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Action: Email Your Legislators For H.R. 749 the Passenger Rail Reform and Infrastructure Act

March 3, 2015 Please contact your Congressman and urge them to support a clean version of H.R. 749 the Passenger Rail Reform and Infrastructure Act. (PRRIA) This important legislation funds and sustains a key component of our national transportation system. We fully support this legislatio [...]

FRA may require risk reduction programs

March 3, 2015 The Federal Railroad Administration is considering a rule that would require Class I freight railroads and railroads with poor safety performances to develop and implement formal risk reduction programs. A risk reduction program would involve employees working together to ide [...]

Tags Federal Railroad Administration, FRA, risk reduction programs

Norfolk Southern names James Squires CEO

March 3, 2015 Norfolk Southern Corporation March 2 announced that James A. Squires will succeed Charles W. “Wick” Moorman as chief executive officer. The action by the company’s board of directors is part of its planned succession process and will be effective June 1, 2015. Squires will co [...]

Tags Charles W. “Wick” Moorman, James A. Squires, Norfolk Southern

Former Local 1379 Chairperson Michael Ruffner dies

March 2, 2015 Retired former Local Chairperson Michael C. Ruffner, 72, of Local 1379 at Pittsburgh, died just before midnight on Friday, Feb. 27. He was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Ann (Foradori) Ruffner. After graduating from Sts. Cosmas and Damian High School in 1960, Ruffner [...]

Tags Michael C. Ruffner

Tens Of Thousands Turn Out For Anti-RTW March & Rally

March 1, 2015 Tens of thousands of union members and supporters turned out for a massive rally in the Wisconsin state capital of Madison on Saturday February 28th. Among them were hundreds of SMART members and family members who will be effected by the Wisconsin GOP’s attack on orga [...]

Who’s to blame for the exploding oil trains?

February 27, 2015 A week after a CSX train hauling crude oil derailed and exploded 30 miles southeast of Charleston, W. Va., on Feb. 16, its mangled, charred tank cars were still being hauled from the crash site. Of the 27 cars that derailed, 19 had been engulfed in flames. The wreckage burned [...]

Tags crude oil, Federal Railroad Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, tank cars

Oil train wrecks increase pressure for tougher rules

February 27, 2015 Fiery wrecks of trains hauling crude oil have intensified pressure on the Obama administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries. On Feb. 5, the Transportation Departmen [...]

Tags crude oil, tank cars

Pa. SLD seeks support for two-person crew bill

February 26, 2015 Transportation Division Pennsylvania State Legislative Director Paul Pokrowka had a meeting with Pennsylvania House of Representatives Transportation Committee Chairperson John Taylor (R-Dist. 177) Feb. 25 seeking his support of a two-person rail crew law in the state. Taylor [...]

Tags Paul Pokrowka, Pennsylvania, Rep. John Taylor, two-person crews

Utah bill to regulate rail crew vans draws fans, foes

February 24, 2015 SALT LAKE CITY – Legislation to give the Utah Department of Transportation oversight of companies entrusted with transporting railroad crews between jobs barely advanced to a third Senate reading with a 15-12 vote. At issue in SB127 is a loophole in the law that does not requ [...]

Tags rail crew vans, S.B. 127, Utah

Want a raise? Join a union

February 24, 2015 Union membership still pays…at least in terms of higher wages. The typical union worker made $970 a week in 2014, compared to $763 for non-union workers, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That 27 percent spread has remained relatively constant at [...]

Tags unions, wages