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FMCSAWASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) July 3 announced almost $1 million in new grants to help train veterans and military families for jobs in the transportation industry. The grants were awarded to six colleges across the country as part of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training (CMVOST) grant program.

“The least we can do for the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country is to help ensure they can find good jobs when they leave the service,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. “The transportation industry provides a unique opportunity for military families and veterans to utilize skills they developed in the service, and we hope these grants will lead to more veterans joining the ranks of our country’s commercial vehicle drivers.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists commercial trucking as a high-demand job, with more than 300,000 additional positions expected by 2020.

“These grants represent one of the many steps the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken to help veterans as they move from military to civilian life,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “From allowing states to consider military experience in their licensing tests to supporting industry job fairs, we are committed to helping our veterans transition into quality jobs.”

FMCSA awarded the following CMVOST grants, which could provide training for as many as 300 new students across the six colleges:

  • Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Wash., $131,041
  • Long Beach Community College District, in Long Beach, Calif., $211,733
  • Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in Orangeburg, S.C., $150,000
  • Lone Star College in Woodlands, Texas, $184,260
  • Century College in White Bear Lake, Minn., $120,000
  • Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Ill., $176,427

In May 2011, the FMCSA finalized its commercial learner’s permit rule, which gives state driver licensing agencies the authority to waive the skills test portion of the commercial driver’s license test if the applicant demonstrates two years of safe driving experience in military equivalents of commercial motor vehicles. Visit http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration-licensing/cdl/Military-CDL-Waiver.aspx for more information.

To learn more about FMCSA’s commercial truck and bus safety grant programs and other safety initiatives, visit the FMCSA website at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.

To learn more about the U.S. Department of Transportation’s dedication to our nation’s veterans, visit http://www.dot.gov/veteranstransportationcareers.

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec – Quebec police are pursuing a painstaking, wide-ranging criminal investigation of the inferno ignited by the derailment of a runaway oil train that killed at least 15 people and left dozens missing in the burned-out ruins of a downtown district.

Quebec police inspector Michel Forget ruled out terrorism as a cause, but said July 9 that an array of other possibilities remain under investigation, including criminal negligence. Other officials have raised the possibility that the train was tampered with before the crash early Saturday, July 6.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

 

Amtrak LogoSen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D., Pa.) made a whistle-stop plea July 8 for Congress to block efforts to cut Amtrak funding 31 percent.

Casey said $350 million in cuts proposed by House Republicans would cost Amtrak workers their jobs and Amtrak passengers their rides.

Read the complete story at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

 

“You’re going to be a high school senior this fall. Any thoughts on a career? College?”

“Well, Dad, I think I might like to work for a railroad. It’s a pretty important business, and I hear that the pay and benefits are really good. And I’ve always been interested in trains.”

Read the complete story at Railway Age.

Aviation_CockpitWASHINGTON – The crash landing of a South Korean airliner in San Francisco has revived concerns that airline pilots get so little opportunity these days to fly without the aid of sophisticated automation that their stick-and-rudder skills are eroding.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, is a long way from reaching a conclusion as to its probable cause. While the focus of their investigation could still shift, information released by the board thus far appears to point to pilot error.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

 

At the conclusion of the SMART Transportation Division’s Boston regional meeting July 3, Transportation Division President Mike Futhey announced he will step down from office, pending resolution of arbitration proceedings regarding the union’s constitution.
In October 2011, Georgetown University law professor Michael H. Gottesman ruled the agreement to create the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Workers by a merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association was an enforceable agreement and the two unions have been working to complete the merger since that time.
The arbitration proceedings center around interpretations of various articles of the UTU’s Constitution as it is inserted into the SMWIA’s bylaws to complete a final SMART Constitution.
Gottesman is again serving as the arbitrator in the current proceedings.
During a town hall forum at the Boston regional meetings opening ceremonies July 1, Futhey said agreement had been reached with most of the SMART constitution articles, but that several disputes remain. He indicated he would remain in office through the arbitration process, developing the constitution language for the transportation division.
He said the union does not want to release portions of the constitution that have been agreed upon until a final document has been decided upon.
“The final document is not a final document until that arbitration decision is made,” Futhey said.
Under the articles of the current UTU Constitution, Assistant President and General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich would be elevated to fulfill Futhey’s unexpired term as president of the SMART Transportation Division.
Futhey is the eighth president of the UTU, currently known as the SMART Transportation Division. He was elected president in August 2007 and assumed office Jan. 1, 2008. He was re-elected president in August 2011.

A train disaster that killed five people in Quebec promises to touch off debate over the safety of shipping crude oil by rail or pipelines such as TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL.

As authorities began investigating the explosion of refinery-bound tank cars hauled by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., Quebec’s Green Party demanded stricter regulations and an energy industry association predicted tough scrutiny ahead for rail carriers.

Read the complete article at Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Mike Futhey
Mike Futhey

At the conclusion of the SMART Transportation Division’s Boston regional meeting July 3, Transportation Division President Mike Futhey announced he will step down from office, pending resolution of arbitration proceedings regarding the union’s constitution.

In October 2011, Georgetown University law professor Michael H. Gottesman ruled the agreement to create the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Workers by a merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association was an enforceable agreement and the two unions have been working to complete the merger since that time.

The arbitration proceedings center around interpretations of various articles of the UTU’s Constitution as it is inserted into the SMWIA’s bylaws to complete a final SMART Constitution.

Gottesman is again serving as the arbitrator in the current proceedings.

During a town hall forum at the Boston regional meetings opening ceremonies July 1, Futhey said agreement had been reached with most of the SMART constitution articles, but that several disputes remain. He indicated he would remain in office through the arbitration process, developing the constitution language for the transportation division.

He said the union does not want to release portions of the constitution that have been agreed upon until a final document has been decided upon.

“The final document is not a final document until that arbitration decision is made,” Futhey said.

Under the articles of the current UTU Constitution, Assistant President and General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich would be elevated to fulfill Futhey’s unexpired term as president of the SMART Transportation Division.

Futhey is the eighth president of the UTU, currently known as the SMART Transportation Division. He was elected president in August 2007 and assumed office Jan. 1, 2008. He was re-elected president in August 2011.

QUEBEC – The official death toll has grown to three Lac-Mégantic, Que., one day after a derailed train carrying crude oil exploded in the town’s core, levelling buildings and forcing as many as 2,000 people from their homes.

Quebec provincial police said two more bodies were discovered overnight in the hardest hit area in the centre of town.

Read the complete story at CBC News.

futhey_nigro_boston
SMART Transportation Division President Mike Futhey, left, and SMART General President Joe Nigro prepare to receive questions at the regional meeting’s town hall forum.

The SMART Transportation Division opened its Boston regional meeting July 1 with a town hall forum at which SMART members were able to pose questions directly to the union’s leadership.
More than 800 members, guests and presenters are attending the regional meeting.
After opening ceremonies and remarks from SMART General President Joe Nigro and Transportation Division President Mike Futhey, the presidents were joined by SMART General Secretary-Treasurer Joe Sellers and Transportation Division Assistant President and General Secretary & Treasurer John Previsich to respond to questions concerning the merger of the United Transportation Union and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and other issues.
The session was moderated by Transportation Division International Vice President John Lesniewski.
On Tuesday, July 2, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman addressed meeting attendees during lunch, stressing the nation’s need to fund public transportation, address rail security needs and tend to its transportation infrastructure.
“We have a (competitive) edge in this country because of a great transportation industry,” Said Lynch. “There is an ongoing need to focus on that competitive advantage so we don’t lose it.”  Lynch said he recently sponsored a rail summit and traveled to Mumbai to study the weaknesses in their rail security system following terrorist attacks there. He also discussed rail security issues with representatives from the United Kingdom and Russia.  “The next threat, I think, will be to our local rail systems and infrastructure,” he said. “There is a growing sense of awareness that this is an area both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. We have grown complacent when it comes to our rail security.”
futhey_lynch
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts receives a UTU clock from SMART Transportation President Division Mike Futhey following an address to regional meeting attendees and guests.

Boardman also addressed Amtrak’s rail security issues, noting that Amtrak has 500 police officers, 50 bomb-sniffing dogs and is a leader in explosive-detection technology.
He told the transportation employees and guests that the railroad of the future is coming, but that additional resources are needed.
He said that long-distance trains do not make money and have never made money, but that they provide a means of travel for many individuals who do not have access to other modes of transportation.
Referring to government funding of Amtrak, Boardman stressed that “it is not a subsidy, it is a cost for providing mobility. We are destroying long-distance trains by de-capitalizing them. We need to change that.”