SMART UnionCanadian Pacific Railway has approached and been rebuffed by CSX about a merger that could bring together two of the world’s largest railroad operators, according to a published report Sunday afternoon on the website of The Wall Street Journal.
If a merger were negotiated, it could rally a volatile Wall Street this week and eclipse in size Berkshire Hathaway’s $26 billion purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2010.
Read the complete story from USA Today.
A jaunt on a stolen train Thursday ended in a crash and possible federal felony charges for the 22-year-old driver.
Derek Skyler Brux was charged Friday with reckless endangering, felony destruction of property and felony destruction, obstruction or removal of railroad track or fixtures after allegedly stealing a train from North Antelope Rochelle mine and driving it south 13 miles before plowing it into another train.
Read the complete story from Gillette News Record.
A SMART Transportation Division member was killed on the job Wednesday (Oct. 9) afternoon in a railroad switching accident at a Colorado Springs, Colo., industrial complex.
According to media reports, BNSF Railway conductor Dawn Trettenero, 42, was trapped between two rail cars. Firefighters told Television Station KKTV that they arrived within minutes of being notified of the accident, but Trettenero was already dead when they arrived.
“There were other employees present when this occurred, so we have witnesses that we are talking to,” said police spokesperson Lt. Catherine Buckley.
Trettenero was a member of Transportation Division Local 202 at Denver. She joined the union in December 2011. She is the second Transportation Division member to die on the job this year.
Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith, a member of the SMART Transportation Division’s Transportation Safety Team, has been assigned to assist the National Transportation Safety Board with its accident investigation.
Local 202 Chairperson Brent Conlin reports that a memorial service for Trettenero will be held from 2-4 p.m., Wednesday Oct. 15, at Olinger Crown Hill Mortuary and Cemetery. It is located at 7777 W. 29th Ave. in Wheatridge, Colo.
Railroad employees covered under National Railway Carriers/UTU Health and Welfare Plan or the Railroad Employees’ National Health and Welfare Plan were mailed a notification of the online open enrollment period that began Oct. 1, 2014, and ends Nov. 1, 2014. The information should be specific to the current enrollment for you and your eligible dependents.
The online enrollment capability provides the ability to view your personal information, add, delete and update dependent information, view enrollment materials, enroll in benefits for next year, and receive an immediate confirmation statement. There is no need to mail in a paper enrollment form. However, if you need assistance, have questions or require a paper enrollment kit, call Railroad Enrollment Services at (800) 753-2692.
The enrollment website can be found at https://www.yourtracktohealth.com (formerly known as the Railroad Information Depot).
You are encouraged to visit the online enrollment site and review all the information available. Use the log-in instructions at the end of this article to access and review your personal information and spend some time learning about the benefits and resources available on the site.
You will also be able to search medical provider networks.
It is required that covered dependent Social Security numbers (SSN) be provided to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Please supply the missing SSN on the Dependent Information screen.
If you are currently enrolled in the Health Flexible Spending Account, the election and yearly contribution will not rollover to the new plan year. You must enroll in your Health Flexible Spending Account every year.
Once logged in, select the option to “Enroll Now for 2015,” located in the upper left corner of the screen.
SMART Transportation Division members employed by First Student, Inc., in Southeastern Pennsylvania have ratified a new three-year contract, retroactive to June 2014
The contract covers SMART members of Local 172 at Darby, Pa., working in school bus operations until June 30, 2017. Of the 92 votes cast, 55 were in favor of the agreement.
Members will receive a three percent wage increase across the board for each year of the contract, for a total of nine percent. Driver’s rates of pay will be paid on all charter work and on all van runs with the addition of a meal allowance for charters.
Also included in the contract is a provision increasing the number of allowable hours worked per week, up to 45. Management had previously discouraged employees from working more than 40 hours.
If during the year, an operator’s run hours are reduced by 20 percent or more, that operator will have the option to bump another driver from service whose hours exceed 40.
Also included in the contract is a provision that requires the company to immediately provide an employee with a debit card matching any payroll discrepancy of $50 or more. If a driver or monitor is displaced from a service run for any non-disciplinary reason, the driver will not suffer a loss in hourly pay.
“I thank Local 172 Vice Chairperson Denise Hall, Secretary Kathleen Sitongia and Chairperson Theresa Costantini for their dedication and hard work on this agreement,” Bus Vice President Calvin Studivant said.
Local 172 members chose the former United Transportation Union as their first collective bargaining representative approximately 10 years ago, when the property was unorganized.
SMART Transportation Division-represented trainmen and yardmasters employed by the Terminal Railroad Alabama State Docks have ratified a new six-year agreement by an overwhelming majority.
The new agreement provides for six, three percent annual general wage increases retroactive to April 1, 2012, with the final three percent general wage increase on April 1, 2017, resulting in a cumulative wage increase of 19.1 percent over the life of the agreement, with full back pay.
The agreement establishes a $5 certification pay for yard foreman, increases meal periods to thirty minutes with a one hour meal payment on certain assignments, provides a thirty minute training payment for yard foreman, helpers and yardmasters, and reduces the vacation qualifying years to 12 years for four weeks of vacation and 23 years for five weeks vacation.
The agreement provides for calculating paid military leave days as a start for five day work weeks and allows employees to bank up to 60 personal leave days.
Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted in negotiations, thanks General Chairperson Mark Cook (GO 898), Alabama State Legislative Director Neil Elders, Local 598 Chairperson Blake Kyser and Local 598 Vice Chairperson Billy Johns, “for putting forth exceptional effort in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with substantial improvements in wages and working conditions.”
SMART Transportation Division-represented trainmen, engineers and yardmasters employed by Lake Terminal Railroad have ratified a new six-year agreement by a unanimous vote.
The agreement provides for six annual wage increases, beginning July 1, 2013, and rolls in previous cost-of-living adjustment increases, resulting in an 18.7 percent cumulative wage increase over the life of the contract.
It also includes lump sum back pay, establishes a $5 certification pay for conductors, engineers and remote control operators, increases carrier-matching contributions to 401(k) accounts to $1,300, and establishes an additional retirement account for new hires with a $75 monthly carrier contribution. There will be limits on employee health and welfare contributions to 12 percent of the plan costs and a freeze on co-pays and deductibles for the life of the contract.
SMART Transportation Division Vice President Dave Wier, who assisted with the negotiations, congratulates Lake Terminal General Chairperson Brad Elias and Local Chairperson Russ Tolson for “the exceptional effort put forth in bringing the members’ concerns to the bargaining table and negotiating an agreement with significant improvements in wages and working conditions.”
SMART Transportation Division members employed by First Student, Inc., in Southeastern Pennsylvania have ratified a new three-year contract, retroactive to June 2014.
The contract covers SMART members of Local 172 at Darby, Pa., working in school bus operations until June 30, 2017. Of the 92 votes cast, 55 were in favor of the agreement.
Members will receive a three percent wage increase across the board for each year of the contract, for a total of nine percent. Driver’s rates of pay will be paid on all charter work and on all van runs with the addition of a meal allowance for charters.
Also provided in the contract is a provision increasing the number of allowable hours worked per week, up to 45. Management had previously discouraged employees from working more than 40 hours.
If during the year, an operator’s run hours are reduced by 20 percent or more, that operator will have the option to bump another driver from service whose hours exceed 40.
Also included in the contract is a provision that requires the company to immediately provide an employee with a debit card matching any payroll discrepancy of $50 or more. If a driver or monitor is displaced from a service run for any non-disciplinary reason, the driver will not suffer a loss in hourly pay.
“I thank Local 172 Vice Chairperson Denise Hall, Secretary Kathleen Sitongia and Chairperson Theresa Costantini for their dedication and hard work on this agreement,” Bus Vice President Calvin Studivant said.
Local 172 members chose the former United Transportation Union as their first collective bargaining representative approximately 10 years ago, when the property was unorganized.
DENVER – Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC retaliated against a Mandan, North Dakota, worker in December 2013 after he reported a work-related injury and submitted a physician’s treatment plan, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has ordered Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF to pay more than $30,000 in back wages and damages and to take other corrective action.
The former employee submitted a whistleblower complaint to OSHA alleging violations of the anti-retaliation provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. As a result, OSHA investigated and determined the work-related injury reporting and subsequent treatment plan were contributing factors in terminating the employee, a direct violation of the FRSA.
“Reporting an injury and a subsequent treatment plan ordered by a physician — regardless of an employer’s policy or deadline — is protected activity by law,” said Gregory Baxter, OSHA’s regional administrator in Denver. “BNSF failed to prove that its personnel actions were anything other than retaliation.”
OSHA ordered the employer to reinstate the worker at the same or an equivalent job, restore seniority and benefits, and pay $6,000 in compensatory damages, plus attorney’s fees.
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or the government. Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor. More information is available online at http://www.whistleblowers.gov/index.html.
BNSF or the former employee may file objections or request a hearing before the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receiving OSHA’s order.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 21 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, worker safety, public transportation agency, maritime and securities laws.
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 ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced railroad safety legislation Sept. 10 that continues dialogue on the nation’s rail safety laws.
S. 2784, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014, contains language that requires freight trains be crewed with at least one federally certified conductor and one federally certified engineer. The Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers fully supports that requirement.
The issue of single-person train operations has gained national prominence recently when BNSF Railway proposed a contract to some of their operating employees that would remove conductors from trains, a proposal that was voted down this week by the affected employees. BNSF had a substantial train accident in Casselton, N.D., involving a crude oil train Dec. 30 where two-person crews played a vital role in working with first responders to protect the public.
SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich has cautioned that one-person train operations are unsafe. “No one would permit an airliner to fly with just one pilot, even though they can fly themselves. Trains, which cannot operate themselves, should be no different,” he said.
Legislation requiring a minimum of two persons on trains, H.R. 3040, is pending in the House of Representatives. This bill was introduced by U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) last year and has 80 co-sponsors.
“We thank Sen. Blumenthal for including this provision which maintains current practices. While America’s railroads generally operate with a minimum of one conductor and one engineer, there are a handful of rouge operators who are operating unsafe, single-person trains. This legislation will put an end to that unsafe practice,” Previsich said.
The legislation also requires Class I and passenger railroads to install audio and image recording devices in locomotive cabs. “We plan to work with the Senate to try to get this unwarranted proposal removed from the bill,” Previsich said.
An overview of S. 2784 can be found here.
To read the complete text of the bill, click here.