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Airline pilots who sleep in the terminal because lodging is not provided?

Flight attendants who can’t afford dental care and have used Super Glue to mend a broken tooth?

Pilots and flight attendants who qualify for food-stamps?

For airline pilots and flight attendants employed by many small regional airlines, that’s the professional life they lead — hardly the glamour that many Americans associate with airline employment.

The United Transportation Union, which represents some of these workers, will be asking the new Congress in 2011 to pass legislation requiring air carriers who participate in the Federal Essential Air Service Program to pay a livable wage to their employees.

Essential Air Service is a program that subsidizes carriers who provide service to mostly rural destinations that would have little or no air service without the program. The communities that benefit from the service are, for the most part, located in areas with limited transportation options and rely on the program as a vital connection to the larger transportation network.

“Employees of Essential Air Service carriers — air carriers that receive millions of dollars in federal subsidies to serve rural areas — are professionals responsible for the safe transport of their passengers,” said United Transportation Union International President Mike Futhey. “While these employees are subject to the rules and regulations applying to all commercial pilots and flight attendants, Essential Air Service pilots and flight attendants receive compensation that is oftentimes barely above the minimum wage.

“In many cases, the crews are paid an average ‘credit time’ for their flights, meaning if they run over because of weather or terminal delays, they are not compensated for prep time, de-icing time, taxi time or even some of the flight time,” Futhey said. “Yet, some of these airlines are controlled by millionaires who pocket the taxpayer supplied federal subsidies while their employees suffer living standards equivalent to those on food stamps.”

UTU National Legislative Director James Stem said, “The United Transportation Union will collaborate in solidarity with other labor organizations to end the Essential Air Carrier abuse of this taxpayer-funded program and Essential Air Carrier employees.”

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has announced it will make permanent its Emergency Order No. 26 restricting the use by on-duty train crews of cell phones and other electronic devices.

Some changes, as described below, are to be included in the permanent ban.

The emergency order was issued in October 2008, and the permanent ban will go into effect in late March 2011, following mandatory carrier instruction of train and engine workers covered under the ban.

During the interim, Emergency Order No. 26 will remain in effect.

The emergency order and the permanent ban prohibit the use of an electronic device — whether personal or railroad supplied — if it interferes with that employee’s or another employee’s performance of safety-related duties.

The permanent ban, going into effect in six months, contains some different provisions from the 2008 emergency order and/or the FRA’s May draft final of the permanent ban:

Engineer and conductor certification

The final rule will not immediately subject engineers or conductors (when conductor certification, required by the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008, is implemented) to revocation of their certification for a violation of the ban.

However, the FRA said it “may be appropriate” in the future to revoke such certification following a violation.

After the FRA unveiled its draft final rule in May, the UTU and other rail labor organizations filed written comments in June, strongly objecting to making such violations subject to revocation of certification.

Personal cellphone records

The final rule scraps an FRA suggestion in its draft final rule that train and engine workers provide railroads access to their personal cellphone records in the event of an accident. The FRA said it already has such authority under the law. The UTU and other rail labor organizations had argued that such a provision would “result in harassment of our members by accessing their personal phone records for any and every incident.”

Personal emergencies

The final rule will not create an exception for personal emergencies. The FRA said such an exception “would present significant obstacles,” as an operating employee “found with a cellphone turned on while on a moving train could easily say the phone was on because of a sick family member, whether true or not.”

The UTU and other rail labor organizations had urged adoption of a personal emergency exception. But as the rule is now written, an employee will be prohibited from contacting health care providers or sick family members in emergency situations no matter how serious the situation is and even if their railroad employer would have permitted them to do so.

GPS devices

In the final rule, the use of personal global positioning service (GPS) devices is not permitted. “Locomotive engineers,” said the FRA, “are required to be familiar with the physical characteristics of the routes over which they operate. Thus, engineers should already be aware of where sidings, road crossings, and other physical characteristics are located.”

Calculators

The FRA’s final rule does permit calculators to be used to determine formulas such as train stopping calculations or tons per operative brake.

Cameras

The final rule allows for stand-alone cameras (not part of a cellphone or other electronic device) to document a safety hazard or a violation of a rail safety law, regulation order, or standard. However, the FRA final rule will permit the use of railroad-supplied multi-functional devices that include a camera for “authorized business purposes as specified by the railroad in writing” and only after being approved by the FRA.

The UTU and other rail labor organizations had argued that it “is unnecessary to require employees to carry several separate electronic devices on a daily basis to effectively and safety perform their duties.” The labor organizations recommended — but the FRA rejected — that a cellphone camera be allowed to document a hazard or violation of a regulation and then be turned off immediately.

To read the FRA’s Sept. 27 final rule, which is more than 40 pages when printed out, click on the following link:

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov:80/2010/2010-23916.htm

To read the June 17 joint filing by the UTU and other rail labor organizations to the draft final rule, which is 17 pages when printed out, click here.

WASHINGTON – President Obama has nominated Republican Thomas M. Beck, an attorney, to succeed Republican Elizabeth Dougherty on the three-member National Mediation Board.

The nomination requires Senate confirmation, and a confirmation hearing before the Senate Labor Committee has yet to be scheduled.

Since October 2, Beck has been serving as a Senate-confirmed member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) for a term that expired July 1. The FLRA administers labor-management relations for non-Postal Service federal employees.

As with the NMB, members of the FLRA may continue serving until a successor has been confirmed by the Senate. Dougherty’s term at the NMB expired June 30.

Previously, Beck was a partner in the law firm of Jones Day, practicing labor and employment law. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. Beck also is a part-time professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he teaches courses on legislation and public policy.

The other two members of the NMB are Democrats – Chairman Harry Hoglander, who is serving his third term on the NMB, and Linda Puchala, who was confirmed to her first term on the NMB in May 2009.

By UTU International President Mike Futhey

One of the jewels of the Obama health care reform plan passed into law by Congress earlier this year allows certain dependent children to remain on an employee’s health care insurance plan until age 26 without regard to student, marital, residence of financial dependent status.

This provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act becomes effective Jan. 1, 2011, but only if enrollment is accomplished during a special 30-day enrollment period.

Complete information on the eligible dependent child provision, and elimination of the lifetime maximum benefit limits on the railroad national health and welfare plans, will be detailed in the annual re-enrollment packet railroad employees will be receiving soon from UnitedHealthcare.

Members not covered by national rail plans — which includes UTU Bus Department and Airline Department members — should check with their employers regarding what actions may be necessary to ensure dependent children under 26 remain covered on their employer-provided heath care insurance plans.

As for UTU-represented railroad employees, It is essential you open the packet from UnitedHealthcare and review the information carefully when it arrives, as failure to complete and return the required information in the required time period could result in a missed opportunity to enroll your eligible dependent child.

The law requires that the addition to health care insurance plans of eligible dependent children under age 26 be accomplished within the 30-day special enrollment period.

Failure to complete and return the required information could result in eligible dependent children being denied coverage.

By Calvin Studivant
Alternate vice president, Bus Department

Newly manufactured motorcoaches would be required to have lap-shoulder seat belts – and older motorcoaches might be required to add them – under proposals from the U.S. DOT that are open for public comment.

The federal proposals do not include city or school buses. Only a handful of states require seat belts on school buses.

The DOT said that, between 1999 and 2008, there were 54 fatal motorcoach crashes resulting in 186 fatalities, most of them passengers ejected from buses. The majority of motorcoach trips – 65 percent – are made by children and senior citizens.

Wearing lap-shoulder belts on motorcoaches could reduce the risk for passengers of being killed in a rollover crash by 77 percent, says the DOT.

Separately, the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), of which the UTU is a member, has added bus issues to its Washington lobbying responsibilities. Alternate Vice President Bonnie Morr and I are working with the TTD and other AFL-CIO transportation unions to advance a successful agenda before Congress and regulatory agencies.

At our initial meeting we discussed:

  • The growing privatization of school bus transportation.
  • The increasing number of school bus drivers considered part-time or seasonal and ineligible for health care insurance, sick leave, paid vacations and retirement plans.
  • A need for improved driver training to handle challenges of students with physical and mental disabilities.
  • A need for on-board monitors, uniform disciplinary procedures and driver training to control to control unruly students.
  • A need for training in the dangers of distracted driving that affect situational awareness, and providing medical-benefit assistance to diagnose and treat sleep apnea.
  • A need for more uniform background checks and equitable standards for disqualifying drivers.
  • The drafting of a modal labor agreement for school bus districts.

If you have suggestions for other agenda topics, please contact me.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A Montana resident believed to be the world’s oldest man celebrated his 114th birthday Tuesday at a retirement home in Great Falls, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

Walter Breuning was born on Sept. 21, 1896, in Melrose, Minnesota, and moved to Montana in 1918, where he worked as a clerk for the Great Northern Railway for 50 years.

His wife, Agnes, a railroad telegraph operator from Butte, died in 1957. The couple had no children.

Breuning inherited the distinction of being the world’s oldest man in July 2009 when Briton Henry Allingham died at age 113. Allingham had joked that the secret to long life was “Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women — and a good sense of humor,” according to Guinness World Records.

The Guinness organization and the Gerontology Research Group each have verified Breuning as the world’s oldest man and the fourth-oldest person. Three women were born earlier in the same year as Breuning.

Robert Young, senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records, presented Breuning with a copy of the book’s 2011 edition that lists him as the record holder.

“Walter wasn’t in last year’s edition,” Young joked. “He was too young.”

The Great Falls Tribune reported that Breuning gave a speech before about 100 people at an invitation-only birthday party at the Rainbow Retirement Community, with a guest list that included Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and representatives from Guinness World Records.

Breuning was helped up to a lectern from his motorized cart, appearing somewhat frail but speaking with a strong voice.

He recalled “the dark ages,” when his family moved to South Dakota in 1901 and lived for 11 years without electricity, water or plumbing.

“Carry the water in. Heat it on the stove. That’s what you took your bath with. Wake up in the dark. Go to bed in the dark. That’s not very pleasant,” he said.

He said men and women may be able to enjoy life, but they can’t be content without a belief or faith. His parting message to the crowd was one of tolerance.

“With all the hatred in this world, in this good world, let us be kind to one another,” Breuning said.

Breuning has celebrity status at the retirement home, with visitors waiting in line to see him, Ray Milversted, 92, told the Tribune.

Tina Bundtrock, executive director of the Rainbow, said the home has adopted a policy of scheduling visits with Breuning by appointment, so he’s not taxed by people dropping in to see him.

Before his birthday party, Breuning declined to name a favorite among the 114 years he has seen.

“Every year is the same,” Breuning told the Great Falls newspaper.

But he criticized one modern invention — the computer.

“When the computer came out, that was one of the worst things,” Breuning said. “They laid off all the clerks on the railroad.”

But, he added, “Every change is good.”

(This item appeared Sept. 22, 2010, in the Tribune.)

WASHINGTON – An official of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) this week affirmed the agency’s support for whistle-blower protection.

OSHA enforces provisions of 19 laws protecting employees who report violations of various securities, trucking, airline, nuclear, pipeline, environmental, railroad, public transportation, workplace safety and health, consumer product safety, health care reform, and financial reform laws.

“OSHA’s Whistle-blower Protection Program exists because of a decades-old belief held by Congress, stakeholders, employers and society that whistle-blowers play an essential role in protecting workers and the public, said Dr. David Michaels, OSHA’s assistant secretary of labor.

“Whistle-blowers can make the difference between lawful workplaces and places where workers fear for their livelihoods and even their lives if they raise concerns,” Michaels said.

“With our available resources,” he said, “OSHA is working hard to ensure that whistle-blowers are protected from retaliation. We are in the process of a top-to-bottom review of OSHA’s whistle-blower protection program.”

The comments came following a General Accountability Office audit of the OSHA Whistle-blower Protection Program. “OSHA has already begun taking action on items recommended in the GAO report, such as requiring all investigators and their supervisors to complete mandatory investigator training over the next 18 months, setting strategic goals and performance measures for the whistleblower program, and providing new equipment to field staff,” Michaels said.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

Detailed information on employee whistle-blower rights, including fact sheets, is available at www.whistleblowers.gov

The Railroad Retirement Board’s policy is that every annuitant has the right to manage his or her own benefits. However, when physical or mental impairments make a railroad retirement annuitant incapable of properly handling benefit payments, or where the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) determines that the interests of the annuitant so require, the RRB can appoint a representative payee to act on the annuitant’s behalf. A representative payee may be either a person or an organization selected by the RRB to receive benefits on behalf of an annuitant.

The following questions and answers provide information for family members, or others, who may have to act on behalf of an annuitant.

1. Does the RRB have legal authority to appoint a representative payee for an annuitant?

The Railroad Retirement Act gives the RRB authority to determine whether direct payment of benefits, or payment to a representative payee, will best serve an annuitant’s interest. The RRB can appoint a representative payee regardless of whether there has been a legal finding of incompetence or commitment and, depending on the circumstances in a particular case, the RRB can select someone other than the individual’s legal representative to be the representative payee.

2. What if a person has been given power of attorney by a beneficiary?

Power of attorney is a legal process where one person grants another the authority to transact certain business on his or her behalf; but the RRB, like the Social Security Administration, does not recognize power of attorney for purposes of managing benefit payments for a beneficiary. For this purpose, the RRB uses the position of representative payee.

3. Why doesn’t the RRB recognize power of attorney?

The Railroad Retirement Act protects a person’s right to receive benefits directly and to use them as he or she sees fit by prohibiting the assignment of benefits. Power of attorney creates an assignment-like situation that is contrary to the protections given by this law. The Act likewise gives the RRB exclusive jurisdiction in determining whether to appoint a representative payee for an annuitant. If the RRB recognized power of attorney, it would be deferring to a designation made by someone outside of the agency and would, in effect, be abdicating its responsibility to the annuitant.

Also, events often occur which may affect an annuitant’s eligibility for benefits. The responsibility for reporting these events to the RRB is placed, by law, directly on the annuitant or the annuitant’s representative payee. When benefits are accepted, the annuitant or his or her payee attests to a continued eligibility for such benefits. And if payments are misused, they can be recouped from the payee. This is not true with power of attorney.

4. How are these representative payees selected?

Generally, the RRB’s local field offices determine the need for a representative payee and interview potential payees. The field office also advises the payee of his or her duties, monitors the payee, investigates any allegations of misuse of funds, and changes the method of payment, or the payee, when appropriate.

The RRB provides 15 days’ advance notice to an annuitant of its intent to appoint a representative payee, and the name of the payee, in order to allow the annuitant a period of time in which to contest the appointment.

5. What are the primary duties and responsibilities of a representative payee?

The payee must give first consideration to the annuitant’s day-to-day needs. This includes paying for food, shelter, clothing, medical care and miscellaneous personal needs. Beyond day-to-day needs, railroad retirement benefits may be used for other expenses.

The payee is also responsible for reporting events to the RRB that affect the individual’s annuity, and is required to account for the funds received on behalf of the annuitant.

In addition, since railroad retirement benefits are subject to Federal income tax, a representative payee is responsible for delivering the benefit information statements issued each year by the RRB to the person handling the annuitant’s tax matters.

Periodically, the payee will be asked to complete a report which includes questions regarding how much of the railroad retirement benefits available during the year were used for the support of the beneficiary, how much of the benefits were saved, and how the savings were invested. In order to complete the questionnaire correctly, a payee must keep current records of the railroad retirement benefits received and how the benefits were used. The records should be retained for four years.

6. What are a representative payee’s primary responsibilities for an annuitant’s Medicare coverage?

When an annuitant requires covered medical services, the payee must have the annuitant’s Medicare card available. The payee must also keep records of the services received and the expenses incurred or paid, just as for any other usage of railroad retirement benefits.

7. What if an annuitant is confined to an institution?

When annuitants are in a nursing home, hospital or other institution, their railroad retirement benefit payments should be used to meet the charges for their current maintenance. Current maintenance includes the usual charges the institution makes for providing care and services.

The payee should use the benefit payments to aid in the annuitant’s possible recovery or release from the institution, or to improve his or her living conditions while confined. Payments may be used to provide such items as clothing, personal grooming supplies, transportation of relatives to visit the patient, trial visits to relatives, medical and dental care, and reading materials and hobby supplies.

8. How should railroad retirement benefits not immediately required to meet an annuitant’s needs be handled?

Benefit payments which will not be needed in the near future must be saved or invested unless they are needed for the support of the annuitant’s legally dependent spouse or child, or to pay creditors under certain circumstances. It is recommended that conserved funds be held in interest-bearing accounts. Preferred investments are Federally-insured or state-insured accounts at financial institutions and obligations of, or those backed by, the Federal Government, such as U.S. Savings Bonds.

Funds should not be kept in the home, where they may be lost or stolen, nor can they be mingled with the payee’s own funds or other funds.

9. How can a person get more information about being appointed as a representative payee, or whether the use of railroad retirement benefits for a particular purpose would be proper?

More information is available by visiting the agency’s web site, www.rrb.gov, or by calling an RRB office toll-free at (877) 772-5772. Persons can find the address of the RRB office servicing their area by calling the RRB’s toll-free number or at www.rrb.gov.

(The preceding release was issued by the Railroad Retirement Board on September 8, 2010.)

We are about to begin the flu season and a flu vaccine is the best way to prevent infection and the complications associated with the flu.

Vaccination is necessary each year because flu viruses change each year. The flu shot can be received once a year in either the fall or winter.

You may need only one pneumonia shot in your lifetime. You might be at risk for pneumonia if you:

  • Are age 65 or older
  • Have a chronic illness, such as heart or lung disease or diabetes
  • Have a weak immune system

Flu and pneumonia shots are a covered benefit for Medicare beneficiaries, and are exempt from deductible or coinsurance liability. You do not need a doctor’s referral to receive these vaccines.

Don’t just watch hunting or fishing shows from your couch. Be a guest star on “Brotherhood Outdoors,” a new cable television series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance that will feature hardworking and hard playing union members.

UTU and other union members passionate about the outdoors and who wish to pass on their hunting and fishing heritage to the next generation, have potential to star in this TV series.

“Brotherhood Outdoors,” which will begin airing on the cable Sportsman Channel in July 2011, will portray two kinds of adventure. In some episodes, host Tom Ackerman will take guests on an outfitted hunting or fishing trip in North America, often with a union member-owned outfitting operation. In others, the tables will be turned as union guests play the guide, taking Tom to their secret hunting or fishing spot.

Whether you want to take a break from the do-it-yourself routine and join Tom for a guided hunting or fishing adventure, or show your union brothers and sisters and the rest of America that you’ve got the skill and experience to be the guide, send your application in and maybe you will be a star on “Brotherhood Outdoors.”

Click here to download an application.