Author: paul

Home>Articles by: paul

FRA_logo_wordsWASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) May 3 issued an industry-wide safety advisory to warn about safety hazards associated with flat switching operations on railroads. Since 2009, six railroad employees sustained fatal injuries placing themselves between unsecured rolling equipment during switching operations, including one employee who was killed last year.

“Safety is our highest priority,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We are committed to taking the necessary steps to secure the safety of the traveling public, as well as those working in the transportation field.”

In flat switching, rail cars are diverted to the proper track to complete a train by one of two methods, either by “manually kicking” or “shoving to couple.” When rail cars are kicked, they are uncoupled from the switching locomotive while in motion, allowed to roll freely and are expected to couple with the other rail cars upon impact with the new train. When rail cars are shoved to couple, they are not uncoupled from the switching locomotive until they have already coupled with and are secured to the new train.

Through investigations of one of the six fatalities, FRA identified switching yard characteristics that may increase the risks of unsecured rail equipment rolling back onto an employee if an irregular grade is present in a flat switching yard.

During kicking operations, employees are at greater risk if the rail car doesn’t couple securely with other rail cars already resting on the destination track.

“Kicking railcars is efficient but it can also have significant consequences if rail carriers don’t have operating rules to safeguard employees to ensure that kicked rail cars are securely coupled,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “Where there is risk of a rollback shoving to couple provides absolute certitude.”

In 2010, FRA released recommendations developed by the Switching Operations Fatality Analysis Working Group (SOFA) that have been adopted by individual railroads in their operating rules. Today’s Safety Advisory 2013-03 warns railroad management and employees about the inherent dangers of employee movements between unsecured rolling rail cars. It advises railroads to review and follow SOFA recommendations previously set forth in a FRA 2011 Safety Advisory and, where conditions exists, to develop operating rules that safeguard employees, and advises employees to follow the rules.

To learn more about Safety Advisory 2013-03 please click here.

 

Amtrak LogoWASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood May 3 announced he is providing $30.2 million to Amtrak to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy along its heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor. The funding comes from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 and is being provided by the Federal Railroad Administration.

“Amtrak serves as a critical transportation link throughout the Northeast Corridor, and we are committed to helping it rebuild from Hurricane Sandy on behalf of the thousands of riders who rely on it each day,” said Secretary LaHood. “We continue to do all we can to help make all of our storm-damaged public transportation systems whole again.”

Today’s grant reimburses Amtrak for $20.1 million for expenses associated with pumping water from tunnels and debris removal and for immediate and on-going repairs to vital infrastructure needed to operate more than 2,000 trains along the Northeast Corridor each day. The balance of the grant money will fund repairs to the East Tunnel that connects Manhattan and Queens, the North River Tunnel that connects New Jersey and New York City, and other facilities.

Following Hurricane Sandy, four of the six tunnels between New York City and New Jersey flooded with seawater. Immense amounts of water and debris were removed from the tunnels and system-wide repairs had to be completed before service could be restored. The most critical damage was to electrical systems, particularly the Kearney substation, located in Kearney, New Jersey, plus signals, lighting, mechanical rooms, and emergency call boxes. The damage was caused by wind, heavy rains and saltwater.

“The storm’s wake demonstrates the necessity to not only rebuild, but to invest in our infrastructure so we are better prepared to withstand and recover from future natural disasters,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo.

Additional repairs to rail, ties, ballasts, third rail signal systems, pump stations, circuit breakers, and vital infrastructure are still on-going and are expected to continue throughout the summer months.

The appropriations measure was signed into law by President Obama on January 29, 2013. The total appropriation related to Amtrak’s recovery from Sandy was $32 million.

ron_ingerick_150px
Ron Ingerick

By Ron Ingerick,
North Carolina State Legislative Director – 

The deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, and the deaths of workers and first responders there should be a wake-up call for all of us here.

Last year, in North Carolina, 148 of our hardworking sisters and brothers left for work one day and didn’t come home to their families. That’s 148 deaths that could have been prevented if all employers followed job safety requirements and put needed safeguards and protections in place.

Every day people suffer workplace injuries from combustible dust explosions or exposure to well-known hazards like asbestos, benzene and silica dust. Some 78,000 North Carolinians a year are injured or sickened on the job. These occurrences are all too common, leaving workers powerless and affecting thousands of families.

That is why it is important to empower workers to speak out against safety violations. The freedom a union contract provides is one way workers can find their voice. Government doing its job to protect the public is another, but corporations and their bought politicians are fighting back with false claims that regulations kill jobs. Enforcement has been weakened, budgets slashed, and people we love continue to be put at risk.

Did you know, for example, that there are only 99 OSHA inspectors in our state, or that it would take 59 years to inspect each North Carolina workplace just once? According to news reports, the fertilizer plant in Texas had not been inspected since 1985.

When Big Business abdicates its responsibility to pay the cost to have and keep safe workplaces, the rest of us end up paying for it in blood and tears. But when working people in North Carolina demand adequate regulations and enforcement, lives will be saved, and everyone’s jobs will be safer.

Let us not forget our immigrant sisters and brothers who disproportionately hold riskier jobs and continue to be at an increased risk of job fatalities. In 2010, the majority of Latino workplace deaths — 500 out of 729 — were among immigrant workers. Employers take advantage of these workers, many of whom lack documents or are unable to speak up because they do not know they have rights as individuals working in the United States. Workplace illnesses and injuries do not discriminate on the basis of legal status, but the inability of some workers to raise red flags about problems puts the health and safety of all workers at risk.

Every year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day, we pay tribute to those who have lost their lives on the job, as well as those who’ve been hurt or made sick due to workplace safety violations. As we remember our dead in North Carolina, we call on our elected officials to do more and do better.

All workers should be able to go to work and return home safe and sound to their loved ones, and no worker should have to sacrifice life, limbs or health to earn an honest day’s pay.

The preceding editorial by Ron Ingerick Jr. was published April 26 by the Asheville Citizen-Times. Ingerick is the North Carolina State Legislative Director for the SMART Transportation Division. He is also vice president of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO. He lives in Arden, N.C.

Amtrak LogoAmtrak marked 42 years of service on May 1 with a plea for more money from Congress.

CEO Joe Boardman said Amtrak remains a “vital part” of the nation’s transportation system, but can’t continue to fulfill its “national mission” without more money from Washington.

 Read the full story at The Hill.

 

The state of Oregon’s House and Senate have been working to pass bills that are labor-friendly.

Most recently, H.B. 3342 passed through the House and has made its way into the Senate. If passed, the bill would outlaw public sector union-busting. Public employers will no longer be able to use public funds or use public property to hold meetings whose purpose is to deter or assist union organizing.

Two other bills that have passed the House and are awaiting Senate approval are H.B. 2950 and H.B. 2646. These bills would allow workers to take up to two weeks of unpaid leave to deal with the death of a family member and would require prevailing wages on all construction projects on public university lands, even if donor-funded.

Another pro-worker bill in the House is H.B. 3390, which seeks to mandate that employers with six or more employees provide employees with seven days of paid sick leave per year. 

05/02/13 UPDATE: Ohio right-to-work bills were considered “dead-on-arrival” as Senate Republic President Keith Faber rejected the bills last night in an after-hours press conference.
“We have an ambitious agenda focused on job creation and economic recovery, and Right to Work legislation is not on that list. After discussions with other leaders and my caucus, I don’t believe there is current support for this issue in the General Assembly,” Faber said. “The only purpose this discussion serves right now is to generate a bunch of breathless fundraising appeals from the Ohio Democratic Party.”
 
Original Story:
Ohio has joined Pa. and Mo. in the fight against right-to-work bills. Today, two Republican Ohio Representatives Kristina Roegner and Ron Maag submitted bills seeking to take away rights from unions and their members in Ohio.
Roegner’s bill goes after private-sector unions such as UTU-SMART while Maag’s bill focuses on unions of the public sector.
Ohioans are clearly against this type of legislation with 60 percent of Ohio voters having voted down similar legislation in Senate Bill 5 (SB 5) that was introduced in 2011. SB 5 almost cost Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich his job when he sought to make SB 5 law without allowing Ohioans to vote on it. Petitions and outcries were heard loud and clear in Ohio’s government and SB 5 went to the people to be voted on in November 2011 and was voted down.
Ohioans are still working on getting an amendment passed that would allow the people of Ohio to vote to remove a governor from office as a result of the SB 5 fiasco.
Kasich has refused to support any right-to-work bill since SB 5 failed and has instead remained focused on other legislation. Kasich has yet to weigh in on the new legislation that was introduced today.
Pennsylvania and Missouri are also facing similar bills in their respective Houses. Recently, the state of Maine rejected right-to-work bills in both the state House and Senate, effectively killing those bills.

BNSF_Color_LogoSpoon River College (SRC) of Canton, Ill., Carl Sandburg College (CSC) of Galesburg, Ill. and BNSF has partnered together to offer a new Rail Transportation & Power System Technology Certificate.

Students enrolled in the program will study circuits, hydraulics, welding, diesel tractor technology, engine systems, safety in the workplace and much more. Students will have classes at both SRC and CSC. CSC offers access to a BNSF switchyard where students will get hands-on experience. SRC and BNSF have donated equipment for students to use.

BNSF and SRC realized a while ago that current engine technicians (baby boomers) are getting ready to retire. BNSF’s business is booming and so they decided to take steps now to be ready for when the large number of employees retire.

Because of the distance (46 miles or about one hour) between SRC and CSC, the usual 18-week session that is standard for other degrees of this type at the college, has been condensed down into one eight-week session.

Students coming out of the one-year program (31 credit hours) will have obtained a certificate and the experience and training required to get a job with BNSF. Classes are set to start in the fall. SRC is accepting applications for the program now. 

anthony_foxx
Anthony Foxx

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a confirmation hearing on transportation secretary nominee Anthony Foxx May 22, according to Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.).

President Obama announced April 29 Anthony Foxx as his nominee for the next Secretary of Transportation.

Foxx is currently the mayor of Charlotte, N.C, which he helped turn around since taking office in 2009. Both the city and country were going through a “bruising economic crisis,” President Obama said.

“The economy is growing. There are more jobs, more opportunity,” he said. “And if you ask Anthony how that happened, he’ll tell you that one of the reasons is that Charlotte made one of the largest investments in transportation in the city’s history.

“Since Anthony took office, they’ve broken ground on a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to the downtown area. They’ve expanded the international airport. And they’re extending the city’s light rail system. All of that has not only helped create new jobs, it’s helped Charlotte become more attractive to business.”

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) bus operation is manned by SMART Transportation Division operators and mechanics.

President Obama said that one of the best ways we can grow our economy and rebuild opportunity for the middle class is by putting more Americans back to work by investing in rebuilding our infrastructure.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a “Fix-It-First” program to put more people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs.

“We need to modernize the infrastructure that powers our economy. We need more high-speed rail, and Internet, and high-tech schools, and self-healing power grids, and bridges, and tunnels, and ports that help us ship products all around the world stamped with three proud words: Made in America. That’s how we’re going to attract more businesses. That’s how we’re going to create more jobs. That’s how we’re going to stay competitive in this global economy.”

President Obama also thanked current Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood for his hard work and dedication to public service.

“Over the past four years, thanks to Ray’s leadership, we’ve built or improved more than 350,000 miles of road — enough to circle the world more than 14 times. We’ve upgraded more than 6,000 miles of rail — enough to go coast to coast and back. We’ve repaired or replaced more than 20,000 bridges, and helped put tens of thousands of construction workers back on the job.

“He is a good man, and has been an outstanding public servant and a model for the kind of bipartisan approach to governance that I think we need so badly in this town,” President Obama said.

Foxx’s transportation credentials include his push for expanding the city’s LYNX streetcar to UNC-Charlotte, creating the Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility that transfers cargo between trucks and trains, and building a new runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Foxx was born on April 30, 1971, in Charlotte. He was first elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005, and was elected mayor on November 3, 2009, winning 51.5 percentof the vote and defeating his City Council colleague, Republican John Lassiter. He won a second term on November 8, 2011, winning more than two-thirds of the vote against Republican Scott Stone.

cdl-drivers-manual_webThe federal government is relaxing a rule for drivers of buses and large trucks who are involved in out-of-state traffic violations. ??

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an office of the Department of Transportation, is eliminating a requirement that drivers notify their state’s licensing agency when they are convicted of a traffic offense in another state. ??

In its final rule published in the Federal Register April 26, FMCSA amends its commercial driver’s license (CDL) rules to eliminate the requirement for drivers to notify the state licensing agency that issued their commercial learner’s permit (CLP) or CDL of out-of-state traffic convictions when those convictions occur in states that have a certified CDL program in substantial compliance with FMCSA’s rules.

Current regulations require both CDL holders and states with certified CDL programs to report a CDL holder’s out-of-state traffic conviction to the driver’s state of licensure.

This final rule amends the CDL rules to eliminate this reporting redundancy for those cases in which the conviction occurs in a state that has a certified CDL program in substantial compliance with FMCSA’s regulations. This change will reduce a regulatory burden on individual CLP and CDL holders and state driver licensing agencies.

“The anticipated benefits of the rule will take the form of reduced paperwork burden hours and expenditures for the reporting of out-of-state traffic convictions,” the agency said in the new rule.

Under the rule, which will take effect in 30 days, states will continue sending reports to each other, but no action will be required from drivers.

“This is a favorable change to this rule, however, it does not eliminate a commercial driver, especially a bus driver, from following a carrier’s policy of reporting traffic or moving violations to the company once convicted, or based on the individual company policy,” said SMART Transportation Bus Vice President Bonnie Morr. “Drivers still need to report a violation based on their employer’s policy.”

The change comes as result of an Obama administration initiative to reduce regulatory burdens. ??

In 2011, the Transportation Department asked the public for suggestions on possible ways to cut back on unnecessary rules.

The SMART Transportation Division’s Legislative Office in offered suggestions to the FMCSA in February 2011.

The federal government has set minimum national standards for drivers of commercial vehicles since the 1986 enactment of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act, but each state has its own procedures and rules for the licenses. ??

In order to receive highway and grant funding, states must meet the benchmarks of the commercial driver’s license program, which includes a requirement that states report commercial drivers’ out-of-state traffic convictions to their home state within 10 days. Drivers were required to report the convictions within 30 days.

RRB logo; Railroad Retirement BoardBANGOR, Maine – Gerald E. Bailey, 68, of Pittston, Maine pled guilty on Tuesday, April 23 to charges of collecting pension that he was not entitled to.

Bailey retired from Springfield Terminal Railway in 2004 and began receiving his pension payments from the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). According to an affidavit filed by assistant U.S. attorney Gail Fisk Malone, Bailey returned to work from 2007 to 2010 with the Maine Eastern Railroad.

Bailey was able to avoid detection during that time by using another person’s social security number and name on his time cards. He received pension totaling $83,398 during that time which he was not entitled to.

Once you retire, it is illegal to continue to work and receive funds from the RRB at the same time. Employers are required to report earnings of each employee yearly to the RRB. It is unclear how the RRB detected the fraud.

At sentencing, Bailey could face up to 10 years in prison with three years of parole and fines up to $250,000. Bailey was not a member of the UTU.