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Hilton_San_Diego_Bayfront-Convention_Center_HotelLocal delegates of the SMART Transportation Division will be attending two conventions in 2014.

From June 30 to July 2, Transportation Division delegates will be attending a convention in San Diego, Calif., to elect officers of the Transportation Division and to approve recommendations for changes to the SMART Constitution. The Transportation Division convention will be held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.

For hotel reservations and Transportation Division Convention information, click here.

Transportation Division delegates will also participate in SMART’s first convention following the merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, working side-by-side with delegates from the SMWIA. That convention will be held August 11-15 in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace.

More information about the conventions will be made available on this page as details are completed.

Troubled airline Avantair, expects to resume flights in early August, pending new financing. On Wednesday, July 17, the airline announced it’s “go-forward” plan for continuing operations. The go-forward plan included a change in name to “NewCo.”

Avantair airplaneThe plan states that all current debt will be wiped out going forward, but does not state how that will be done. NewCo also plans to downsize employees to a “core group” and will get rid of over half of their current fleet of 56 airplanes and resume operation with just 25 planes.

NewCo hopes to retain at least 300 of their current 620 shareholders to remain operational. Those who intend to stay will be required to pay a one-time fee of $25,000 that will be deposited into a “catch-up maintenance fund” which will be used to fund necessary repairs that will make the fleet airworthy. Shareholders will also be expected to pay 40 percent more a month in management fees for a total of $15,846.

For the “go-forward” plan to work, Avantair needs to garner $4.5 million in funding to finance their restructuring process and permit NewCo to have working capital.

Piaggio Aero, the manufacturer of Avantair aircrafts, has pledged to provide a $1 million investment and another $1 million in credit facility parts.

Before furloughs, Avantair employed 500 people and operated out of St. Pere-Clearwater International Airport in Clearwater, Fla. Upon furloughing employees, the company owed its employees wages from June 8 until June 26. It is unclear as to whether those wages were ever paid to employees. Avantair dropped employee healthcare, dental and vision plans for the workforce effective July 1.

Avantair pilots voted for SMART representation in February of this year, just a few months before Avantair shut down operations. The new local did not yet have an agreed-upon contract in effect when Avantair furloughed all employees June 26.

The SMART Transportation Division’s Anaheim, Calif., regional meeting began July 29 with a town hall forum at which SMART members were able to pose questions directly to the union’s leadership.

More than 500 members, guests and presenters are attending the regional meeting.

After opening ceremonies and remarks from SMART General President Joe Nigro and Transportation Division President Mike Futhey, the presidents were joined by SMART General Secretary-Treasurer Joe Sellers and Transportation Division Assistant President and General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich to respond to questions concerning the merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and other issues.

The session was moderated by Transportation Division International Vice President John Lesniewski.

In his opening remarks, Nigro announced that the union has launched a new website that can be found at smart-union.org. As SMART continues to incorporate various elements of the SMART TD (former UTU) website into smart-union.org, Transportation Division members can still visit www.utu.org for membership news and information.

The two presidents confirmed that delegates to the union’s transportation division will be attending two conventions in 2014.

From June 30 to July 2, Transportation Division delegates will be attending a convention in San Diego, Calif., to elect officers of the Transportation Division and to approve recommendations for changes to the SMART Constitution.

The SMART Constitution is near completion, but several elements of the final document remain before Georgetown University law professor and arbitrator Michael H. Gottesman. His ruling, which is expected later this year, will determine the language of the final SMART Constitution.

Transportation Division delegates will also participate in SMART’s first convention following the merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, working side-by-side with delegates from the SMWIA. That convention will be held August 11-15 in Las Vegas.

Both Nigro and Futhey stressed the importance of all delegates fully participating in both the Transportation Division and SMART conventions. “The conventions will provide delegates the opportunity to be a part of the final constitutional approval process,” Futhey said.

The smart-union.org website will soon feature a “Frequently Asked Questions” section to answer members’ concerns about the SMART Constitution, convention and other issues.

 

Ed Burkhardt, chairman of the board of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, says he doesn’t know why police raided the company’s Quebec offices on Thursday, insisting that the company has been cooperating with police and federal authorites.

“If they asked for what they wanted, we would have given it to them,” he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Read the complete story at The Morning Sentinel.

mta_long-island-railroad-logo[1]About 600 Long Island Rail Road retirees will lose their disability benefits after a federal agency voted last week to halt the payments, amid a sweeping investigation into what prosecutors have called a major disability fraud scheme, according to agency documents and officials.

The agency, the United States Railroad Retirement Board, which over more than a decade granted disability benefits to hundreds of railroad retirees based on fraudulent medical evidence with little scrutiny, took the action on Thursday during a five-minute meeting at its headquarters in Chicago. The vote approved procedures under which the board will cut off the benefits, which, officials said, are costing the agency $2 million a month.

Read the complete article at The New York Times.

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Due to heavy overnight rains, telephone service at the UTU/SMART Transportation Division and UTUIA International offices has been disrupted. Callers are currently receiving a busy signal. Repairs are underway.

Wisconsin Rally; Wisconsin; Rally; protestWhether we like it or not, union busting is a part of our world history. Unions have always fought against big business, government and those that would trample the everyday union worker.

The union busting that occurred last year in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona and other states continues today, with local and state governments trying to push through right-to-work (for less) legislation.

The death of the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher makes us remember that union-busting is not just here in the United States, but is a world-wide issue. During her time in office from May 1979 to November 1990, Thatcher’s legacy of union busting was world renown. She was able to pass legislation to take away the rights of the union worker like none other was able to do before her.

Last year, Gov. Scott Walker tried to take a page out of Thatcher’s notebook when he tried to put through union-busting legislation in Wisconsin. Many were shocked when they heard about the legislation that Walker was trying to pass. Other states were quick to follow Walker’s example and tried to push through their own right-to-work and union-busting laws. This was our wake up call to come together in solidarity and fight like the unions fought in the days of Thatcher’s reign.

We must not allow ourselves to become complacent. For it is when we become complacent and stop keeping watch over our rights that we open ourselves up to our enemies’ strikes against us.

We must be diligent in our watch and stay informed about those who want to take away our rights as workers. One way to do this is to contribute to the UTU’s PAC fund. This fund enables us to stay alert and fight the legislation that would harm the middle-class worker and take away our hard-won rights.

Let Thatcher and Walker be reminders to us that we need to band together as unions in solidarity and continue to stay alert to fight against union-busting legislation.

 
 
 

 

Healthy drivers are happy drivers

 

As the year kicks off, I must ask you: “How are you doing?”

“I am healthy and happy” is the answer I’d love to hear, but, sadly, it’s the answer I hear less and less.

Consider our work schedules, and the nature of our jobs: We sit all day strapped in a seat. We tend to bounce around as we vibrate down the road. Meals are often on the run. We are usually rushed and often eat whatever we can get our hands on.

As drivers, we also are exposed to all types of chemicals, as well as noxious exhaust fumes.

Also, our work schedules can range anywhere from eight hours to upwards of 15 hours.

But help is on the way. A group of researchers are working on the health of the bus operator. Federal funding has been set aside specifically to study what has been happening to our health.

Preliminary findings are that drivers are at increased risk of contracting diabetes, high blood pressure, poor circulation and respiratory problems, as well as weight problems.

At our upcoming regional meetings (see the center of this paper), we are hoping to have some presentations on bus operator health concerns. Don’t forget to register as soon as possible.

Also, we in the UTU stand in solidarity with New York City school bus operators who are currently on strike. The city and Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union are in dispute over seniority and other issues. If you see a striking school bus operator please give them a thumbs up.

WASHINGTON – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced the nation’s major freight railroads plan to invest an estimated $24.5 billion in 2013 to build, maintain and upgrade America’s rail network to ensure freight railroads can continue to deliver for the nation’s economy.

With approximately 22 percent of the industry’s workforce eligible to retire in the next five years, railroads are dedicated to recruiting highly skilled people interested in making railroading a career, according to an AAR release.

Freight railroads also estimate they will hire more than 11,000 employees this year, primarily in response to retirements and attrition for positions that can be found across the U.S.

“We are looking for employees who want a true potential life-long career and will want to help make the railroads safer and more reliable than they have ever been,” said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. “The success of our industry – from our importance to the economy to our continually improving safety record – can be attributed to the hard working men and women who make their careers with the railroads.”

Rail employee compensation, including benefits, averages roughly $107,000 per year, according to the AAR, with jobs ranging from engineers and dispatchers, to law enforcement, to information technology and industrial development.

In the first five months of the year, railroads are participating in more than 70 career fairs across the country. For more information visit www.aar.org/jobs.

“While most other transportation modes rely on government funds, America’s freight railroads operate on infrastructure they own, maintain and upgrade to serve their customers and power our economy,” said Hamberger. “This year, freight railroads plan to continue to focus on investments that maintain and enhance our physical infrastructure and safety systems, including cutting edge technology that ensures we are ready to deliver for the future.”

With hundreds of transportation infrastructure projects underway nationwide, railroads are investing in projects such as intermodal terminals that facilitate truck to train freight transport; new track; bridges and tunnels; modernized safety equipment; new locomotives and rail cars, and other components that ensure the U.S. freight rail network remains the most reliable and efficient in the world.