Category: Alumni Association
John Risch: FRA, Trump administration halt all crew safety efforts
Dear SMART TD, Today the Trump administration did everything it could to stop all railroad crew safety issues. In a Federal Register posting published at 4 p.m. today, the FRA formally withdrew the pending proposed rulemaking dating from 2016 that would have set a mandatory c [...]
2019 Regional Meeting: Night at Padres’ Petco Park offers food and fun
SMART Transportation Division has a grand slam of a time planned at San Diego’s Petco Park for registered attendees of the 2019 Regional Meeting on the evening of Tuesday, July 2. Food, fun and baseball will be the name of the game as registered meeting attendees watch the Pa [...]
Tour schedule set for San Diego Regional Meeting
A pair of tours has been finalized on June 30 and July 1 for attendees of the 2019 SMART Transportation Division Regional Meeting in San Diego. Day 1 (June 30): High Spirits Hornblower yacht luncheon/tour: Attendees will be picked up at the hotel dock at 9:45 a.m. to enjoy si [...]
Annual workers’ summit scheduled in Nebraska
A workers summit for union members from all over Nebraska is scheduled to take place on Monday, May 6 in North Platte, Nebraska. Jim “Doc” Moore, a retired associate professor of labor history at Cornell University’s School for Industrial and Labor Relations, will moderate th [...]
RRB Q&A: Medicare for Railroad Retirement annuitants
The federal Medicare program provides hospital and medical insurance protection for Railroad Retirement annuitants and their families, just as it does for Social Security beneficiaries. Medicare has the following parts: Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) helps pay for inpat [...]
Social Security combined trust funds gain one year says SSA board of trustees
Disability Fund Shows Strong Improvement—Twenty Years The Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security trust funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insur [...]
Former GC Russell “Dale” Hogan Jr. passes away
Russell “Dale” Hogan, a former general chairperson and retiree of Local 933 (Jefferson City, Mo.), died April 20, 2019, after a battle with cancer. He was 76. He joined the United Transportation Union (UTU) after hiring on as a fireman for Missouri Pacific in Janu [...]RRB compares benefits under Railroad Retirement and Social Security
Employers and employees covered by the Railroad Retirement Act pay higher retirement taxes than those covered by the Social Security Act, so that Railroad Retirement benefits remain higher than Social Security benefits, especially for “career” employees who have 30 or more ye [...]