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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.

For additional information, click here.

Wisconsin Rally; Wisconsin; Rally; protestMADISON, 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:

https://www.smart-union.org/collective-bargaining-defense-fund/

UTU LogoUTU 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.”

By Calvin Studivant
Alternate Vice President, Bus Department

As we follow the demonstrations of the 99 percent against the greed and wealth of America’s
top one percent, I am reminded of a 1967 speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in which Dr. King advocated a transformation “from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.”

Each day jobs are exported from our shores, layoffs are announced, health care insurance is cancelled or scaled back, and pension plans are eliminated, I feel the pain of the millions of fellow Americans who are fit, willing and able to work, yet unable to find jobs — or, if they do, cannot earn enough to support a family, much less afford adequate medical care. They, and we, are rightfully angry when corporate profits become the most important objective.

Unemployment numbers hardly reflect the full pain in America, because unemployment numbers do not reflect the millions more who, after years of searching for a job, simply gave up looking, or the millions more in part-time employment without benefits because they are unable to find full-time jobs.

How much more painful it is to realize that employers, emboldened by the worker pain of our times, are using economic hardship to frighten those with jobs against voting “union, yes” in the workplace.

In Congress, we see lawmakers more interested in protecting tax breaks for the very wealthy than passing stimulus measures to put Americans back to work; and proposing legislation making it more difficult to join labor unions.

It is unconscionable that Congress eliminated funding for high-speed rail construction that could relieve the intolerable congestion at airports and on highways and create thousands of new jobs.

It is equally unconscionable that Congress resists requests for more flexible transit funding to allow a shift in budgets from buying new equipment to using some of those funds to retain and expand existing service that would end transit system layoffs.

As we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy this month, let us realize that he advocated not only racial harmony, but economic opportunity and trade unionism.

In response to anti-union politicians and employers, Dr. King preached: “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. We demand this fraud be stopped.”

As we approach Election Day this November, let us unite in support of labor-friendly candidates. Let us support our UTU Collective Bargaining Defense Fund and our UTU PAC. Let us do this in the non-violent but aggressive spirit of Dr. King.

The strength of working families today is at the ballot box. There is so much at stake, for ourselves, for our families and for the millions of Americans seeking a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. United in solidarity we can make a difference with our votes. There is  no better, more productive and more effective way to honor Dr. King’s legacy.

AMARILLO, Texas – A BNSF maintenance-of-way employee was killed here Jan. 9 after being struck by a rail car, according to media reports.
One report said the accident occurred as a rail grinder was being moved in a BNSF yard.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating the accident.

James F. Carrico Sr., 61, former Indiana State Legislative Director of the United Transportation Union, died Jan. 4.
A member of Local 333 at North Vernon, Ind., Carrico entered rail service as a conductor with CSX in 1974 following discharge from the U.S. Army. He was a graduate of Indiana State University.
He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Ann, son, James Carrico Jr., daughter, Alicia, and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and infant twin sisters.
Graveside services will be at 11:30 a.m., Jan. 9, at St. John Cemetery in Washington, Ind.
 

VALPARAISO, Ind. – Members of the UTU Transportation Safety Team have joined investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration here following a collision and derailment involving three CSX trains Jan. 6.

Valparaiso is some 60 miles southeast of Chicago.

Two unidentified crew members were transported to a local hospital with what were described as “non-life-threatening injuries. There were no other reported injuries. The accident site is surrounded by open fields. There was a short-term precautionary evacuation of nearby buildings.

A fire that erupted at the crash site was said to have been caused by leaking diesel fuel.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that “two westbound trains collided when the first train stopped and the second struck it from the rear. A train headed in an unknown direction on a parallel track subsequently rolled through the debris from the first crash. The first train had 77 cars and two engines; the second contained 60 cars and two engines; and the third train had 48 cars and three engines.”

Although one of the trains was said to contain empty ethanol tank cars, there was no report of a hazmat leak.

Marie C. (Armagno) Weisbarth, mother of UTU International Director of Membership Services Jeff Weisbarth, has died. She was 83. Memorial contributions may be made to the Kidney Foundation of Ohio, 2831 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115.

Improvements to existing passenger train emergency systems regulations have been proposed by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The improvements are aimed at helping passengers and passenger-train crew members better locate and operate emergency exits during evacuations, and to assist first responders in reaching trapped passengers more quickly.

U.S. passenger railroads, including Amtrak and commuter carriers already have the most advanced passenger safety regulations on the globe. The Congressional Budget Office reported in 2003 that European and Asian nations impose lower crashworthiness standards than are imposed in the United States.

Specifically, the proposed new rules affect vestibule doors, emergency lighting, signage and markings for emergency entrances and exits, and rescue access. The new rules also require photo luminescent materials to highlight emergency exit path markings, and require instructions for emergency systems operations and requirements for debriefing after emergency situations and simulations.

“The proposed new requirements are based on the latest developments in passenger train emergency system technologies and best practices,” said FRA Administrator Joe Szabo.

UTU National Legislative Director James Stem said, “These amendments to the passenger train emergency systems rules are based on improvements in modern technology and the experiences of many years of operations.”

The proposed new rules were recommended by the FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee’s (RSAC) Passenger Safety Working Group and its Emergency Preparedness Task Force, and incorporate three industry standards developed by the American Public Transportation Association.

UTU members participating in making the recommendations included District of Columbia Legislative Director Willie Bates (Local 1933), Long Island Rail Road Vice General Chairperson Michael Denn (GO 505), and retired Amtrak Local Chairperson David Brooks (Local 1470).

To read the Jan. 3 Federal Register Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, click here.