lines in Local 1701 in Montebello, California.
The assailant could have easily turned and assaulted the bus operator as well, which is why SMART TD supports H.R. 1139 – the Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act, which would protect bus operators from violent incidents like this one.
Click here to ask legislators for their support on H.R. 1139.
Click here to read more from KTLA5.

A notice of a meeting of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (RETAC) appeared in the Federal Register April 30.
The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, at STB headquarters, 395 E. Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20423.
The stated purpose of the meeting is to continue discussions regarding rail performance, capacity constraints, infrastructure planning and development, and the effective coordination among suppliers, carriers and users of energy resources. Items potentially on the agenda include a performance measures review, industry segment updates, a presentation on energy transportation logistics and a roundtable discussion.
RETAC was formed in 2007 to provide guidance to the STB on issues concerning the transportation of coal, ethanol and other biofuels by rail.
Click here to read more from the Federal Register.

Disability Fund Shows Strong Improvement—Twenty Years

The Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security trust funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) trust funds are projected to become depleted in 2035, one year later than projected last year, with 80% of benefits payable at that time.
The OASI trust fund is projected to become depleted in 2034, the same as last year’s estimate, with 77% of benefits payable at that time. The DI trust fund is estimated to become depleted in 2052, extended 20 years from last year’s estimate of 2032, with 91% of benefits still payable.
In the 2019 Annual Report to Congress, the trustees announced:

  • The asset reserves of the combined OASI and DI trust funds increased by $3 billion in 2018 to a total of $2.895 trillion.
  • The total annual cost of the program is projected to exceed total annual income, for the first time since 1982, in 2020 and remain higher throughout the 75-year projection period. As a result, asset reserves are expected to decline during 2020. Social Security’s cost has exceeded its non-interest income since 2010.
  • The year when the combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted, if Congress does not act before then, is 2035 – gaining one year from last year’s projection. At that time, there would be sufficient income coming in to pay 80% of scheduled benefits.

“The Trustees recommend that lawmakers address the projected trust fund shortfalls in a timely way in order to phase in necessary changes gradually and give workers and beneficiaries time to adjust to them,” said Nancy A. Berryhill, acting commissioner of Social Security. “The large change in the reserve depletion date for the DI fund is mainly due to continuing favorable trends in the disability program. Disability applications have been declining since 2010, and the number of disabled-worker beneficiaries receiving payments has been falling since 2014.”
Other highlights of the trustees’ report include:

  • Total income, including interest, to the combined OASI and DI trust funds amounted to just over $1 trillion in 2018. ($885 billion from net payroll tax contributions, $35 billion from taxation of benefits and $83 billion in interest)
  • Total expenditures from the combined OASI and DI trust funds amounted to $1 trillion in 2018.
  • Social Security paid benefits of nearly $989 billion in calendar year 2018. There were about 63 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year.
  • The projected actuarial deficit over the 75-year long-range period is 2.78% of taxable payroll – lower than the 2.84% projected in last year’s report.
  • During 2018, an estimated 176 million people had earnings covered by Social Security and paid payroll taxes.
  • The cost of $6.7 billion to administer the Social Security program in 2018 was a very low 0.7% of total expenditures.
  • The combined trust fund asset reserves earned interest at an effective annual rate of 2.9% in 2018.

The board of trustees usually comprises six members. Four serve by virtue of their positions with the federal government: Steven T. Mnuchin, secretary of the treasury and managing trustee; Nancy A. Berryhill, acting commissioner of Social Security; Alex M. Azar II, secretary of health and human services; and R. Alexander Acosta, secretary of labor. The two public trustee positions are currently vacant.
View the 2019 Trustees Report at www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2019/.

With Workers’ Memorial Day (April 28) almost upon us, the AFL-CIO today released their annual report on deaths on the job. This year’s focus of the report was workplace violence.
According to the AFL-CIO, “Workplace violence is the third-leading cause of death on the job, resulting in more than 29,000 serious, lost-time injuries for workers each year.”
According to the report, in 2017, 5,147 workers lost their lives on the job as a result of traumatic injuries and each day, an average of 14 workers die due to on-the-job injuries. An estimated, 95,000 people die each year from occupational diseases.
The report also states that nearly 3.5 million workers in the public sector had work-related injuries and illnesses, with an additional 2.8 million injuries reported in the private sector. Due to limitations to the current injury reporting system and widespread under-reporting of injuries in the workplace, the AFL-CIO estimates that the true numbers are two to three times greater than these at about 7.0 million to 10.5 million work-related injuries and illnesses per year.
Click here to read the rest of the report from the AFL-CIO.
 
 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced that there will be a public meeting to solicit comments on its Whistleblower Protection Program from 1 – 4 p.m. EST May 14, 2019.
OSHA invites employers, employees of businesses affecting interstate commerce and all interested parties, including business owners, employees, associations, whistleblower advocacy groups, labor groups and attornies to the meeting.
In particular, OSHA wants to know how it can provide better customer service to whistleblowers and what kind of assistance OSHA can provide to better explain existing whistleblower laws.
Interested parties who plan to attend, speak or call in, should register by the close of business on April 30, 2019. Participants may speak and hand out written materials, but there will be no opportunity to give an electronic presentation. Registration on the day of the meeting will be permitted on a space-available basis beginning at noon. The meetings will be held in room S-3215A-C at the U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20210.
Click here to read the public notice and submit electronic comments. Electronic comments must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on May 7.
Click here to register to attend.

The U.S. Department of Transportation published a final rule April 23 that makes technical corrections to regulations governing drug testing for safety-sensitive employees to ensure consistency with recent amendments made to DOT’s “Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs,” which recently added requirements for testing for oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone and hydromorphone.
According to the release from DOT, the new changes to the department’s regulations make it necessary to refer to these substances, as well as morphine, 6-acetylmorphine and codeine by the term “opioids” rather than “opiates.”
This final rule amends the term in the FAA, FTA and PHMSA regulations to ensure that all DOT drug testing rules are consistent with one another and the mandatory guidelines for the testing program.
Click here to read more about this final rule.

North Dakota locals will be holding informational meetings for their members on April 30 in Fargo, May 1 in Minot, and May 2 in Bismarck.
These meetings provide an exceptional opportunity to learn about your benefits and visit with union officers and representatives from the Railroad Retirement Board, UTUIA, health care and other insurance plans as well as SMART TD Designated Legal Counsel.
All members, retirees, and spouses/significant others are welcome to attend any of the meetings. There is no registration; just come if you can.
For further information, call State Legislative Director Jim Chase at 701-223-0061 or email utu4nd@gmail.com.
Here is the schedule:

  • Tuesday, April 30, 1 p.m.
    Biltmore on Main Hotel & Suites
    3800 Main Ave., Fargo
    .
  • Wednesday, May 1, 1 p.m.
    Grand Hotel
    1505 N. Broadway Ave., Minot
    6 p.m. Social & 7 p.m. Annual Retirement Banquet
    .
  • Thursday, May 2, 1 p.m.
    Quality Inn
    1030 E. Interstate Ave., Bismarck

Click here to view a pdf of this event.

U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D – Mont.) recently criticized the Trump administration for budget proposals that would cut funding for Amtrak rural services, especially the Montana Empire Builder line, and wrote Amtrak’s President Richard Anderson asking for accountability and answers.
“Congress purposely created a national network of long-distance and state-supported train service throughout the nation, in recognition of the importance of a transportation system that reaches every community — regardless of how rural it may be. Amtrak is more than a collection of individual train routes: it is a web of essential connections that bind our country together and link rural communities with major markets and economic opportunities. It provides residents of these communities with transportation options on which families, seniors, and businesses rely to access jobs, create economic opportunities, see our beautiful country. and visit family,” Tester’s letter to Anderson stated. “The federal investment in Amtrak ensures the small, mid-size, and rural communities served by Amtrak’s long-­distance and state-supported routes continue to receive this essential service.”
Tester also posed the question to Amtrak as to why ticket agents have been eliminated and questioned the accounting methods the carrier is using to determine the cost of long-distance services. He also questioned leadership’s claims that long-distance service is down despite 2017 figures that showed that ridership is up 10.6% from the previous eight years. He asked that Amtrak address his questions by no later than April 29.
Sen. Tester’s bipartisan letter includes signatures from 10 other senators, including Tom Udall, Michael Bennet, Pat Roberts, Cory Gardner, Jerry Moran, Catherine Cortez Masto, Martin Heinrich, Joe Manchin III, Dick Durbin and Kyrsten Sinema.
In other news, Amtrak’s Hoosier State line also is on the chopping block due to Indiana backing out on funding for the 196-mile Amtrak route. The carrier has stopped ticket sales for the Chicago-to-Indianapolis Hoosier State line after July 1.
Click here to read Sen. Tester’s letter to Amtrak.


Transportation Division Local 367 (Omaha, Neb.) has announced that the 10th annual SMART Day at the Races will be at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 26 at the Fonner Park Racetrack, 700 E. Stolley Park Road, Grand Island, NE 68801.
This year the race will be in honor of the late General President Joe Nigro. Nigro attended this event in 2014 at a time when the SMART merger was still contentious.
“Joe was amazing. He won over everyone attending that day and calmed everyone’s nerves as to the future of the union,” said Vice Local Chairperson Rich Mohr. “We are hoping to present to someone from the international a framed photo from that day in hopes that it will be forwarded to Joe’s family.”
For those who RSVP, free clubhouse seating, programs and food will be available. A free catered barbeque will follow the races at Boarders Inn and Suites, 3333 Ramada Road, Grand Island, NE 68801.
There will be a free shuttle between Fonner Park and the hotel. Boarders Inn and Suites is also offering a discounted member rate and free breakfast. To take advantage, call the hotel at 308-384-5150.
To RSVP for the SMART Day at the Races, email smartraces@gmail.com or call Mohr at 785-409-4540 or Cliff Gordon at 308-530-5766.
“Please come and enjoy a day at the horse races with your SMART union brothers and sisters. There will be food, drinks and a good time will be had by all,” Mohr said.
Click here for a flyer about the event.