SMART UnionThe Long Island Railroad will start keeping track of employees’ hours by having them sign in and out of work with their fingerprints.
An audit by the city comptroller found that neither Metro-North nor the LIRR had a good system in place for regulating worker overtime or keeping records of the hours that employees worked.
Read the complete story at NY1.
In 2013 the total number of workers in unions rose by 162,000 compared with 2012, led by an increase of 281,000 workers in private-sector unions. There were strong gains in construction and manufacturing, against a background of strike actions by low-wage workers in the private sector. But destructive, politically motivated layoffs of public-sector workers continued to hurt overall public-sector union membership, leaving the total percentage of the workforce that is unionized virtually unchanged.
“Wall Street’s Great Recession cost millions of America’s workers their jobs and pushed already depressed wages down even further. But in 2013, America’s workers pushed back,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said of the figures released Friday by the Department of Labor. “At the same time, these numbers show that as unorganized workers have taken up the fight for their right to a voice on the job, union employers are hiring—creating good jobs our economy desperately needs.”
Despite the overall gains of 2013, workers in the public sector continued to bear the brunt of the continuing economic crisis, weak labor laws and political assaults on their rights on the job. In Wisconsin, political attacks on public-sector workers’ right to collectively bargain resulted in bargaining coverage falling. Broadly, federal, state and local governments continued to lay off needed public workers, leading to an overall loss of 118,000 union members.
“Make no mistake, the job of rebuilding workers’ bargaining power and raising wages for the 99% has a long way to go,” said Trumka. “Collective action among working people remains the strongest, best force for economic justice in America. We’re building a stronger, more innovative movement to give voice to the values that built this country. From Walmart workers to fast food workers to homecare workers, the rising up of workers’ voices against inequality – both inside and outside of traditional structures – is the story of 2013.”
Key trends include:
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Jan. 24 announced new regulations governing rail inspections that will help identify rail flaws and further eliminate the risk of derailments. The new regulations require performance based inspections, a process designed to minimize rail defects that will generally result in an increase in tests performed over a designated area of track.
“Safety is our highest priority, and this new rule will make rail transportation even safer for everything from passengers and rail employees to crude oil and other freight shipments,” said Secretary Foxx.
The final rule published in today’s Federal Register strengthens existing Federal Track Safety Standards by:
Requiring the use of performance-based rail inspection methods that focus on maintaining low rail failure rates per mile of track and generally results in more frequent testing;
Providing a four-hour period to verify that certain less serious suspected defects exist in a rail section once track owners learn that the rail contains an indication of those defects;
Requiring that rail inspectors are properly qualified to operate rail flaw detection equipment and interpret test results; and
Establishing an annual maximum allowable rate of rail defects and rail failures between inspections for each designated inspection segment of track.
The Federal Track Safety Standards require railroads to regularly inspect track conditions, and to also conduct separate rail inspections with specially equipped hi-rail motor vehicles that operate over rail tracks. This equipment employs ultrasonic technology to identify internal rail defects that could potentially lead to an accident. Data is collected in real-time.
The current rail inspection standards include a maximum number of days and tonnage that can be hauled over a stretch of track between tests. The new regulations establish internal rail flaw defect standards for each railroad while the technology used will continue to drive down the number of known rail defects over time.
“Our goal is to drive continuous safety improvement and further reduce the risk of broken rails and derailments,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “While track-caused accidents have declined by 40 percent over the past decade, these new standards will better advance the use of technology and achieve the next generation of safety.”
The final rule implements Section 403(b) of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA). FRA has now completed 30 of the approximately 42 RSIA-mandated final rules, guidance documents, model state laws, studies, and reports. Today’s final rule also builds upon decades of FRA-sponsored research focused on enhancing rail integrity, and addresses recommendations by both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.
The final rule can be viewed here.
WASHINGTON — Long before crude oil and ethanol were transported by railroads in large quantities in minimally reinforced tank cars, other flammable and poisonous materials were riding around the country in the same cars, threatening major cities and waterways.
Federal regulators might be weeks away from issuing new safety guidelines for tank cars carrying flammable liquids, after a series of frightening rail accidents over the past six months.
Read the complete story at the Miami Herald.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Less than three weeks from the five year anniversary of the tragic and preventable crash of Continental (now United Airlines) Flight 3407 operated by regional carrier Colgan Air, the “Families of Continental Flight 3407” railed at recent complaints by aviation industry stakeholders and their supporters attacking new safety rules designed to ensure a true “one level of safety” for passengers traveling on both major and regional carriers.
“Not even two weeks after going into effect, it is very disheartening to see safety rules that were so long-overdue and sadly paid for in my blood by my daughter and so many others publicly disparaged, especially considering that the airlines had over two years to prepare,” stated Scott Maurer of Moore, S.C., who lost his thirty-year-old daughter Lorin.
“We spotlight Sen. Klobuchar’s analogy of the major leagues versus the minor leagues when we look at whether there is a true “one level of safety” between the majors and the regionals. Over the past year or so, the Regional Airline Association and its representatives have been tripping over themselves, testifying at as many congressional hearings as possible, as well as to any media members who would listen, that the RAA carriers truly were big leaguers and were fully prepared to step up and meet these new rules. And then, to do such a dramatic about-face and have RAA President Roger Cohen publicly declare that the sky is falling, it really is disappointing for us to hear these mixed messages. Don’t even get me started about Jet Blue throwing our efforts under the bus and blaming the safety rules for flight cancellations.”
As regional airlines and their lobbyists made the rounds on Capitol Hill complaining that there were not enough licensed pilots in the United States to meet their schedules due to the new safety rules – and attempting to drum up support for their cause by threatening to eliminate small community air service – the family group cited as prophetic a recent pilot supply study by Audries Aircraft Analysis that examined the impact of these new safety rules on pilot levels.
“Much depends on how efficiently airline management teams will use their existing pilots. In this regard, the creative teams will find new ways to better deploy their pilots that will both improve pilot productivity, quality of life, and safety. Management teams not up for the task will be left to lobbying for rest-rule exemptions and experience financial headwinds due to pilot inefficiency,” Audries Aircraft Analysis said.
“This really strikes at the core of the issue when you think about it,” declared Karen Eckert of Williamsville, N.Y., who lost her sister and 9/11 widow and activist Beverly Eckert. “You have these people who are so quick to throw out conveniently slanted facts and figures to sympathetic ears that they are being victimized by these new rules and in need of relief from them.”
“All we want to know is the ground truth on whether there truly are no pilots available for hire out there, or is it more of the fact that there indeed are licensed and available pilots out there, just not any that are willing to work for sub-food stamp-level wages. The traveling public deserves to know.”
The “Families of Continental Flight 3407” group was organized immediately after the crash as a support network and an activist group to work on aviation safety reform. Visit the group’s website at www.3407memorial.com.
The National Transportation Safety Board Jan. 23 issued a series of recommendations (see Safety Recommendation Letters R-14-001-003 and R-14-004-006) to the Department of Transportation to address the safety risk of transporting crude oil by rail. In an unprecedented move, the NTSB is issuing these recommendations in coordination with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Crude oil shipments by rail have increased by over 400 percent since 2005, according to the Association of American Railroad’s Annual Report of Hazardous Materials. The NTSB is concerned that major loss of life, property damage and environmental consequences can occur when large volumes of crude oil or other flammable liquids are transported on a single train involved in an accident, as seen in the Lac Megantic, Quebec, accident, as well as several accidents the NTSB has investigated in the U.S.
“The large-scale shipment of crude oil by rail simply didn’t exist ten years ago, and our safety regulations need to catch up with this new reality,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “While this energy boom is good for business, the people and the environment along rail corridors must be protected from harm.”
The NTSB issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas.
The second recommendation to FRA and PHMSA is to develop an audit program to ensure rail carriers that carry petroleum products have adequate response capabilities to address worst-case discharges of the entire quantity of product carried on a train.
The third recommendation is to audit shippers and rail carriers to ensure that they are properly classifying hazardous materials in transportation and that they have adequate safety and security plans in place.
The NTSB has investigated accidents involving flammable liquids being transported in DOT-111 tank cars, including the Dec. 30, 2013, derailment in Casselton, ND, and the June 19, 2009, derailment in Cherry Valley, IL. After the Cherry Valley accident, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations to PHMSA regarding the inadequate design and poor performance of the DOT-111 tank cars. The recommendations include making the tank head and shell more puncture resistant and requiring that bottom outlet valves remain closed during accidents. Although PHMSA initiated rulemaking to address the safety issue; it has not issued any new rules.
“If unit trains of flammable liquids are going to be part of our nation’s energy future, we need to make sure the hazardous materials classification is accurate, the route is well planned, and the tank cars are as robust as possible,” Hersman said.
The NTSB and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada issued these important safety recommendations jointly because railroad companies routinely operate crude oil unit trains in both countries and across the U.S-Canada border.
Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger responded to the NTSB’s recommendations around the safe movement of energy products by rail saying, “AAR is in full agreement with the safety boards’ recommendations today, as they align with our previous calls for increased federal tank car safety standards as well as the work the industry is undertaking with our customers and the Administration in an environment of shared responsibility for the safe movement of America’s energy products. Through these efforts and more, railroads are doing all they can to make a safe rail network even safer.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall told West Virginia union leaders on Tuesday that people who believe cheaper, non-union labor is good for American business are “short-sighted.”
“Union labor also helps increase corporate America’s bottom line with your safety standards and the quality of your work,” Rahall said at the event hosted by the State Building Trades Council.
Read the complete story at the Charleston Gazette.
OMAHA, Neb. – The diesel-burning locomotive, the workhorse of American railroads since World War II, will soon begin burning natural gas – a potentially historic shift that could cut fuel costs, reduce pollution and strengthen the advantage railroads hold over trucks in long-haul shipping.
Rail companies want to take advantage of booming natural gas production that has cut the price of the fuel by as much as 50 percent. So they are preparing to experiment with redesigned engines capable of burning both diesel and liquefied natural gas.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied an application by motorcoach tours company Miami Nice Tours to operate bus tours in the United States by drivers who would be exempt from the commercial driver’s license (CDL) provisions of part 383 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration regulations.
The SMART?Transportation Division’s Legislative office in September offered written testimony to the U.S. Department of Transportation to deny Miami Nice Tours’ application for the exemption.
The company sought to employ 50 European drivers to conduct approximately 87 motorcoach tours in the United States annually. While each driver would have been licensed to operate a motorcoach in his or her European country of residence, states here do not issue CDLs to non-residents. Part 383 requires motorcoach drivers to hold a CDL issued by a U.S. state.
Miami Nice Tours stated that they believed that these drivers were likely to achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to or greater than the level of safety that would be obtained if they held U.S. CDLs and had sought an exemption from the FMCSA rules.
“The SMART Transportation Division thanks FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro and her staff for making the proper decision on this application,” said SMART?TD?National Legislative Director James Stem. “The denial of the application not only adheres to our safety laws, but respects the rights of workers in this country who only seek opportunities for gainful employment.”
In testimony to the DOT, SMART?TD?National Legislative Director James Stem said: “The SMART Transportation Division opposes Miami Nice Tours’ application for exemption for several reasons. There is no way to check the claims of Miami that the drivers ‘are licensed to operate motor coaches in their respective country of residence’ and the status of their licenses, driving records, violations, etc. The qualifications and skills needed to hold and operate a CDL also include physical and dexterity requirements and there is no way to check that these drivers fulfill these requirements.
“There is no way to check the medical history of these drivers.
“While there is no “Keep American Jobs” provision for the hiring of American bus drivers, there are Buy American provisions for purchasing buses. So if we are to be concerned about supporting Americans who build buses, it only makes sense that we support Americans who drive them. To allow the importation of people from other countries to perform American work is tantamount to ‘exporting’ these jobs.
“The immense diversity that already exists in the state of Florida makes the argument for the need to have a driver from a specific country to be without merit. If Miami needs someone who is fluent in a specific language, what they need is a tour guide accompanying the group.
“If this was an airline that transports diverse people in their planes on domestic routes, they would not be asking for a waiver to their qualifications so they could have a non-American pilot fly the plane.
“For the above stated reasons, the request for an exemption should be denied.”