WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican left in President Barack Obama’s first-term cabinet, said today that he would be leaving the administration.
Ray LaHood
Before becoming Secretary of Transportation, LaHood, 67, served for 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’ 18th District. During that time, he served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and later on the House Appropriations Committee.
Prior to his election to the House, he served as chief of staff to U.S. Congressman Robert Michel, whom he succeeded in representing the 18th District.
“Ray LaHood has been a great friend to transportation workers and our transportation industry all of his career. We look forward to working with our new secretary of transportation to continue to grow public transportation, passenger rail and freight rail options,” UTU International President Mike Futhey said.
In a statement to Department of Transportation employees, LaHood said, “I have let President Obama know that I will not serve a second term as secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the department, and I am grateful to President Obama for giving me such an extraordinary opportunity. I plan to stay on until my successor is confirmed to ensure a smooth transition for the department and all the important work we still have to do.
“Our achievements are significant. We have put safety front and center with the Distracted Driving Initiative and a rule to combat pilot fatigue that was decades in the making. We have made great progress in improving the safety of our transit systems, pipelines, and highways, and in reducing roadway fatalities to historic lows. We have strengthened consumer protections with new regulations on buses, trucks, and airlines.
“And to further secure our future, we have taken transportation into the 21st century with CAFE standards, NextGen, and our investments in passenger and high-speed rail.
“I’ve told President Obama, and I’ve told many of you, that this is the best job I’ve ever had.”
According to the Associated Press, possible successors for LaHood include Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has pushed for increased rail service in Los Angeles and served as chairman of last year’s Democratic National Convention, and Debbie Hersman, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. The name of former Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who led the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has also been mentioned.
Contract talks on Amtrak are continuing, General Chairperson Dirk Sampson reports.
“As these negotiations are ongoing and sensitive, I am not a liberty to release the details,” he said.
“My main priority with Amtrak is getting this contract settled,” Sampson said. “Mediation talks are ongoing. Currently, mediation sessions are scheduled for Feb. 13 and 14 and March 20 and 21. We are still trying to resolve a few difficult issues. The negotiation team will continue to press its demands with the assistance and guidance of Assistant President John Previsich.”
The percentage of American workers in labor unions took an unusually large fall in 2012, dropping to 11.3 percent last year from 11.8 percent in 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced.
The total number of union members also took an unusually big drop, by 400,000, to 14.3 million, even though overall employment in the U.S. rose by 2.4 million last year, the BLS reports. From 2010 to 2011, the number grew by 50,000, and the percentage of unionized workers fell only 0.1 percentage point.
The declines came during a period when labor unions have been on the defensive. Wisconsin enacted a law in 2011 that curbed the collective bargaining rights of most of the state’s government employees, while Indiana and Michigan passed “right to work” laws last year that are likely to encourage more private-sector workers to drop their union membership so they do not have to pay union dues or fees.
Some say the move in Michigan could embolden more states to pass similar legislation, further threatening the nation’s once-strong labor union movement.
In recent months, however, there has been an uptick in union activity among nonunion workers, as evidenced by labor protests at Walmart stores across the nation and a one-day strike by fast-food workers in New York City in November.
In those job actions, the workers were protesting what they said were low wages and meager benefits. But union officials acknowledge that it is often hard, in the face of intense employer resistance and employee fears of layoffs, to persuade a majority of workers at a big-box store or other workplaces to vote to unionize.
Richard L. Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, responded to the labor report in a statement, saying, “Working women and men urgently need a voice on the job today, but the sad truth is that it has become more difficult for them to have one, as today’s figures on union membership demonstrate.”
“Union membership impacts every other economic outcome that matters to all workers – falling wages, rising health care costs, home foreclosures, the loss of manufacturing jobs and disappearing retirement benefits. Collective action through unions remains the single best way for working people to effect change. But our still-struggling economy, weak laws and political as well as ideological assaults have taken a toll on union membership, and in the process have also imperiled economic security and good, middle class jobs.”
Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $943 last year, while those who were not union members had median weekly earnings of $742.
The BLS said union membership for private-sector workers dropped to 6.6 last year, from 6.9 percent in 2011, a drop that has caused some labor leaders to voice fears that unions were steadily fading into irrelevance for many large employers.
The bureau said union membership among public-sector employees fell to 35.9 percent in 2012, from 37 percent the previous year, and there were more union members in the public sector – 7.3 million – than in the private sector, 7 million.
The number of union members is down from 17.7 million in 1983, the first year for which comparable numbers are available, when 20.1 percent of the nation’s workers belonged to labor unions.
Among states, North Carolina had the lowest unionization rate, 2.9 percent, followed by Arkansas at 3.2 percent and South Carolina at 3.3 percent. New York had the highest rate, 23.2 percent, followed by Alaska at 22.4 percent and Hawaii at 21.6 percent.
Days after super storm Sandy hit the New York Tri-State area, Long Island Rail Road GO LIRR General Chairperson Anthony Simon established the “UTU Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund” for Long Island Rail Road members in need. Through both mail-in and boots-on-the-ground donation campaigns, the LIRR general committee raised more than $9,000 to kick off its effort. On Dec. 14, all UTU LIRR locals transformed their annual holiday party to a Hurricane Sandy relief event. More than $12,000 was raised and the fund totals more than $21,000. That did not include a later contribution from the International’s storm relief fund. At the recommendation of UTU International President Mike Futhey, a committee of Simon, Alternate International Vice President – Bus Calvin Studivant and New Jersey Transit member Patricia Smith (Local 60) was formed to determine the distribution of the funds. They allocated the funds at the discretion of four independent, non-officer LIRR members. UTU member and Sandy storm victim conductor Dennis O’Driscoll said, “This type of event demonstrates the true meaning of solidarity and helping one another. I only wish even more members could have been apart of it. The UTU was there for me during my time of need.” “The entire LIRR general committee would like to thank President Futhey for his guidance and support in our relief effort for the UTU membership on the LIRR,” Simon said. Distribution of a portion of the International’s storm fund, which received contributions from locals and individuals across the country, is still pending. UTU GO LIRR General Chairperson Anthony Simon, left, and Vice General Chairperson Vincent Tessitore present a check to storm victim and LIRR conductor Colleen Drennan. Super storm Sandy damage. Super storm Sandy damage. Super storm Sandy damage. Super storm Sandy damage.
How are you and your Valentine celebrating this February 14th? The United Farm Workers (UFW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) suggest toasting your Valentine with a union-crafted wine.
Select union-made wines, paired with foods, for the perfect dinner match.
The National Labor College will conduct regional hazardous materials training workshops for railroad workers at various locations throughout the United States in 2013.
The first two workshops are five-day Hazardous Materials Chemical/Emergency Response Training Programs, that will be held in Houston, Texas, April 14-20, and Laurel, Md., May 5-10.
The workshops present Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Department of Transportation required training and also address procedures for different levels of response and worker protection in a hazardous materials emergency or release, as well as weapons of mass destruction awareness.
The training also provides components required to complete the OSHA 10-hour Outreach certification.
The training includes classroom instruction, small-group activities, hands-on drills and a simulated hazmat response in full safety gear.
The Rail Workers Hazardous Materials Training Program is funded to provide this training by a federal grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and is targeted at rail workers at the local level.
Applicant selection will be in the following order: local residents not requiring lodging, followed by those within a 500-mile driving radius. Those requiring air transportation to attend will then be considered.
Interested parties are urged to register as soon as possible. All questions should be directed to Freddie Thomas at (301) 431-5457 or fthomas@nlc.edu.
A stipend of $625 per week is available to all training participants in these programs, except those who are able to secure regular pay through their employer, or are paid union officers.
These programs begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. daily, with a one-hour noon lunch break.
The UTU shares with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the dream that men and women should be judged not by the color of their skin, their nationality or religious beliefs, but by the content of their hearts.
Below is the text of Dr. King’s speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, during the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Recall too, that on the day of Dr. King’s assassination, he was in Memphis, Tenn., to support striking sanitation workers. He was truly friend of the labor movement.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Handling the affairs of a deceased family member can be a difficult task. But like estate planning, it’s important to prepare in advance.
Medicare law prevents contractors from disclosing information and updating records for a deceased beneficiary without appropriate documentation, according to Palmetto GBA, the official Railroad Medicare agent.
Authorization documents that are acceptable for persons living (such as a power of attorney) are not valid after the date of death. Any authorization that was on file with Medicare prior to the beneficiary’s death becomes invalid at the time of death.
Palmetto gave examples of documentation that are valid after death including:
Executor/executrix papers, with a court stamp and a judge’s/clerk of court’s signature
Next of kin attested by court documents, with a court stamp and a judge’s/clerk of court’s signature
Letter of testamentary or administration, with a court stamp and judge’s/clerk of court’s signature
Personal representative papers with a court stamp and judge’s/clerk of court’s signature
Medicare does not allow contractors to accept copies of wills or other legal documentation drawn up prior to the beneficiary’s death.
If Palmetto GBA does not have your legal papers on file, you must fax or mail them to Railroad Medicare in order for them to release or update information related to the deceased beneficiary.
When sending your documents to Palmetto GBA, be sure to include the beneficiary’s name, health insurance claim number, the beneficiary’s date of birth and a description of your relationship to the beneficiary.
Those papers can be faxed to (803) 264-9844, or mailed to the following address:
Palmetto GBA – Railroad Medicare P.O. Box 10066 Augusta, GA 30999-0001
If you do not have a legal document that indicates your authority to make a request for information, our Palmetto’s customer service representatives will be limited in what information they can release or discuss.
If you have received a Medicare Summary Notice (MSN), Palmetto can discuss the claims on that notice. If you have not received an MSN, a representative can order an MSN to be sent to the beneficiary’s address. Their representatives can also tell you whether or not we have received or processed a claim for a specific date of service.
Legal documentation is also required to permanently update a deceased beneficiary’s address. If you need to update the beneficiary’s address and don’t have court papers naming you as the estate representative, Railroad Medicare will temporarily update the address for a period of 12 months.
A change of address form is available on Palmetto’s website at www.PalmettoGBA.com/rr/me called “Railroad Medicare Deceased Beneficiary Address Change Form.”
For help, please call Palmetto’s Beneficiary Contact Center at (800) 833-4455 or TTY at (877) 566-3572 for the hearing impaired between 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. EST.
Palmetto also encourages you to:
Visit their Facebook page called “My RR Medicare” at www.Facebook.com
Register for e-mail updates at Palmetto’s website at www.PalmettoGBA.com/rr/me and select the “Beneficiary” category
Last year was the safest year in the history of the railroad industry, based on performance measures tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration.
For the fifth fiscal year in a row, the industry has improved on all six of the FRA’s official safety performance measures, including the rate of grade crossing incidents, human factor-caused train accidents, track-caused accidents, equipment-caused accidents, signal and miscellaneous train accidents, and non-accidental rail hazmat releases.
The industry has also met the Department of Transportation’s set safety performance goal for rate of rail related accidents and incidents.
Those performance measures were highlighted in a message to railroad industry and labor leaders from Federal Railroad Administration head Joe Szabo.
“We thank our partners at the railroads, their employees and communities across America for their commitment to achieving these results. Keeping our railroads safe is a team effort,” Szabo said.
These statistics are somewhat welcome news to the UTU and its membership. In 2012, six members of the UTU were killed while on active railroad duty. That is the least number of UTU rail members killed on active duty since 2009.
“While there is a bright side to the data released by the FRA, there are still some clouds in the sky,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey. “Even one death on the railroad is one too many.”
Szabo acknowledges there is more work to be done.
“This year, we will continue to take proactive measures to prevent accidents and incidents by aggressively advancing Risk Reduction and System Safety Programs. We will also stay focused on our collaborative effort with industry and labor to eliminate electronic device distraction. Together, we can make 2013 even safer,” he said.
Contract talks on Amtrak are continuing, General Chairperson Dirk Sampson reports. 
The National Labor College will conduct regional hazardous materials training workshops for railroad workers at various locations throughout the United States in 2013.
Handling the affairs of a deceased family member can be a difficult task. But like estate planning, it’s important to prepare in advance.
Last year was the safest year in the history of the railroad industry, based on performance measures tracked by the Federal Railroad Administration.