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By James Stem, UTU National Legislative Director

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) was not all that rail labor wanted in a safety bill, but it was a good start, and contains much of what we have long sought. Work still needs to be done, including an end to limbo time, advance notice of start times, and an end to arbitrary discipline tied to unreasonable availability policies.

We said after passage of the bill that we would work with our friends in Congress to refine and improve the bill.

The process has begun.

In his final days in Congress, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) introduced H.R. 6519, the Railroad Hours of Service Act.

Rail labor and Mr. Oberstar, one of the best friends rail labor has ever had in Congress, knew there was not time in the lame-duck session of Congress for the bill — which includes improvements to hours-of-service provisions of the RSIA — to pass.

Thus, H.R. 6519 was intended as a place-setter — a bill whose provisions already are winning support among UTU lawmaker friends and which will be re-introduced by other friends of the UTU in the new Congress in 2011.

The UTU, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen will be working closely on a new bill with our congressional friends of labor come January and the start of the new Congress.

Provisions of the bill include:

  • An affirmative statement that railroad workers subject to hours-of-service “shall be provided predictable and defined work and rest periods.”
  • A required 10 hours of undisturbed rest be taken immediately prior to going on duty rather than immediately after going off duty. This provision is intended to end the common practice of so-called “paper deadheads” and “dropped turns” with a 10-hour call.
  • All yardmaster — as well as co-mingled service as yardmasters and dispatchers — are to be subject to hours-of-service regulations.
  • Deadheads in excess of a time period shall count will count as job starts.
  • All interim release periods are to require prior notification before going off duty.
  • Limbo time will be restricted to two hours per each tour of duty.

Although some provisions we also want were not included in H.R. 6519, we will be working to have them included in the new bill this next session of Congress.

They include:

  • A provision to cover regular yard assignments with defined start times under provisions that now apply to passenger and commuter rail assignments.
  • A provision that no amount of time at an away-from-home terminal will reset the calendar day clock.
  • A provision requiring that hot, nutritious food be available 24 hours per day at the sleeping quarters.

The UTU also will support additional provisions specific to railroad signalmen as sought by their organization.

The new Congress will include 100 new members, and many were elected with the support of rail labor organizations. We have already begun discussions with those new members and are continuing discussions with our other friends in Congress toward early introduction of the Oberstar place-setter, with the additional provisions included.

We know many UTU-represented bus drivers who would cherish for their systems the same zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct that is in effect in Milwaukee.

A bus passenger there was escorted off the bus and fined $500 for using obscenities in front of other passengers.

Although the passenger, who was collared by an undercover police officer, told WISN television news that he considered it “un-American” to be slapped with the disorderly conduct fine, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department said there is a zero-tolerance approach to disorderly conduct on county buses.

Some $1.1 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis are about to flow to the State of Illinois after the Illinois DOT, Amtrak and Union Pacific reached an agreement on how to accommodate freight and passenger trains on the affected track, reports the Springfield State Journal-Register.

The Illinois DOT predicts that when the high-speed rail line is completed in 2014, the passenger train trip between Chicago and St. Louis will be 4 hours, 10 minutes — about a 30 percent reduction in the current passenger-train time and faster than an automobile traveling non-stop at the legal speed limit. Passenger-train speeds are projected to be 110 mph.

Two tentative four-year agreements have been reached between the UTU and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC).

One of the tentative four-year agreements covers FEC conductors, engineers, trainmen and yardmen represented by the UTU.

The second tentative four-year pact covers FEC yardmasters represented by the UTU.

The tentative agreements, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, and extending through Dec. 31, 2012, cover wages, benefits and working conditions. The tentative agreements must be ratified by the crafts, and include retroactive pay.

Town hall meetings, to explain the tentative agreements prior to a ratification vote, will be conducted across the property during January.

UTU negotiators included General Chairperson John Hancock and Vice General Chairperson John Whitaker (both, GO 851), Local 903 Chairperson Jim Bush, and Local 1138 Chairperson Jim McCorkle. The UTU negotiating team was assisted by UTU International Vice President Robert Kerley.

FEC is a Class II railroad, operating more than 350 miles of mainline track along Florida’s east coast. In November, FEC completed 2,000 consecutive days of on-time service to UPS — a record for any transportation company serving the logistics giant. During that almost 5 1/2 year period, FEC delivered 125,000 on-time intermodal loads for UPS, consisting of more than 200 million packages.

WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration nominations of Republicans to key transportation regulatory positions — one to the National Mediation Board; the other to the Surface Transportation Board — were returned to the White House by the Senate this week without confirmation action and will have to be resubmitted to the Senate in the new Congress.

Republican Thomas M. Beck had been nominated by the president to the three-member NMB, for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2013; and Republican Ann D. Begeman had been nominated to the three-member Surface Transportation Board for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2015. Both agencies have Democratic majorities.

Under rules of the Senate, nominations not confirmed during the session during which they are made must be returned to the White House. The president may nominate them again in 2011, or choose new nominees. There is no indication Beck or Begeman will not be renominated or that the Senate would not confirm they if renominated.

Owing to a busy Senate calendar and the late timing of both nominations, neither was afforded a hearing before a Senate committee — Beck before the Health, Education & Labor Committee; Begeman before the Commerce Committee — an interim step prior to a Senate floor vote on confirmation.

Beck was nominated to succeed Republican Elizabeth Dougherty on the NMB. Dougherty’s term expired June 30, but under NMB rules she may continue serving indefinitely until a successor is confirmed. Since Oct. 2, Beck has been serving as a Senate-confirmed member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). The FLRA administers labor-management relations for non-Postal Service federal employees.

Previously, Beck was a partner in the law firm of Jones Day, practicing labor and employment law. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. Beck also is a part-time professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he teaches courses on legislation and public policy.

The other two members of the NMB are Democrats — Chairman Harry Hoglander, who is serving his third term, and Linda Puchala, who was confirmed to her first term in May 2009

Begeman was nominated to succeed Republican Chip Nottingham on the STB. Nottingham’s term expires Dec. 31, but under STB rules he may continue serving until a successor is confirmed, but no later than Dec. 31, 2011. Begeman is a long-time aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and most recently has been an aide to the Senate Commerce Committee.

The other two members of the STB are Democrats — Chairman Dan Elliott, who is serving his first term; and Frank Mulvey, who is serving his second term.

The 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 agency also regulates railroad freight rates.

Come May 1, Social Security and Railroad Retirement checks for new recipients no longer will be mailed.

The Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board are going paperless — sending payment electronically (direct deposit) to those receiving retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

Those already receiving Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits will have until March 1, 2013 to establish direct deposit at a financial institution, or arrange for the benefits to be credited to a debit card. An exception will be made for those at least 90 years old and those living in remote areas.

The agencies say that eight of 10 benefits recipients already receive them electronically.

Electronic payment eliminates the problem of lost or stolen checks, and makes it easier and more prompt for those away from home to ensure payments are available for use.

Beneficiaries who do not have bank or credit union accounts may obtain a Direct Express debit MasterCard.

For more information and assistance, go to www.GoDirect.org, or call, toll free, (800) 333-1795.

The 2 percentage point reduction in payroll taxes for railroad workers covered by Railroad Retirement, and bus and aviation workers covered by Social Security, will NOT have a negative impact on either the Railroad Retirement or Social Security trust funds, as has been wrongly alleged by some.

Beginning Jan. 1, all workers will see an increase in their paychecks as a result of Railroad Retirement and Social Security payroll taxes being cut from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. The purpose of the tax cut is to stimulate the economy through consumer spending that will snowball into increased demand for products and new hiring by employers.

For workers earning $50,000 annually, the additional take-home pay from the reduced payroll taxes will be some $1,000 in 2011. For those earning the maximum Social Security and Tier I Railroad Retirement taxable income, the additional take-home pay will top $2,000 in 2011.

The payroll tax deduction will NOT have a negative impact on the Railroad Retirement or Social Security trust funds because the legislation provides that the shortfall in the trust funds — as a result of the payroll tax cut —  will be made up by a contribution to those funds from the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund.

The legislation is absolutely clear on this point. In Section 601(e) of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010,
it is stated:

“There are hereby appropriated to [the Social Security Trust Fund] amounts equal to the reduction in revenues to the Treasury by reason of the application of [the payroll tax cut].”

This was confirmed by the Railroad Retirement Board, which advises that the payroll tax-cut legislation “provides for the transfer of money from the general fund to the Social Security Equivalent Benefit Account, one of the trust funds from which the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) pays benefits, in an amount equal to the revenue lost due to the reduced payroll tax rate.”

Separately, the Social Security systems chief actuary, in a Dec. 10 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said, “The law specifies that Social Security will receive every dollar it would have gotten even without the payroll tax cut.”

And AARP Executive Vice President John Rother said in a press release that the payroll tax cut “has no financial impact on Social Security because the trust fund is made whole.”

Said President Obama in signing the legislation: “Social Security is a sacred compact that in return for a lifetime of hard work, America’s seniors will have a chance to retire with dignity. We have an obligation to keep that promise and safeguard and strengthen Social Security for seniors, people with disabilities and all Americans, both now and in the future.”

WASHINGTON — A former John McCain operative has been nominated by President Obama to fill a Republican seat on the Surface Transportation Board.

The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

It is not clear whether there is sufficient time for the lame-duck Congress to act on the nomination. If not, the nomination is likely to be remade after the new Congress convenes in January.

The nominee is Ann D. Begeman, currently Republican staff director for the Senate  Commerce Committee, whose ranking Republican is Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

Begeman previously was McCain’s legislative director (2004-2009), and served as a McCain spokesperson during McCain’s unsuccessful run for the White House against Obama.

Earlier, she was a Senate Commerce Committee staffer and also 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.

If confirmed, she would succeed Republican Chip Nottingham, whose STB term expires Dec. 31. Under provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, Nottingham may continue serving until a successor is confirmed, or not later than Dec. 31, 2011. Nottingham’s successor would serve through Dec. 31, 2015.

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 agency also regulates railroad freight rates.

The other two STB members are Chairman Dan Elliott and Frank Mulvey — both Democrats.

DESOTO PARISH, La. — Two KCS workers, including UTU member Timothy Council, were wounded when a gunshot came through their locomotive window here Dec. 20, according to the Shreveport Times.

The engineer, Paul Griffin, 44, was inside the cab of his locomotive when a bullet struck him in the face. The bullet then struck the hand of conductor Council, a member of Local 781 in Shreveport, La.

Police told KSLA television news that the shot was fired by a man who had just purchased a gun and was checking his aim when the gun fired.

Griffin, said KSLA, was some 400 yards away when hit. Police said the shooter would be charged with illegal use of a firearm.

The Times reported Griffin’s wound as “non-life threatening,” and that he was in stable condition at a local hospital.

Council was treated and released.

Rails know them as Pandrol clips — the bent three-quarter-inch steel clips that fasten rail to concrete ties along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and some other locations.

In North Kingstown, R.I., reports the Providence Journal, some of the clips — each weighing about two pounds — have been breaking off, as Amtrak’s Acela passes over the tracks at 100 mph, and flying through the air.

One clip recently flew through the kitchen window of a North Kingstown home, and another hit the side of a home, and bounced back to the street, reports the Providence Journal. Another flying clip broke a picket fence. And at a North Kingstown factory, employees say the clips “boom off the building” on occasion. No injuries have been reported.

Amtrak told the Providence Journal that such incidents are rare, but acknowledged they been occurring since 2008. The problem also has been reported at Chicago’s Union Station.

Amtrak also told the Providence Journal it is removing loose clips and installing heavier clips in some locations.

Pandrol Track Systems, the manufacturer of the clips, told the Providence Journal that millions of its clips are used by railroads worldwide. Pandrol says the problem is not one of design or installation.