News Archive
Former Canadian officer Dennis Schweitzer dies
Dennis J. Schweitzer, former chairperson of the UTU’s Canadian Legislative Board and the Ontario Provincial Legislative Board, died April 4. A member of the former UTU Local 472 at Windsor, Ontario, Schweitzer, 64, had also served as vice chairperson of the Canadian Workers’ [...]Points of light for labor in Wisconsin
Republican Gov. Scott Walker, the architect of anti-union legislation in his state, faces a recall election in June. He becomes the first governor in Wisconsin history to face recall. The UTU, through its Collective Bargaining Defense Fund, worked with other labor organizati [...]
BNSF rescinds rule following UTU, SMWIA complaint
After BNSF announced it would demand highly personal information from employees relating to off-duty medical procedures and issues, the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate. T [...]CSX hiring in Tennessee, Maryland and Alabama
CSX says it is looking to fill 150 positions in Tennessee, mostly in and around Nashville; 140 jobs in Maryland, mainly in Baltimore and Cumberland; and 90 positions in Alabama, primarily in Birmingham. The hiring comes as the company prepares to meet the demands of a growin [...]Conservatives pressing attack on working families
Public transportation funding, transportation jobs, workplace safety, Railroad Retirement and Medicare are under a mean-spirited and sustained attack by congressional conservatives who are trying to muscle their agenda through Congress prior to the November elections. The UTU [...]EPA proposal threatens coal & rail jobs
WASHINGTON – Few commodities are as essential to railroads and railroad jobs as coal. Fully 25 percent of railroad revenue, one-in-five railroad jobs and 40 percent of freight cars owe their existence to coal, according to the Association of American Railroads. But a proposal [...]
What are these conservative lawmakers thinking?
By Calvin StudivantAlternate Vice President, Bus Department When reading about the conservatives’ attack on mass transit in the House of Representatives, all I can ask is, “What are they thinking?” With gas prices rising to record levels, even low-wage workers who own an auto [...]