Former Maine-New Hampshire State Legislative Director Ernest “Ernie” A. Phillips, 77, died March 27.
Phillips was born Jan. 4, 1936, in Milford, Maine. In February 1956, he went to work for Bangor and Aroostook Railroad as a trainman. In July 1962, he was employed by Maine Central Railroad as a trainman and conductor. He was a member of Local 663 at Bangor, Maine.
In 1980, he was elected as general chairperson for UTU General Committee of Adjustment GO 529 representing Maine Central, Portland Terminal, Grand Trunk Railroad CN, CP Railroad, Lamoine Valley Railroad and Central Vermont. He also went on to be elected UTU International alternate vice president.
Phillips was a 33-year member of Portland Elks Lodge No. 188, a member of the Air National Guard and a member of American Legion Post No. 24.
He is survived by his wife, Donna; children Dawn, Michael, Randy and Patrick, and seven grandchildren.
A funeral service was held April 2 at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., in Bangor, Maine. Interment will be at Lakeview Cemetery in Glenburn at a later date. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.Brookings-Smith.com.
Author: paul
Hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts who entered custom bikes in the Easyriders® 2013 Bike Show in Anaheim, Calif., were apparently barking up the wrong tree. When it was all said and done, Howard “Tree” Slayton’s replica 1947 Knucklehead Harley-Davidson Radical Chopper was the cream of the crop.
Tree is Los Angeles Metro bus operator Howard Slayton, a 13-year member of UTU Local 1607 at Los Angeles. He was also proud to mention that he’s approaching nine years of safe operation without a chargeable offense.
His bike was selected as “best of show” by the Easyriders® panel of judges. Easyriders® bills itself as the world’s best-selling motorcycle magazine for men.
“I chose to be judged by the judges, instead of the people’s choice,” Tree said. “With all of the engineering and all of the little trick stuff I’ve done, they understand that and see that.”
“Tree is my nickname from when I was playing football and basketball in high school and college, and it carried over. They know me in the bike world by that name.” It is also stylishly emblazoned on the gas tank of his bike.
Slayton became interested in motorcycles when he was discharged from the Army. “When I came back, a lot of my buddies were into motorcycles, so that’s when I got interested,” he said.
Slayton said his motorcycle is his creation. “I have a partner who is a welder and helps me, but the bike, I designed it. All of the parts were purchased by catalog. The motor is a knucklehead replica. It’s made to look like the original.”
The bike isn’t just a showpiece. It is street-legal and Slayton said he rides it all the time.
This wasn’t Slayton’s first competition, and it won’t be his last. He took first place in the Los Angeles Metro Roadeo’s car and motorcycle show in 2009 and 2010 and, after two years off, plans to enter again this year. His bike will also be featured in an upcoming issue of Cycle Source magazine.
As for his “best of show” award, “I got a trophy. Easyriders® invited me to their regional winners competition in Columbus, Ohio, but the expense of getting my bike transported there is too much.”
“I was surprised, I was really surprised,” he said of the award. “It’s like a top honor, and the fact that it was Easyriders®, well I was amazed.”
Los Angeles Metro bus operator Howard “Tree” Slayton proudly displays his
award-winning motorcycle on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles.
The following article was written by Railway Age columnist and former UTU Director of Public Relations Frank N. Wilner.
Conservative columnist and American Enterprise scholar Michael Barone, with degrees from Harvard and Yale, is a smart fellow. But a recent column about Amtrak suggests his research consisted of wandering into the posh Capitol Grill in Washington, D.C., and sitting at Amtrak baiter-in-chief Rep. John Mica’s luncheon table, absorbing Mica’s jihad against publicly funded intercity rail passenger service.
Mica’s endless blistering attacks against Amtrak for failing to earn a profit hang as a sword of Damocles, diverting scarce managerial resources from effectively improving efficiency and customer service to explaining, without respite, why Amtrak should exist at all.
Read the complete story at Railway Age.
The following rebuttal from the National Association of Railroad Passengers is in response to a CNN report by Anderson Cooper critical of Amtrak and high speed rail funding:
“So is Anderson Cooper still a real journalist? He headlines a daily talk show, and was swimming with crocodiles on last Sunday’s 60 Minutes. Perhaps Cooper has completely transitioned into the role of “television personality.”
“Honestly, that’s the most generous conclusion we can come up with. Because after the fact-light, context-free piece showcased on Anderson Cooper 360 last week, we have to say: if Cooper still considers himself a reporter, he is doing a very bad job of it.
“On Cooper’s show, reporter Drew Griffin attacked the High Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program as a boondoggle, contrasting the expectation of 220 mph trains that run in Europe and Asia with the projects funded in the U.S. by HSIPR.
“Griffin points to the federally funded improvements to the Pacific Northwest’s Cascades service (Portland, Oregon – Seattle, Washington – Vancouver, British Columbia) as an example of everything that’s wrong with the HSIPR program. In his “analysis,” Griffin states that $800 million was spent to bring about a ten-minute reduction in trip time.
“But that’s not true.
“Yes, there was a ten-minute reduction in trip time. However, the $800 million also paid for infrastructure upgrades that push on time performance above 88 percent and added two additional daily round trips between Portland and Seattle. While Paula Hammond, former head of the Washington State Department of Transportation, briefly mentions more roundtrips on camera, it’s never even acknowledged by Griffin. That’s right: the money will go to purchasing a new train set and new locomotives, increasing daily roundtrips from four to six, and Anderson Cooper didn’t even mention it! (Not incidentally, these train sets are being built in the U.S. by American workers. This investment is leading to a revival in U.S. manufacturing of rail equipment.)
“Griffin also repeatedly states that there’s nothing to show for the $12 billion spent on high speed rail. In addition to being disrespectful to communities that have directly benefited from the many improvements to conventional speed train service (such as: Illinois, Vermont, Michigan, the entire Northeast Corridor, and so on), it’s also flat out wrong, because only 15 percent of the $12 billion has been spent so far.
“There are many reasons for this. As a result of the U.S. investing so little in passenger rail over the past 50 years, a lot of the HSIPR program had to be built from the ground up, a process that has taken time. The projects have also been the victim of political squabbling, with Republican governors killing rail expansion projects – conventional and high speed – in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida. (In a twist of fate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reversed course and applied for a HSIPR rail grant in the next round of applications, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott is supporting All Aboard Florida’s Miami-Orlando train, a service which would have benefited immensely from the Orlando-Tampa rail corridor Scott killed).
“California’s San Francisco-Los Angeles high speed train – which will travel at speeds of more than 200 mph – is facing many of these political hurdles. But it is moving forward in spite of the political opposition, with construction scheduled to start this very summer. Construction will also ramp up on HSIPR projects in the Midwest and Northeast, creating good jobs for the U.S. construction workers, an industry which is still lagging behind in the recovery. New orders for train equipment will continue to benefit the U.S. manufacturing sector.
“Griffin and Cooper’s main objection seems to be the gulf between what they imagined when President Obama talked about high speed trains, and the reality of what $12 billion can buy. Their main failing, then, is understanding that infrastructure – whether it be rails or roads, bridges or sewers – is expensive. Unfortunately, with an estimated $3.6 trillion in investment needed in the U.S. between now and 2020, there are no $12 billion silver bullets.
“This country is still pursuing the 200 mph train service President Obama spoke of – in the Northeast Corridor and in California. But unless we start investing on levels commensurate with what the Chinese have spent on their high speed rail network – $451 billion to $602 billion between 2011 and 2015 alone – the rest of the country will progress in increments of 10 minute reductions here, and an additional frequency there.
“But if you ask a potential Cascades passenger, someone who drives on Interstate 5, where bumper-to-bumper traffic can often stretch 60 miles south of Seattle, past Tacoma to the state capital of Olympia, 10 minutes and another frequency would be enough.”
SMART Transportation Division-represented train and engine workers employed by Appalachian and Ohio Railroad have ratified a new five-year agreement by a unanimous vote.
SMART Transportation Division International Vice President Dave Wier said the agreement provides for substantial wage increases with full back-pay, provides certification pay for both conductors and engineers, freezes health and welfare contributions for the life of the contract, improves working conditions and seniority moves and provides for extra board regulation.
Wier, who assisted with the negotiations, congratulated Alternate Vice President and GO 433 General Chairperson R.W. “Red” Dare, Vice General Chairperson Danny Kautzman and Local 504 Chairperson David Currence for their efforts throughout the negotiating process.
“I laud the exceptional effort put forth by these officers in negotiating an agreement with dramatic improvements in wages and working conditions. The wage increases, coupled with the certification pay, provide these members with outstanding increases in their daily rates of pay,” Wier said.
The Appalachian and Ohio Railroad, owned by P&L Transportation, Inc., operates 158 miles of rail line between Grafton and Cowen, W. Va.
Its primary commodity is coal, transported from several mines that the railroad serves. It also moves logs, lumber and chemicals.
Amtrak, the U.S. intercity passenger railroad supported by taxpayers, asked Congress to more than double its capital budget so it can buy more trains and improve infrastructure.
Amtrak, in a letter today to Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner, asked for $2.1 billion in U.S. funds for its capital budget and $212 million for debt service for the 2014 fiscal year. In the 2013 fiscal year, Amtrak is receiving $905 million for those expenses.
Read the complete story at Bloomberg News.
LINCOLN, Neb. — Hackers stole the identity of 18 local people — at least 17 of them current or past BNSF workers — and used their personal information to bilk an online company out of more than $11,000.
Twelve Lincoln residents and six more who live in Lancaster County got bills from PayPal for hundreds of dollars even though they had not opened accounts with the global commerce company that operates out of La Vista, according to Lincoln Police Department and Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office records.
Read the complete story at the Journal Star.
WASHINGTON –The Association of American Railroads (AAR) strongly objects to the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act, introduced today by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), saying that while the bill claims to repeal freight railroads’ limited antitrust exemptions, it actually singles out railroads for policies that could undermine the industry’s ability to build, maintain and continuously upgrade the nation’s rail infrastructure without taxpayer assistance.
“This bill proposes sweeping changes that would negatively impact this country’s freight rail industry,” said AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. “Sections of this bill are designed to override existing regulatory decisions and could potentially roll back government-approved transactions in railroad history. That retroactive application would inevitably create conflicts and uncertainty for railroads, railroad customers and courts. The resulting regulatory uncertainty could undermine the private freight railroads’ ability to sustain necessary and critical private investments in America’s rail infrastructure.
“There’s one thing in Washington that everyone agrees on – and that is our nation’s infrastructure needs attention and serious investment. Freight railroads have invested more than $526 billion in private capital over the past three decades – half a trillion dollars – into America’s rail infrastructure so taxpayers didn’t have to. A regulatory environment that encourages private investment should remain a priority.”
Contrary to what bill proponents assert, Hamberger said that railroads are subject to most antitrust laws. In areas where they do have limited exemptions, railroads are regulated by the Surface Transportation Board (STB). “Bear in mind, there is no gap in government oversight of railroad activities,” he added.
“The elimination of billions of dollars from railroads’ revenue stream by Congress intervening on behalf of multi-billion dollar corporations trying to get lower shipping rates would certainly eliminate thousands of railroad jobs,” SMART Transportation Division President Mike Futhey said.
Added SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director James Stem: “We did not like the concept of rail mergers that we knew were going to eliminate railroad jobs and customer service, when the mergers were occurring. This issue today is not about customer service, only about the price of the service. We strongly support growing our rail industry.”
To view an AAR fact sheet urging senators to refrain from co-sponsoring the legislation, click here.
Union Pacific Railroad was cleared today of negligence in the deaths of two friends killed when a mile-long train plowed into them near a rail crossing in downtown Riverside, where the women became stranded after the drunken one at the wheel drove onto the tracks.
After deliberating less than two hours, an eight-man, four-woman jury voted 11-1 to find the train company and its crew blameless in the Nov. 1, 2007, deaths of 23-year-old Renee Ammari and 18-year-old Tanya Sayegh.
Read the complete story at the Temecula Patch.
UTU members can already save on Disney World park tickets, but right now, they could also win a Disney vacation for four.
By signing up to receive Union Plus emails and mobile alerts featuring union savings and special offers, you’ll be automatically entered to win a Disney dream vacation valued at more than $4,000.
The vacation package includes roundtrip airfare for four to sunny Florida, a four-night stay at a union-friendly hotel, five days of car rental and four 4-day passes for Disney World Four-Day Park Hopper tickets.
The passes are redeemable for two adult and two children’s tickets.
For a chance to win, register here or use your mobile device to text DISNEY to 22555 to participate in the contest.
For additional information about obtaining Disney World discounts for union families, click here.