JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Great Lakes Airlines crews represented by the UTU will soon be flying in and out of Jamestown.
The Department of Transportation selected Great Lakes Airlines to provide air service to Jamestown Regional Airport through the Essential Air Service program, which partially subsidizes flights to small communities with federal funds. The airport reported record passenger boardings in 2011.
Great Lakes is tentatively scheduled to take over from Delta Air Lines, the previous EAS provider, March 12.
Great Lakes will offer 18 round-trip flights per week between Jamestown and Minneapolis, using 19-seat Beech 1900 planes.
The UTU represents pilots and flight attendants at the airline, who are members of UTU Local 40 at Denver, Colo.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s new associate administrator for administration is Michael Logue, a 29-year employee of the agency.
Logue has served as a railroad safety inspector trainee and in various positions within the Office of Safety and the Office of the Administrator. In 1999 he was named deputy associate administrator for safety compliance and program implementation.
Most recently, Logue worked with a team to improve human resources, information technology and acquisition management within the FRA. The agency cited his efforts “to increase diversity of the FRA workforce” through “strong support of a trainee program for rail safety inspectors and his participation in the selection of candidates for leadership positions throughout the agency.”
The Federal Railroad Administration has called attention to an injury where a conductor, while lifting the operating lever on a freight car, was dragged four car lengths after the lever became tangled in the hammer loop of his coveralls.
The FRA recommends cutting off the hammer loop on coveralls or securing the hammer loop to the pants leg so that it does not create a hazard.
Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway investment fund owns 100 percent of BNSF, recently appeared on television in China, singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” while strumming a ukulele.
To view the performance, click on the following YouTube link:
UTU local and International officer Kenneth L. Knorr, 58, died Jan. 20. Knorr was a member of Local 1031, Savannah, Ga. He hired on with the Seaboard Coast Line, now part of CSX, in 1977. He served in a variety of local union offices for 29 years, and was president of Local 1031 for many years. He also served as local chairperson for the Savannah yard and road crews. In 2010, he was appointed to fill a vacancy as alternate to the UTU executive board. In 2011, he was elevated to executive board member. He worked for CSX railroad for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Nancy; his daughter, Meagan; son, Patrick; and his mother, Christine Knorr Flathmann. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Relentless Campaign, Savannah Christian Church, 55 Al Henderson Blvd., Savannah, GA 31419, or Hospice Savannah, P.O. Box 13190, Savannah, GA 31416.
In 2008, California voters authorized a $9.95 billion bond measure as a down-payment for a high-speed rail project linking the Sacramento (in northern California), the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles.
The projected $98 billion route subsequently won $3.3 billion in federal grants.
But with California in the midst of a severe budget shortfall, voter opinion has turned negative. A recent public opinion poll found that 64 percent of registered California voters (73 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of Democrats) would reject the project if given a second chance to vote on it — most citing the escalating costs and long-term completion date.
But don’t assume the California project – or, for that matter, other high-speed rail projects — are down for the count.
While the dramatic increase in cost has imposed sticker-shock on Californians, and while Congress has cut-off further federal funding for this and other high-speed rail projects, California Gov. Jerry Brown remains an ardent cheerleader, observing:
“California’s high-speed rail project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, linking California’s population centers and avoiding the huge problems of massive airport and highway expansion.”
The former chairman of the House Transportation & Infastructure Committee, Jim Oberstar, now a private citizen, but still quite active politically, told The Washington Post:
“The financial uncertainties facing California’s high-speed rail project should not be read as an indictment of such rail development in America.
“High-speed, inter-city passenger rail can be successful, even profitable — as proven in France. The French national passenger rail system, wrote a check for $299 million to the national government just before Christmas, and has returned $780 million to the government over the last five years.
“Massive congestion is choking our major metropolitan areas, costing Americans $110 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. We must invest in a passenger rail alternative. The longer we wait, the less livable our cities will become and the more expensive the alternatives will be. The French have proven that the concept can succeed. We should follow their lead and not give up on inter-city passenger rail.
Moreover, the The New York Times observed:
“[While] for many Californians, struggling through a bleak era that has led some people to wonder if the state’s golden days are behind it, this project goes to the heart of the state’s pioneering spirit, recalling grand public investments in universities, water systems, roads and parks that once defined California as the leading edge of the nation.”
The UTU’s National Legislative Office is among those educating members of Congress to the long-term benefits of high-speed rail investment. For example, the UTU is reminding lawmakers that that construction of America’s Interstate Highway system began slowly and had to overcome substantial initial opposition.
While legislation to begin construction of Interstate Highways was passed by Congress in 1956, it was the culmination of two-decades of effort – with President Roosevelt the catalyst, much as President Obama is seeking to be the catalyst for nationwide high-speed rail.
As one historian recounted, “The plan had to be sold and sold again,” culminating with President Eisenhower providing the final push – convincing Congress that a $50 billion investment ($421 billion in 2011 dollars) was absolutely essential to ensure American mobility in the future.
“Patience and persistence achieved the goal of building Interstate Highways,” says National Legislative Director James Stem. “Patience and persistence will achieve the 21st century goal of President Obama for a nationwide 17,000-mile network of high-speed and higher-speed trains to provide 80 percent of the American population access to train travel by 2036.
The UTUIA is now accepting scholarship applications for the UTU/UTUIA Scholarship Program. Information regarding the scholarship and the application process is below.
The application form printed in the January edition of the UTU News is the official scholarship application form and is the only one that will be accepted. If you need an application form, write to the address below, and include your UTU local or UTUIA local unit number.
Deadline
Applications must be received each year by the last business day in March.
Applications
Only one application may be submitted per student. Incomplete, photocopied or duplicate applications will not be accepted.
The application form printed in the traditional print version of the January edition of the UTU News is the official scholarship application form and is the only one that will be accepted. If you need an application form, write to the address below, and include your UTU local or UTUIA local unit number.
UTUIA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION INSURANCE ASSOCIATION 24950 COUNTRY CLUB BLVD., STE. 340 NORTH OLMSTED, OH 44070-5333
Distribution
Fifty continuing $500 scholarships are awarded each year upon verification of enrollment for the fall term. The scholarships are prorated according to the number of UTU and UTUIA insurance members in each of nine districts. The 50 new scholarship winners for each academic year will be drawn at UTUIA Headquarters in North Olmsted after the deadline date. A listing of winner for this academic year will be published on this website and in the UTU News after May 1st.
Eligibility
Requirements of a UTUIA scholarship applicant are that he or she be a U.S. citizen, at least a high school senior or equivalent, and age 25 or under.
Effective with the 2012/2013 academic year, applicants must be associated with the UTUIA by either owning a UTUIA insurance policy, or by being the child or grandchild of a current UTUIA policyholder. Scholarship applicants must also be associated with the UTU by belonging to the union, or by being the child or grandchild of an active or lifetime UTU member.
Applicants also must be accepted for admittance or already enrolled for at least 12 credit hours per quarter or semester at a recognized institution of higher learning (university, college or junior college, nursing or technical school offering college credit). Graduate schools are not included. Families of full-time International officers are not eligible.
Previous scholarship winners are exempt from the new UTUIA policyholder connection requirement; they may renew their annual scholarship if otherwise eligible. This exemption is for the renewal of existing scholarships only, and all new applicants must meet the UTUIA and UTU association requirements above.
Awards
Scholarships are awarded on the basis of chance, not grades. A UTUIA scholar, however, is expected to maintain a satisfactory academic record to maintain the scholarship for the full four years.
Administration
The UTUIA Scholarship Committee decides whether individual scholarships should be continued or discontinued. Each successful applicant must provide annual proof of eligibility on or before a deadline set by the scholarship committee to qualify for a continuing award. The day-to-day management of the program is handled by the office of the UTUIA General Secretary and Treasurer.
Invest in the Chance of a Lifetime
The UTUIA Scholarship Program is an open program. All eligible students, regardless of previous grades or future plans that don’t happen to include college, are strongly urged to apply, to take five minutes to invest in the chance of a lifetime, the chance for a better future.
MADISON, Wis. – Twice the number of signatures needed to force a recall election of anti-union Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were delivered to state election officials Jan. 17.
State officials told The New York Times that the number of signatures submitted in the petition drive is ”so large as to put any serious legal challenge out of reach.” Some 540,000 signatures were needed to force a recall election to unseat Walker, and the one-million-plus signatures surprised even ardent supporters of the petition drive who expected only 720,000 signatures.
Additional signed petitions – also topping, significantly, the number required — were delivered in an effort to force recall elections of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators, including the state senate majority leader, all of whom have been allies of Walker in anti-union legislative actions.
The signed petitions were delivered in boxes to the State Capitol in Madison in a caravan of trucks.
Organized labor – with considerable assistance from the UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund – expended considerable effort obtaining the signatures. This followed yeoman work earlier in the year engineering a recall of two Wisconsin state senators who plotted to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state workers.
Gov. Walker was the architect of the Wisconsin assault on collective bargaining rights. A successful recall of Walker could stop dead in its tracks further efforts by anti-labor zealots — nationwide and in Congress — to attack the fundamental rights of working Americans to organize and bargain collectively.
When the recall election dates are assured, UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund activities in Wisconsin — coordinated by UTU State Legislative Director Tim Deneen — will be directed at organizing rallies, engaging in door-to-door canvassing of voters, operating phone banks, sending letters to the editor, and meetings with media editorial boards to generate a get-out-the-vote push to give Gov. Walker and his political allies their walking papers.
For more information on the UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, click on the following link:
UTU local treasurers must file Internal Revenue Service forms W-2 and W-3 forms for all employees receiving wages in 2011.
The W-2 form reports wages paid to employees, and the Social Security or Railroad Retirement taxes and Medicare taxes withheld, and must be filed with the Social Security Administration by Feb. 29, and provided to employees on or before Jan. 31. The Social Security Administration reports relevant amounts on the W-2 to the Internal Revenue Service.
The W-3 form is sent to the Social Security Administration (even for employees under Railroad Retirement) no later than Feb. 29, and shows total earnings, Social Security wages or Railroad Retirement wages, Medicare wages and withholding for all employees in tax year 2011. Copy A of the W-2 form must also be sent with the W-3.
UTU International Auditor Steve Noyes says that the current W-3 form/W-3SS now requires that you identify the “kind of employer” in Box C. The correct answer to this question is: Tax Exempt Employer (Non-Govt) 501-C.
The W-2 form contains a new entry field in Box 14 for railroad employees paying Railroad Retirement taxes, allowing you to enter Railroad Retirement (RRT) Tier 1, Tier 2 and RRT Medicare. You should enter and use all three fields if you are a CT-1 employer. Box 14 does not apply to employees covered by Social Security.
UTU local officers who have questions may contact Noyes at (216) 308-2890, or by email at sanoyes@swbell.net
WASHINGTON – Warnings of speed violations have been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, which urges unions, their members, carriers and the Federal Railroad Administration to work collaboratively to ensure compliance of train and engine crews with speed restrictions.
The NTSB action followed its investigation of five rear-end collisions where the NTSB concluded that crewmembers “failed to operate their trains at the required restricted speed.” Two of the rear-end collisions resulted in fatalities.
Said the NTSB:
“Signal systems provide for the safe separation between trains. However, there are times when trains are authorized to occupy the same sections of track. In these cases, safe train operations rely solely on crewmember compliance with the railroad’s restricted speed requirements.
“Typically, these requirements include being prepared to stop within one-half the range of vision. Complete understanding of, and strict compliance with, restricted speed requirements are absolutely mandatory to prevent catastrophic train collisions.”
Specifically, the NTSB urged the UTU and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen to educate their respective rail membership so that all involved recognize “the importance of operating their trains in accordance with restricted speed operating rules.”
Additionally, the NTSB urged the UTU and the BLET to work collaboratively with railroads “to identify the potential for similar occurrences and to take appropriate mitigating actions.”
The NTSB also urged railroads to “emphasize adequate training and ensure the compliance of train crews operating at restricted speeds.”
The NTSB does not have regulatory authority – only investigative authority. Thus, the NTSB makes recommendations to carriers, labor organizations and the Federal Railroad Administration – the latter having regulatory authority over rail safety.
The five accidents referred to by the NTSB were:
* Red Oak, Iowa, April 17, 2011, on BNSF
* Low Moor, Va., May 21, 2011, on CSX
* Mineral Springs, N.C., May 24, 2011, on CSX
* DeWitt, N.Y., July 6, 2011, on CSX
* DeKalb, Ind., Aug. 19, 2011, on Norfolk Southern
UTU National Legislative Director James Stem, in commending the NTSB for its “diligence in helping to save lives,” said, “Compliance with restrictive speed is a common sense application of safety concepts when following another train. This is another example of operating rules that offer good advice.”
JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Great Lakes Airlines crews represented by the UTU will soon be flying in and out of Jamestown.
In 2008, California voters authorized a $9.95 billion bond measure as a down-payment for a high-speed rail project linking the Sacramento (in northern California), the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles.
The UTUIA is now accepting scholarship applications for the UTU/UTUIA Scholarship Program. Information regarding the scholarship and the application process is below.
MADISON, Wis. – Twice the number of signatures needed to force a recall election of anti-union Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were delivered to state election officials Jan. 17.
UTU local treasurers must file Internal Revenue Service forms W-2 and W-3 forms for all employees receiving wages in 2011.
WASHINGTON – Warnings of speed violations have been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, which urges unions, their members, carriers and the Federal Railroad Administration to work collaboratively to ensure compliance of train and engine crews with speed restrictions.