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.
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.
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.
Most of the historical plaques at Camden Yards are about particular players’ home-runs or Babe Ruth’s father’s tavern, but a new marker outside the ballpark pays tribute not to ballplayers but to workers whose names we’ll never know. Unveiled yesterday, the sign on the Howard Street side of the old Camden train depot recalls the tens of thousands of people who joined in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a protest against pay cuts and poor working conditions that started in Baltimore and Martinsburg, W.Va., then spread across the country, halting rail traffic and factory production and helping to launch the modern labor movement. Read the complete story at The Baltimore Brew.
Calvin Studivant
By Calvin Studivant, Alternate Vice President, Bus –
Sleep apnea is a serious ailment and certainly one that should not go untreated. But it also should not be used to discriminate against our members, which it appears some carriers are doing.
There are reports from some of our locals that their carriers are more likely to try and get some of our members who have greater body mass index (BMI) to go for sleep studies as opposed to our slimmer brothers and sisters. The carriers who are doing this are certainly practicing discrimination and we will not stand by and allow this practice to continue.
Here are a few of the risk factors for sleep apnea: having a small upper airway; having a large neck (usually more than 17 inches for men and 16 inches for women.) and smoking.
A few of the symptoms of sleep apnea are: loud snoring; gasping and/or choking while sleeping; irritability or depression, or excessive daytime sleepiness.
Federal law clearly states that if, while doing your physical exam, the medical examiner detects a respiratory problem, he can request a polysomnography (sleep study) which is the only accurate way to diagnose sleep apnea and its severity.
In the event that you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, the following are treatment options: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), which means wearing a mask over the nose during sleep so air pressure will keep the throat from collapsing; oral appliances, or devices that open the airway by bringing the lower jaw and tongue forward; surgery, which involves some risk.
Another important note is that states sets their own regulations when it pertains to sleep apnea. Each state has its own authority to suspend a commercial drivers license if the holder has sleep apnea. There are three levels of sleep apnea: mild, moderate or severe, and you must have moderate to severe to be disqualified.
I hope this answers some of your questions regarding this dreadful ailment. If more information is needed, we at the UTU are always ready to assist our membership.
Mike Futhey
By Mike Futhey, SMART Transportation Division President –
Election day 2012 has passed, the celebration of an inauguration is done. Now what?
Complacency is not a luxury we can afford. Our fight is not over. After the candidates’ assurances of brighter days for labor, a continuation of “business as usual” is unacceptable. It will only perpetuate the process designed to lead to our demise.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. phrased it best in his “I Have a Dream” speech, exhorting “This is no time…to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”
There are treacherous sycophants roaming the political landscape like panthers in the night. Their objective: to introduce legislation to change the methodology for calculating votes on the state level.
Such legislation awards proportional votes based on the popular vote within the state. Prior to the election, Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate majority leader considered a proposal to move the state from an all-or-nothing contest to a proportional allocation based on winning specific congressional districts.
Had it been the law of the land during the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney would now be the President of the United States. The electoral vote would have resulted in a 276-262 margin in Romney’s favor, a 70-vote swing. All of this with President Obama winning the popular vote by nearly 5,000,000 votes, or 51.1 percent for Obama and 47.2 percent for Romney.
These individuals do not heed the observations of history and only view labor as an inconvenient expense to overcome in order to achieve the ultimate prize: greater profit.
Our nation’s economic future is contingent on putting America back to work, not the other way around.
At a meeting of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO last month, transportation union leaders rolled out a 2013 transportation investment and jobs agenda and condemned damaging cuts to transportation programs and jobs that are threatened by sequestration.
While meeting with the TTD, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said, “I appreciate today’s opportunity to meet with the Transportation Trades Department’s executive committee, and look forward to working with them and all parties interested in a stronger transportation network for our nation. By listening to a diverse set of opinions and working together to build consensus, we can improve America’s infrastructure, make us more competitive, and strengthen our economy.”
Let’s hope his statement was sincere.
The good news is that the power to protect our rights resides in our hands. Those targeted for demise, the members of SMART – along with all labor in America – have the numbers to steer the course.
Your support of our legislative department is essential. You can start by signing up for a UTU-SMART PAC donation, or, if you already participate, consider increasing your donation. If you are not already, become personally involved in local politics. Your contribution, through your labor and involvement, is what will lead to a healthy economic recovery.
The recent election celebrations are fading into history. Now we embrace history to deliver the future.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers, the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, Californians for High Speed Rail, and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association are urging Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to support XpressWest’s creation of a Los Angeles to Las Vegas high-speed rail line.
XpressWest currently has loan application pending with the Federal Railroad Administration through the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program.
Congress established the RRIF loan program in 1998 to help support development of the U.S. rail system. Under the RRIF program, the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is authorized to provide direct loans and loan guarantees out of a $35 billion pool of revolving credit to help rail projects.
In a letter to LaHood, the four organizations cited the following factors in seeking his support:
•Los Angeles to Las Vegas is the second busiest end-point pair in the United States, trailing only Los Angeles to San Diego. The completion of XpressWest will be a critical step toward meeting the president’s goal of connecting 80 percent of the American public to modern intercity passenger trains within 25 years.
•XpressWest will provide a convenient, energy-efficient alternative to the heavily traveled Interstate-15, a congested and dangerous highway. Mid-desert traffic back-ups are fairly common. The initial 185-mile segment would have the capacity to divert more than 2 million annual automobile trips, saving an estimated 440,000 barrels of oil each year. The train would also provide a safer travel alternative: the Las Vegas to Los Angeles segment of Interstate 15 has been found to be one of the most dangerous highways in America, and a 2010 study found that 1,069 people died in 834 automobile accidents on the road over a 15 year period.
•It will help speed up and enhance the California high speed rail project with extensions to Palmdale (70 miles from Los Angeles; currently served by Metrolink commuter trains) where the two systems will seamlessly integrate, significantly increasing ridership on both systems, and increasing private sector interest in the California system to help fund further extensions.
•It will expand the market for American high-speed rail manufacturing.
•It is consistent with the desire of Americans for good train travel. This is reflected in the fact that Amtrak has set ridership records in nine of the last 10 years. Moreover, as a recent Brookings Institution report noted, Amtrak ridership from 1997 to 2012 at 55 percent grew faster than domestic aviation ridership (20 percent), highway vehicle-miles traveled (16.5 percent), U.S. population (17 percent) and real gross domestic product (37 percent).
“XpressWest is well suited for this program. This project is ready to go today, having already gained environmental clearance and secured the needed rights-of-way. Private investors have already assembled $1.5 billion in funds to support the project.
“With leadership from the private sector, we can be confident the project will be delivered quickly and efficiently, and managed with strong business practices. Because the nation’s high-speed rail network will be created through public-private partnership, this project offers the ideal model starter project to help move the nation’s new rail program forward,” the organizations’ leadership said.
The UTU’s Long Island Rail Road General Committee of Adjustment GO 505 is hosting it annual golf classic on May 13 to benefit families on Long Island affected by autism. The gold classic will tee off at 9:30 a.m. at the Hamlet Wind Watch Golf & Country Club in Hauppauge, N.Y., and GO 505 is seeking both sponsors and participants for the event. The cost for participation in the tournament is $225 per person, which includes breakfast, 18 holes of golf with cart, drinks, snacks, cocktails and buffet dinner with dessert. Four sponsorship levels are available ranging in cost from $150 to $600. To download a tournament registration and sponsorship form, click here. A portion of GO 505’s golf tournament proceeds will support Autism Speaks, a leading autism science and advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. “We look forward to spending a day in solidarity with members from our organization as well as other labor organizations in our area. We also appreciate the support and friendship of businesses and associates we work with every day to provide safe and efficient transportation on Long Island,” said GO 505 General Chairperson Anthony Simon. The number of tournament participants is limited. All golf reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, contact GO 505 Vice General Chairperson Vinnie Tessitore at (631) 661-3500. To learn more about Autism Speaks, visit www.autismspeaks.org.
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued 12 new safety recommendations as a result of its investigation of the Sept. 30, 2010, collision of two freight trains near Two Harbors, Minn.
The NTSB recommendations were issued to the following organizations: the Federal Railroad Administration, Canadian National Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, Kansas City Southern Railway Company, Norfolk Southern Railroad, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, BNSF Railway, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the United Transportation Union.
In a letter to SMART Transportation Division (UTU) President Mike Futhey, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman requested that UTU “work with the Canadian National Railway and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, to develop and implement a non-punitive peer audit program for the Canadian National Railway’s North Division, focused on rule compliance and operational safety.
“The NTSB is vitally interested in this recommendation because it is designed to prevent accidents and save lives.”
“The safety of our members and all railroad employees, as well as the general public, is of the utmost concern to the UTU and we intend to work with CN and the BLET to implement the NTSB’s recommendation,” Futhey said.
Additional NTSB recommendations can be found here.
The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation, including railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline.
The NTSB determines the probable cause of the accidents and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. In addition, it carries out special studies concerning transportation safety and coordinates the resources of the federal government and other organizations to provide assistance to victims and their family members affected by major transportation disasters.
