SMART UnionRailroads are launching a new campaign to highlight the dangers of being near train tracks after a spike in rail deaths last year.
At this time last year, the railroads were proudly calling 2012 their safest year ever as derailments and crossing accidents kept declining. But last year, the number of trespassing deaths rose by 47, or 11 percent, to 476, and the number of deaths in accidents increased nearly 8 percent to 250.
Read the complete story at ABC News.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday announced that an effort to extend the short-line tax credit for two years cleared a first big hurdle by passing out of the Senate Committee on Finance as a part of the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act, which would reinstate a package of expired tax provisions.
Schumer now is urging the full Senate to quickly take up and pass the entire EXPIRE Act package. If extended until 2016, the tax credit – which expired on Dec. 31 – would fund capital improvement projects along New York’s short-line railways, such as pending infrastructure upgrades proposed by the New York Susquehanna and Western Railway, Saratoga and North Creek Railroad, and Finger Lakes Railway, the senator said in a press release.
Read the complete story at Progressive Railroading.
In the March issue of the SMART Transportation Division News, we celebrate the 100th birthday of former President Al Chesser, the very first elected president of the United Transportation Union. This is a remarkable achievement for a remarkable man! Brother Chesser’s history of commitment and dedication to this organization and all of organized labor is legendary and serves as an inspiration to all who are involved in today’s labor movement.
It was a pleasure to be able to attend this event in person and to extend my congratulations. We wish Al a very happy birthday, with many more to follow.
In prior columns, I have touched on the upcoming conventions for both the SMART Transportation Division and the SMART International. In order to keep our membership updated, I am summarizing here the information recently communicated to our SMART Transportation Division delegates.
All delegates to the SMART Transportation Division Convention from June 30 – July 2 in San Diego have been advised of the importance of attending both of this summer’s conventions and have been informed to also make arrangements to attend the SMART General Convention in Las Vegas from Aug. 11-15.
Any decisions or actions taken by delegates at the Transportation Division Convention with regard to proposed amendments to Article 21B of the SMART Constitution must be properly referred to the delegates at the SMART General Convention for handling before any proposed amendments can become effective. Additionally, all delegates attending the SMART General Convention will be acting upon all proposed constitutional changes properly submitted to the full SMART Constitution, including Article 21B.
Pursuant to Article 33, Sec. 1 (e), lines 19-20, a two-thirds majority of the delegates present at the SMART General Convention is required to enact such amendments.
All delegates properly seated at the Transportation Division Convention will also be seated as delegates at the SMART General Convention, and as such, it is absolutely imperative that they attend the SMART General Convention in order to properly cast their votes on any and all proposed SMART Constitution amendments.
If, for any reason, a local delegate is not able to attend the SMART General Convention in August, it is respectfully requested that measures be taken to allow for the alternate delegate to attend. If neither the delegate nor alternate delegate is able to attend both conventions, it may be necessary to elect a new delegate who will be able to attend both conventions. This will allow for consistent handling of all proposed amendments to Article 21B at the SMART General Convention, as well as making a local’s voice – and votes – count in the handling of all matters before the delegation.
I thank all local officers for their dedication to the organization and all delegates for taking the time to serve our membership at both the Transportation Division Convention and the SMART General Convention.
It is important to remember that the outcome of these conventions will be a constitution that will govern the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers for years to come. The responsibility of preserving the principles on which the organization was founded rests with the officers and delegates and depends on our full participation at both conventions.
By Bonnie Morr,
Vice President, Bus –
As I travel around the country working on grievances, arbitrations, negotiations and labor agreements, as well as the health and well-being of our locals and our members, one underlying issue is always present: wages.
Our wages are not keeping up with what our lives and our families’ livesare costing us. Food prices are up, the cost of milk is up, and gasoline and energy prices continue to rise.
But why are we losing our standard of living? Why am I shopping for food in Target? What happened to fresh food from our local grocery store? Why do I turn my heater down and wear a jacket in the house now? Why are energy companies seeing the highest profits that they have ever seen? Why is it costing so much more to do less than what I was doing 10 years ago?
Since 1997, according to the Economic Policy Institute, 100 percent of the wage growth in the American economy has gone to the top 10 percent of the income structure. The bottom 90 percent has seen income decline, adjusted for inflation. As the rich get richer, the working class continues to struggle. Economic inequality did not just happen accidentally or by an act of God.
At the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Houston, I was told it is the predictable result of decisions made by people with power over the past generation. The key decision, the AFL-CIO says, was to use the power of government to help corporate America push down wages by destroying workers’ collective bargaining power. Those decisions can be reversed.
In Houston, I was told working people have the opportunity to shape the national conversation on this issue in ways that would really help workers win real economic improvements and build a true working class movement.
The AFL-CIO says the purpose of the labor movement is to give voice to working people, so we can improve our lives. All too often, people do not realize that they are voting against their own best interests. It is important that we work together, now, to spread the word. Support the union movement by joining together with a strong message to all our politicians: “Improve our wages!”
SMART Transportation Division Pennsylvania State Legislative Director Paul Pokrowka is calling on all members to help stop legislation introduced here that bans Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority employees from striking.
H.B. 2109, introduced by State Rep. Kate Harper (R), would add SEPTA workers to the list of public employees prohibited from striking in the state, including “employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth,” her website reads.
The bill would amend Section 1001 of P.L.563, No.195, stating that “strikes by employees of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), guards at prisons or mental hospitals, or employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth are prohibited at any time. If a strike occurs the public employer shall forthwith initiate in the court of common pleas of the jurisdiction where the strike occurs, an action for appropriate equitable relief including but not limited to injunctions.”
Pokrowka is requesting all members and their family members to contact their representatives in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and ask them to vote “no” on H.B. 2109.
“This legislation tramples on the rights of workers. If this bill is passed, what group of workers will be targeted next?” Pokrowka asked.
To find information regarding your state representative, click here.
Harper originally introduced this legislation in 2009 following a six-day strike by various SEPTA employees, including members of the SMART Transportation Division (UTU). The legislation did not get out of committee at that time.
WASHINGTON – A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity.
Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, more people are coming to the painful realization that they’re no longer part of it.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
“I didn’t want to go back and look at the accident, because I didn’t want to see what happened. I didn’t want to see the after affects,” says Glenn Thompson, retired Union Pacific Railroad conductor.
Glenn Thompson is a retired conductor that worked for Union Pacific for 39 years. During his time with the railroad, his locomotive hit a Simplot truck carrying diesel, while the train was traveling at a speed of 69 miles per hour and the man in the truck was killed.
(Thompson is a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 265 at Pocatello, Idaho.)
Read the complete story at Television Station KPVI.
Wabtec Corp. has signed contracts valued at $16.6 million with Alaska Railroad Corp. to provide Positive Train Control equipment and services, the Wilmerding-based company announced Wednesday (April 2).
The systems will be installed on the railroad’s 525 miles of controlled track, which are used for both freight and passenger service. Under the contract, Wabtec said it will provide its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System equipment and PTC components for 54 locomotives.
Read the complete story at Pittsburgh Business Times.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Union Pacific Corp. has begun operations at a massive new railroad facility in southern New Mexico near both the U.S.-Mexico border and El Paso, Texas.
The Omaha, Neb.,-based railroad will use its newly constructed hub facility in Santa Teresa to transfer cargo between trains and trucks, as well as for refueling engines and changing train crews.
Read the complete story at The Kansas City Star.
BNSF Railway Co., the carrier owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will need the rest of 2014 to untangle train tie-ups in the corridor that serves North Dakota’s Bakken shale region.
A system-wide traffic jam, caused by surging grain and crude-oil volumes coupled with harsh weather, is being resolved on the southern lines linking Chicago and Los Angeles, Chief Executive Officer Carl Ice said yesterday in an interview at the railroad’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Raed the complete story at Bloomberg News.