News Archive
RRB benefit reductions by retirement age
Railroad retirement benefits are subject to reduction if an employee with less than 30 years of service retires before attaining full retirement age. While employees with less than 30 years of service may still retire at age 62, the age at which full retirement benefits are p [...]
A message from FRA chief Joe Szabo
The following message was sent to the UTU National Legislative Office from Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo Friends: The winners of TIGER 2013 grants were announced last week, and rail was again a big winner. Of the $474 million in funding awarded to 52 projects in 37 [...]Opinion: Imagine a multimodal Northeast Corridor
Creative vision in Washington, D.C., is not quite an oxymoron, but seemingly only extraordinary external events cause it to materialize. Perhaps there was prediction of a month of Sundays when Congress authorized land grants for a transcontinental railroad; expectation of hel [...]Railroads’ suits say Tenn. diesel unfair
Two of the nation’s largest railroad companies — CSX and BNSF — have filed suit against the state of Tennessee in federal court claiming they are being forced to pay millions of dollars in taxes on diesel fuel that their highway- and water-based cargo-hauling competitors don’ [...]Oil in Quebec train disaster was mislabeled
TORONTO – The oil carried by a freight train that derailed and exploded in Quebec this year had been misclassified as a less dangerous type of crude, Canadian officials said Wednesday, and they urged U.S. and Canadian regulators to ensure dangerous goods are accurately labele [...]GP Nigro: Every Member Should Be Part Of Constitution Process
It was really great meeting so many of your leadership team at the recent regional meetings in Boston and Anaheim. They are an active and involved group with a commitment to the labor movement. It confirmed my belief in the potential value we have in joining forces on several [...]New Chapters of SMART History Available Online
Chapters 8 and 9 of Honor the Past, Fight for the Future: A History of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, 1888-2012, are available online. Both delve into the recent history of the Jurisdictional and Organizing activities within the organization, with a focu [...]Veolia gets Tri-Rail contract extension
The Board of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority unanimously voted Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, to award Veolia Transportation the three remaining option years for the company’s Tri-Rail contract. The contract now extends through June 2017. The South Florida [...]