Category: News

Four stabbed, including conductor, on Amtrak train

December 5, 2014 Four people were stabbed, including a conductor, on an Amtrak train tonight (Dec. 5) and a suspect was taken into custody, police said. The stabbing occurred about 7 p.m. in Niles, Mich. Read the complete story at ABC News.

Tags Amtrak, assault, conductor

SMART's CN/IC members ratify retroactive agreement

December 5, 2014 SMART Transportation Division-represented conductors and trainmen employed by the Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad have ratified a new six-year agreement, Vice President Dave Wier reports. The agreement provides for six annual wage increases retroactive to Aug. 1, [...]

Tags Butch St. John, Canadian National, Dave Wier, Illinois Central, Jerry “J.J.” Russum, R.W. "Red" Dare, Tracy Bublitz

RRB releases statement on 2015 tax rates

December 5, 2014 The amounts of compensation subject to railroad retirement Tier I and Tier II payroll taxes will increase in 2015, with the Tier I tax rates remaining the same while Tier II tax rates will increase for both railroad employers and employees. Also, railroad unemployment insuran [...]

Tags Railroad Retirement Board, RRB, taxes

Walker Aims At Building Trades, Private Sector Unions

December 5, 2014 A Wisconsin State Representative has announced that he will introduce a Right-to-Work for less bill in the upcoming legislative session. The move comes just days after a former Americans for Prosperity associate, Lorri Pickens, announced a new tea party group called “Wiscons [...]

Large settlement upheld in case against UP

December 5, 2014 An administrative review board decision to award North Platte resident Brian Petersen more than $300,000 in damages from Union Pacific Railroad was upheld on Nov. 20. The case dates back to August 2009 when Petersen, an apprentice machinist, was checking his work schedule in [...]

Tags Union Pacific

Despite price drop, crude by rail remains big issue

December 5, 2014 The drop in the price of oil since OPEC failed in its meeting last week to agree on production cuts has sparked speculation about whether production in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region will decline as some marginal drilling operations become financially less viable. Some ma [...]

Tags crude oil

BLS reports steady decline in workplace injuries

December 4, 2014 WASHINGTON – Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, Dec. 4 issued the following statement on the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: “Today we learned that, in 2013, a [...]

Tags Bureau of Labor Statistics, workplace injuries

How two billionaires are destroying high speed rail

December 4, 2014 Eighteen years have passed since the establishment of the California High Speed Rail (CHSR) Authority. Over the course of those eighteen years, high speed rail in the state has been discussed and planned and delayed and delayed more. There have been proposals, referendums, de [...]

Tags California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, high-speed rail

Opinion: Metra engineers, conductors do a great job

December 3, 2014 The following letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times by Martin Oberman, chairman of the Metra Board of Directors, was published by the newspaper Nov. 23. It was in response to an article previously published by the newspaper that implied that Metra conductors and engin [...]

Tags Metra

NJT to train crews: Next stop, charm school

December 3, 2014 Some NJ Transit rail employees who deal with commuters will find themselves back in the classroom next year for a customer relations refresher. The program was prompted by issues brought up by commuters on social media and shared with NJ Transit. The two day training classes [...]

Tags New Jersey Transit, NJT