By Vic Baffoni Vice President, Bus Department These are troubling times for our nation, states and municipalities. Budget problems are forcing cutbacks in a wide variety of public services, and public transit often is targeted for cuts. At the extreme is the union busting g [...]
Imagine baseball without rules against bean balls, football without helmets or rules against clipping, roadways without stop signs, and cars without seat belts. Rules have a purpose. On railroads the rules — developed over more than a century-and-a-half — are to s [...]
WASHINGTON — Federally mandated improvements to locomotive cab security and comfort, along with enforceable remote control operation (RCO) regulations, are being sought by the UTU and the BLET in joint comments filed with the Federal Railroad Administration. Significant [...]
WILMINGTON, Del. — Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo and former BNSF top attorney Jeff Moreland, now an Amtrak board member, were enroute here from Washington Saturday morning for dedication of the new station renamed for Vice President Joe Bide [...]
WASHINGTON — Speaking to labor’s rank-and-file via an AFL-CIO electronic town hall meeting last week, Vice President Joe Biden warned of “barbarians at the gate” of working families as attacks on collective bargaining and union membership move forward [...]
MADISON, Wis. — It may be only a temporary restraining order, but the decision of a Wisconsin judge last week to block the state legislature from revoking the collective bargaining rights of public employees reflects the controversial nature of the action and keeps it b [...]
WASHINGTON — Two commuter railroads — Los Angeles Metrolink and Chicago Metra – get it. They recognize that commuters aren’t hogs and logs on freight trains, and passenger and crew safety is paramount. Unfortunately, 24 other commuter railroads don’t g [...]
BOSTON — UTU-represented conductors and assistant conductors on Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) have ratified a four-year agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions. The agreement is retroactive to July 2009, and may be reopened for amendment i [...]
Containerized auto-parts shipments from Japan to the U.S. are expected to be cut significantly in the weeks and even months ahead, which could have a direct short-term impact on rail shipments and employment. Flooding, shortages of electricity and damage to roads and bridges [...]
LANSING, Mich. — In another blow to public employee collective-bargaining rights, the Michigan House and Senate have passed legislation allowing non-elected emergency financial managers in financially struggling cities and school districts to terminate union contracts f [...]
SMART Union