New Jersey Transit GO 610 General Chairperson Stephen Burkert reports that a labor rally will be held Saturday, March 5 at 11:00 a.m. in support of the Rail Labor Coalition (Coalition) and their fight with New Jersey Transit (NJT) for an amenable contract.
The rally will be held across from the Woodbridge, N.J. train station at the Marion & Norman Tanzman Park. The station is located at Pearl St., between Main & Green Streets in Woodbridge.
“We ask that you please do not mark off to attend the rally,” Burkert said. “We do not want this to be misconstrued as a job action. That being said, there has never been a better opportunity for you, the member, and your family to have your voices heard. Spread the word, bring all your friends and carpool.”
The rally is being sponsored by the Coalition, Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac (D) and Senator Joseph Vitale (D – N.J.) to help promote awareness of what is going on with contract negotiations and possible work stoppage. Again, members are encouraged to attend only if on a relief day or during a break.
Discussions between the Coalition and NJT have been ongoing for four years. The Coalition last met with the carrier on Feb. 26 in Newark, N.J. No agreement as a result of these discussions could be reached.
The Coalition will next meet with NJT Friday, March 4 in Washington. The National Mediation Board (NMB) will be in attendance at the meetings and it is the hope of the Coalition that NJT will be persuaded to come to a more amenable agreement.
“I will continue to make myself available at anytime if the carrier decides they want to talk before or after the NMB meeting,” Burkert said.
“I want to reassure everyone that we as officers are working on your behalf 24/7 and that includes SMART TD headquarters. Vice President Doyle Turner and SMART TD Associate General Counsel Erika Diehl-Gibbons have attended all of the meetings and are constantly monitoring progress to ensure compliance with our constitution.
“SMART TD President Previsich is in daily communication concerning the effect it is having on our members and the progress of the talks. Our National Legislative Director John Risch has helped in getting Washington involved in realizing this is much bigger than New Jersey. I, along with New Jersey State Legislative Director Dan O’Connell, are still having daily meetings with our state officials to gather as much support as we can and we have met with passenger coalition groups to explain the ramifications of a work stoppage on commuters.”
A strike date has been set for March 13 if an agreement cannot be reached.
Author: amyr
SMART TD Ohio State Legislative Director Stu Gardner is calling all Ohio members to action. Gardner wants the Ohio membership to contact the each member of the House Commerce & Labor Committee and the Senate Public Utilities Committee about the state’s two person crew bills: House Bill 271 and Senate Bill 229.
“Our efforts to promote the two-person crew legislation in Ohio have been stalled by the failure of both Republican committee chairmen to schedule further hearings on Senate Bill No. 229 and House Bill No. 371,” Gardner said.
Sponsor testimony was presented by co-sponsors Rep. Michele Lapore-Hagan (D – Dist. 61) and Michael Sheehy (D – Dist. 46) for H.B. 371 November 17 in the House Commerce & Labor Committee and it was indicated that further hearings would be held. However, no further hearings have been held on the bill.
Sponsor testimony for S.B. 229 was presented November 18 in the Senate Public Utilities Committee. At the presentation, Senate Public Utilities Chairman Bill Seitz (R – Dist. 8) informed state Senators Joseph Schiavoni (D – Dist. 33) and Kenneth Yuko (D – Dist. 25) that Federal Statute 45 USCA Section 797j of the Regional Railroad Reorganization Act of 1973 (or “3R Act”) preempted the legislation.
The preemption states:
“No state may adopt or continue in force any law, rule, regulation, order, or standard requiring the Corporation to employ any specified number of persons to perform any particular task, function, or operation, or requiring the Corporation to pay protective benefits to employees, and no State in the Region may adopt or continue in force any such law, rule, regulation, order, or standard with respect to any railroad in the Region.”
Gardner researched this statute and contacted rail safety expert and Designated Legal Counsel Larry Mann for his opinion.
Mann replied, “The purpose for which the “3R Act” was enacted has been satisfied. Therefore, it is my opinion that the law has been repealed by implication. In the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congress required the FRA to study the impact of repealing Section 711 of the 3R Act. FRA issued its report in 2011 and concluded:
“The statutory purpose for which Section 711 was originally enacted has clearly been satisfied. Conrail has been successfully returned to the private sector and no longer requires a special statutory exemption from state laws requiring it to employ any specified number of persons to perform any particular task, function or operation.”
FRA further stated:
“The primacy of Federal law over state law in this area existed in order to serve a narrow and specifically defined purpose: the privatization of Conrail. That purpose has been met and it is appropriate to return to the primacy of state law.”
Gardner forwarded Mann’s response to Senate co-sponsors Schiavoni and Yuko, and to House co-sponsors Lapore-Hagan and Sheehy to inform the chairmen of both committees of this finding.
“This effort has been to no avail; no further committee hearings have been scheduled in either the House or Senate,” Gardner said. “Senator Bill Seitz has poisoned the well with his influence as a politician in the Senate and the House.
“Therefore, I’m requesting the help of Ohio members as well as every SMART TD member’s help to call, email and write letters to each member of the House Commerce & Labor Committee as well as each member of the Senate Public Utilities Committee.
“Voice your opinion on this important legislation. Urge and convince them these bills are important for our members’ safety and for the safety of the communities that trains pass through,” Gardner said. “Inform them to convey to Chairmen Seitz and Young the necessity to schedule further hearings on S.B. 229 and H.B. 371, and let the committee members decide as to whether or not to forward these bills to the full House and full Senate to be voted upon.
“Please be aware that there are no further hearings scheduled, then the two-person crew legislation will go no further. The legislation will die without the chance to go before the full House and full Senate to be voted on.
House Commerce & Labor Committee members and contact information:
- Ron Young, telephone: 614-644-6074, email: rep61@ohiohouse.gov
- Anthony Devitis, telephone: 614-466-1790, email: rep36@ohiohouse.gov
- Steven Arndt, telephone: 614-644-6011, email: rep89@ohiohouse.gov
- Louis W. Blessing III, telephone: 614-466-9091, email: rep29@ohiohouse.gov
- Tom Brinkman Jr., telephone: 614-644-6886, email: rep27@ohiohouse.gov
- Mike Duffey, telephone: 614-644-6030, email: rep21@ohiohouse.gov
- Ron Hood, telephone: 614-466-1464, email: rep78@ohiohouse.gov
- J. Kyle Koehler, telephone: 614-466-2038, email: rep79@ohihouse.gov
- Al C. Landis, telephone: 614-466-8035, email: rep98@ohiohouse.gov
- Dorothy Pelanda, telephone: 614-466-8147, email: rep86@ohiohouse.gov
- Kristina Roegner, telephone: 614-466-1177, email: rep37@ohiohouse.com
- Michele Lapore-Hagan, 614-466-9435, email: rep58@ohiohouse.gov
- Teresa M. Fedor, telephone: 614-644-6017, email: rep45@ohiohouse.gov
- Alicia Reece, telephone: 614-466-1308, email: rep33@ohiohouse.gov
- Stephen Slesnick, telephone: 614-466-8030, email: rep49@ohiohouse.gov
- Martin Sweeney, telephone: 614-466-3350, email: rep39@ohiohouse.gov
Senate Public Utilities Committee members and contact information:
- Bill Seitz, telephone: 614-466-8068, email: sd08@ohiosenate.gov
- Troy Balderson, telephone: 614-466-8076, email: balderson@ohiosenate.gov
- Kevin Bacon, telephone: 614-466-8064, email: sd03@ohiosenate.gov
- John Eklund, telephone: 614-644-7718, email: Eklund@ohiosenate.gov
- Cliff Hite, telephone: 614-466-8150, email: hite@ohiosenate.gov
- Thomas Patton, telephone: 614-466-8056, email: patton@ohiosenate.gov
- Bob Peterson, telephone: 614-466-8156, email: peterson@ohiosenate.gov
- Joseph W. Uecker, telephone: 614-466-8082, email: uecker@ohiosenate.gov
- Sandra Williams, telephone: 614-466-4857, email: Williams@ohiosenate.gov
- Lou Gentle, telephone: 614-466-6508, email: sd30@ohiosenate.gov
- Tom Sawyer, telephone: 614-466-7041, email: tomsawyer@ohiosenate.gov
As far as travel goes, five times as many commuters take to the rails than the skies, and in metropolitan regions like Boston, more than one million commuters get to and from work every day by train. Despite the high number of daily rail travelers, nearly all transit security funding is allocated for air, not rail. Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA) is leading the effort to bring this security deficit – one that affects both commuter and freight transit, to the national forefront. Read more about this week’s summit, reported by CBS Boston.
According to Section 14 (45 USC Section 231m) of the Railroad Retirement Act, retirement annuities are not taxable for individual state income tax purposes. Bruce Rodman, of the Public Affairs/Office of Administration of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board says, “Both of our primary enabling statutes – the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act – specifically exempt the benefits paid under them from state income taxes. However, if a person doesn’t know this – and sometimes this might stem from people using free tax-prep software or obtaining volunteer assistance in filing their returns – and declares it as taxable income, the state tax collection agencies probably won’t know any better.”
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) also states on the FAQ section (see #18) of their website that railroad retirement, unemployment and sickness benefits paid by the RRB are not subject to state income tax. However, these benefits are taxable on the federal level.
Many tax preparers and even states are not aware of these statutes and may attempt to tax your annuities. It is up to us to make sure that our annuities are not taxed by the states in which we live.
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) also states on the FAQ section (see #18) of their website that railroad retirement, unemployment and sickness benefits paid by the RRB are not subject to state income tax. However, these benefits are taxable on the federal level.
Many tax preparers and even states are not aware of these statutes and may attempt to tax your annuities. It is up to us to make sure that our annuities are not taxed by the states in which we live.
In the hopes of avoiding a strike that could plunge the northeast corridor into a state of economic chaos, DC officials are calling for a mandatory meeting to find resolution before that happens. Read the entire story here on NorthJersey.com.
In the hopes of avoiding a strike that could plunge the northeast corridor into a state of economic chaos, DC officials are calling for a mandatory meeting to find resolution before that happens. Read the entire story here on NorthJersey.com.
In an interview with Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith, The Daily Sentinel reported that Union Pacific has furloughed more workers in the past week, this time from UP’s roundhouse where locomotives are serviced located in Grand Junction. Smith said at least 147 members have been furloughed in the state since July 2015.
Click here to read more from The Daily Sentinel.
The San Diego Free Press reported that, at the winter 2016 AFL-CIO executive meeting in San Diego, the agenda suggested a growing emphasis on broad political actions like economic inequality and democracy in America. The big story from the meeting has been the decision not to make a presidential endorsement. Read the entire story here.
According to Mass Transit Magazine, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asked transportation stakeholders to make the most of the $305 billion allocated to the FAST Act in a letter dated Feb. 19.
Foxx encouraged the stakeholders to use the money to create transit jobs to maximize the impact of the FAST Act.
Click here to read the full article from Mass Transit Magazine.
Al.com reported that last week, Southern Rail Commissioner, Knox Ross, who is also mayor of Pelahatchie, Miss., accompanied FRA administrator Sarah Feinberg and other federal officials on an Amtrak passenger train ride from New Orleans to Jacksonville, FL, to underscore the widespread support for passenger rail restoration along the Gulf Coast. Read the complete article here.