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CSX profit jumped 30 percent during the first quarter 2011 versus the first quarter 2010, the railroad reported April 19. This comes on the heels of a 35 percent improvement in operating profit for calendar year 2010.

The CSX employee headcount rose in March to 30,464 employees, up 3 percent from March 2010, the railroad said.

More positive financial news is expected from other major railroads as they report first quarter results in the days ahead. Union Pacific will report its first quarter results April 20.

The CSX operating ratio for the first quarter 2011 — one of the more difficult for railroads because of winter weather — was a record low 72.5 for any first quarter. The fourth quarter 2010 CSX operating ratio was 71.1, and the railroad predicted its operating ratio could fall to a record-low 65 this year.

Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the higher is profit.

“Shipments across all major markets — merchandise, intermodal and coal — increased as the economy continued to grow,” the railroad told financial analysts.

CSX operates some 21,000 route miles in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma legislature, following in the footsteps of Ohio and Wisconsin, has repealed a 2004 state law granting collective bargaining rights to non-uniformed public employees in cities with populations greater than 35,000.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is expected to sign the bill into law.

Cities may still choose, on their own, to bargain collectively with their non-uniformed employees.

Separately, the Oklahoma Senate has approved legislation prohibiting cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to retired state employees so long as the pension fund is not fully funded. The state pension fund currently has an unfunded liability exceeding $16 billion. The bill now heads to the Oklahoma House of Representatives for consideration.

By Calvin Studivant
Alternate vice president — Bus Department

A tragic bus accident in New York City in March, which killed 15 passengers, has put an unfriendly spotlight on low-fare tour bus drivers.

The driver of the ill-fated low-fare tour bus reportedly had previously been charged with driving on a suspended license, and it will be up to investigators to determine the facts of this accident.

What we do know is that many low-fare tour bus companies that are non-union force their drivers to work under horrendous conditions at low pay — and often with little sleep.

It is common for non-union drivers employed by low-fare tour bus firms to sleep in their coaches between driving assignments. Many of these bus companies have been cited for safety violations

The New York Times reports that low-fare tour buses transport millions of passengers annually and regulators rely on handwritten logbooks to determine if drivers are working with insufficient rest.

An official of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety called the logs “comic books” and alleged they are often falsified or not filled in at all.

In fact, reported The New York Times, the owner of the low-fare tour bus involved in the New York City accident had been cited previously by regulators for “several logbook violations.”

As proud union members, we must continue to organize the unorganized because the entire transit industry takes a hit when something goes terribly wrong.

As union drivers, we cannot be forced to violate federal hours-of-service regulations. And we can refuse to operate a bus that is unsafe without fear of losing our jobs.

It our duty as union brothers and sisters to educate fellow drivers who may think it okay when pressured to work multiple shifts without proper rest, or to operate an unsafe vehicle.

Above all, we must inform non-union drivers that the UTU negotiates good contracts with competitive wages, health care and working conditions, allowing drivers to operate within the law.

If we don’t, their faults become our faults, as we are all viewed the same by the public. We cannot afford to be looked upon that way.

The UTU has set the standards for the transit industry. We will continue to raise the bar because we represent the finest transit and school bus operators in America.

RED OAK, Iowa — A BNSF conductor and an engineer were killed in a rear-end train accident near here Sunday morning, April 17.

Red Oak is southeast of Council Bluffs and is part of BNSF’s Creston subdivision, which has centralized traffic control, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Killed were conductor and UTU Local 199 (Creston, Iowa) Vice Local Chairperson Patricia Hyatt, and engineer Tom Anderson, both age 48. Hyatt, a resident of Creston, hired on with BNSF in March 2005. Anderson was president of BLET Division 642.

A BNSF spokesperson was quoted in news reports that an eastbound freight train pulling 130 loaded coal hoppers collided with the rear of a second BNSF train pulling 34 cars of railroad maintenance equipment. The accident occurred around 7 a.m, Central Daylight Time.

Reports say 10 of the cars in the lead train, two locomotives of the three-locomotive coal train and the two locomotives of the maintenance train derailed.

Witnesses to the accident told the Des Moines Register newspaper that the lead locomotive of the coal train was engulfed in fire, which spread to at least one of the coal cars.

There were no reported injuries of the two-person crew of the maintenance train.

The tracks on which the accident occurred are used by Amtrak’s California Zephyr as well as 40 freight trains daily, according to the BNSF spokesperson. Reportedly, the line linking Galesburg, Ill., and Omaha will be closed indefinitely, with trains rerouted to other track.

The FRA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident, and a member of the UTU Transportation Safety Team is assisting the NTSB in its investigation.

Hyatt is the first UTU member killed in an on-duty accident in 2011.

In March, a conductor trainee was killed — as was an engineer and a crew-van driver — in Kelso, Wash., when the crew van was struck by a BNSF freight train at a private highway-rail grade crossing. UTU conductor Dwight Hauck, a member of UTU Local 324, was seriously injured in that accident.

In February, UTU conductor Alvin (A.J.) Boguess, a member of UTU Local 623, was seriously injured when he fell 55-feet from a CSX rail bridge over the Jackson River during a switching movement in Covington, W.Va.

And earlier this year, a BLET member, Stanley Watts, was killed in a Norfolk Southern switching accident in Kankakee, Ill.

Eight UTU members were killed in on-duty accidents in 2010, and eight were killed in on-duty accidents in 2009.

Hyatt, daughter of Evan Aubrey Shiver and Christine (Elliott) Shiver, was born Feb. 25, 1963, in Fort Ord, Calif. She graduated from Crystal River High School in Crystal River, Fla. She went on to study for two years in college and served six years in the U.S. Army.

Online condolences may be given under the obituary category at www.powersfh.com.

WASHINGTON — A former John McCain aide, Ann Begeman, has been confirmed by the Senate as the one Republican on the three-member U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

Two other presidential nominees — Walt Barrows to become the labor member on the Railroad Retirement Board, succeeding Butch Speakman; and Republican Thomas Beck to the National Mediation Board, succeeding Elizabeth Doutherty — are awaiting hearings before the Senate Labor Committee. If the committee recommends confirmation, the nominations will move to the Senate floor for a vote.

Begeman succeeds Republican Chip Notthingham, who departed the STB following expiration of his term. Begeman’s term expires in December 2015. She joins Democratic Chairman Dan Elliott and Democrat Frank Mulvey.

Most recently, Begeman was Republican staff director for the Senate Commerce Committee, which recommended her nomination. From 2004-2009, Begeman was McCain’s legislative director and served as a McCain spokesperson during McCain’s unsuccessful run for the White House against President Obama. Earlier, she was a legislative aide to Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who made an unsuccessful run in 1980 for the White House.

Begeman earned a degree in business from the University of South Dakota.

The three-person STB has regulatory authority over railroad mergers and labor protection for rail employees adversely affected by mergers, line sales and leases, and line abandonments. The STB also regulates railroad freight rates and freight-railroad dispatching of intercity Amtrak passenger trains.

WASHINGTON — The vote by Congress April 15 on a budget that keeps the federal government operating through Sept. 30 contains harsh spending cuts for Amtrak, transit and high-speed rail.

Especially troubling to UTU members are the Amtrak and transit budget cuts, which could result in worker furloughs, although none have been announced.

More troubling is that additional Amtrak and transit budget cuts are probable when Congress begins working on a fiscal year 2012 budget for the 12 months beginning Oct. 1, 2011.

As for the budget bill keeping the federal government operating through Sept. 1, the cuts include:

  • Amtrak funding for the remainder of this federal fiscal year through Sept. 30 was cut by some $78 million. The fiscal year 2011 Amtrak budget is thus cut from more than $1 billion to $924 million.
  • Federal Transit Administration funding was cut by $400 million, plus an additional $280 million was cut from unobligated fiscal year 2010 funding, all of which will affect transit system capital and operating subsidies and expanded training for transit workers.
  • All funding was cut for the high-speed and intercity passenger rail program for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, and an additional $400 million in unobligated funds from the fiscal year 2010 budget were eliminated. This is an especially harsh blow to President Obama’s vision to spend $53 billion to create high-speed and higher-speed rail corridors and expand conventional passenger rail to where 80 percent of Americans would have access to passenger trains by 2035.

Among the funds lost will be the billions initially intended for high- and higher-speed rail lines in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. As those funds had been rejected by those states and not reallocated yet to other states or Amtrak for improvements on the Northeast Corridor, the funding is now lost as part of the budget cuts.

Also lost in the budget cutting agreement were federal grants of some $50 million to help develop and implement positive train control (PTC) technology, plus some $24 million to assist with rail line relocation and improvement.

Railway Age magazine reports that the withdrawl of the $50 million for PTC asssistance “does not override or end the federal mandate for PTC by 2015, and it is in itself a small portion of the estimated cost of establishing PTC nationwide; much of the estimated $9.55 billion cost is to be sholdered by the railroads themselves.”

The House voted 260-167 and the Senate voted 81-19 to pass the budget cutting bill, President Obama said he will sign the bill into law.

UTU-represented conductors and engineers on Iowa Northern Railway have ratified their first agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions.

Iowa Northern T&E employees chose the UTU as their collective bargaining agent in November 2008.

The agreement was negotiated with the assistance of UTU Alternate Vice President Doyle Turner.

“We will continue to look for railroad and other unorganized transportation workers who want and need union representation,” Turner said. “We are trying hard to bring parity in wages, work rules and benefits to the unorganized.

“Among gains workers obtain with UTU representation include job security, a defined grievance procedure and discipline rules, a work schedule that enhances their quality of life, and a defined set of benefits and work rules,” Turner said. “These are benefits workers cherish and they won’t obtain them without joining a union.”

Iowa Northern, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, operates more than 160 miles of former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific track, running diagonally through the state between Manly and Cedar Rapids, with a branch line between Waterloo and Oelwein.

It connects directly with Union Pacific, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. The railroad, which moves almost 14,000 carloads of grain annually between elevators and production facilities, calls itself “a proud link in the chain from farmer to market.”

The UTU is extremely proud of the fraternal activities performed by our members and is asked to report these activities to the National Fraternal Congress of America.

This data is used by the NFCA to increase public awareness of the benevolent activities of its fraternal organizations. The data also demonstrates to legislatures, insurance companies and public officials the impact of our fraternal efforts.

UTU General Secretary and Treasurer Kim Thompson would like all local secretary/treasurers to report to the International the fraternal activities in which they and their fellow members participate.

To read a letter from Thompson regarding these activities, click here. To view some examples of fraternal activities or community service, click here.

The report can easily be completed online and e-mailed directly to the International with just a few clicks of the mouse. Just click on the blank spaces on the report and enter the data for your local. When the form is complete, just click on “Submit by E-mail” in the top right-hand corner.

To view and complete the activity questionnaire, click here. The questionnaire should be completed and returned no later than March 31, 2009.

The forms and letter above are all in PDF format and the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 6.0 or higher, is required to open these forms. The Adobe Acrobat Reader, if needed, can be downloaded free of charge at www.adobe.com.

By UTU Assistant President Arty Martin

While watching the Major League Baseball Game of the Week Saturday between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, I was reminded of how important history and heritage are.

Prior to the start of the game, a special guest of the Red Sox was honored — 100-year-old Arthur Giddon, who had been a bat boy for the old Boston Braves as a 13 year old, 87 years ago. The Braves, until they left Boston for Milwaukee in 1952, were in the National League, while the Red Sox have remained Boston’s American League team.

Arthur was a bit slower as an honorary bat boy during Red Sox batting practice on Saturday, but no less enthusiastic in handing bats to sluggers Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, Jason Bay, and David Ortiz.

Wearing uniform number 100, with the name “Big Pappy” on the back (not to be confused with Ortiz’ nickname of “Big Poppy”), Giddon and almost 40,000 Boston baseball fans celebrated a game that has long been the American pastime, linking generations and strengthening family ties.

As a Red Sox official observed, “Baseball is a celebration of generations, and a celebration of bringing them together.” The parallels with the UTU, its history and heritage, are significant.

In the UTU, our roots run deep. Our predecessors are the ones we humbly thank today for labor laws protecting our right to organize, the requirement that employers bargain in good faith and the appointment of neutral arbitrators to hear our grievances.

UTU predecessor organizations were formed when the predominant mode of transportation in America was the horse.

In the generations that followed, rail — and later bus and aviation workers — looked to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Firemen, the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, the Switchmen’s Union of North America, the International Association of Railroad Employees, and the Railroad Yardmasters of America (all now part of the UTU) for job security and improved wages, benefits and working conditions.

Our roots run deep, and our heritage was built on personal sacrifice and success. Our future — the future of our members and their families — will prosper, as baseball in Boston has prospered, by celebrating our heritage and never forgetting who brought us to the dance. Indeed, we can learn a lot about life, progress and success from baseball.

President Futhey, General Secretary and Treasurer Thompson and myself encourage all UTU members to take the time to learn of our history and heritage and what it means to you and your families.

This year is the UTU’s 40th anniversary, although the roots of our predecessor unions stretch back more than a century.

We will be celebrating our roots and history at the regional meetings this summer. You owe it to yourselves and your families to be educated and involved. 

I also remind all members to attend the regional meetings in San Francisco and New Orleans, where our heritage, along with many other leadership topics, will be discussed in workshops.

The members of Local 1596, Charlotte, N.C., have ratified a new three-year deal with Transit Management of Charlotte (CATS) by an overwhelming margin.

UTU represents bus mechanics on the property.

Major advances were made in job classifications and job protection, with a guarantee of no employee layoffs for 15 months following the ratification date.

UTU members also received a signing bonus, wage increases with guarantees, increases in tool allowances and company-supplied winter clothing.

Increases in the agency’s portion of contributions to the employee pension plan and agency maintenance of medical benefits were also part of the deal.

I congratulate General Chairperson Alvy Hughes, Vice Local Chairperson Craig Patch, Local Committee of Adjustment Secretary James Hinton Jr. and Secretary and Treasurer Anthony Sandle for their patience and hard work throughout the negotiations.

I assisted these fine local officers with negotiations, but these local officers and other members of the committee did an outstanding job from start to finish. It was a privilege to work with such a hard working and dedicated group of members.

Despite sales tax revenue for the months of November and December being down 25 percent and 15 percent respectively, ridership and fare revenue are up on this property. CATS says year-to-date through the first seven months of fiscal 2009, ridership has increased 25.8 percent and fare revenue rose 53 percent. That’s good for the job security of these hard-working members.