UTU News Digest - Thursday, September 9, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Thursday, September 9, 1999

Union decries discipline of NJ Transit executive as lax

NEWARK -- An NJ Transit union official on Wednesday (Sept. 8) questioned disciplinary procedures for top management in light of a recent ethics complaint filed against an agency executive, according to the Bergen Record's Pat Gilbert.

"I am here to question why conductors and train persons are held to a higher standard than the executives of New Jersey Transit," said Dan Bogen, general chairman of the union representing 900 conductors and trainmen (UTU).

The Executive Commission on Ethical Standards in May called for the suspension of Z. Wayne Johnson, NJ Transit's assistant executive director for administration. The commission charged that Johnson's girlfriend earned commissions after he helped pick the insurance company for whom she worked to sell policies to agency workers.

The civil complaint filed by the ethics commission says Johnson should be suspended for at least a year and pay $2,500 in penalties.

Johnson, who was present at an NJ Transit board meeting on Wednesday but was unavailable afterward for comment, continues to serve in his $111,286-a-year position while charges are pending.

He has denied many of the charges in response to the ethics commission, and asked that the complaint be dismissed. His attorney, Stanley Van Ness, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The matter could be settled or could go to an administrative law judge for a decision, ethics officials said.

"If that had been a conductor, he would have been history," said Bogen, who addressed directors at the agency's monthly meeting in Newark. He said a union member facing such allegations would be immediately suspended without pay or dismissed. He said if a worker is then cleared of the charges by the courts, the suspension and dismissal would stand until the individual is cleared by an arbitrator.

"This is a lengthy procedure taking months and sometimes years," said Bogen, chairman of Local 60 of the United Transportation Union. "Why are New Jersey Transit executives treated with kid gloves?"

Top NJ Transit officials said they would examine the disciplinary procedures for non-union workers and those for employees covered under collective bargaining agreements. But there was no mention of removing Johnson.

"He did raise issues we have to look into," said NJ Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh. "A lot will be determined by the collective bargaining agreements -- when certain things occur it's predetermined."

State Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein, who heads NJ Transit's board, said it made sense to let the complaint run its course.

"There's a finding by the ethics commission, an appeal process is under way, and that will conclude, and at some point, a final determination will be made," Weinstein said. "It was a unique situation, and we think it's appropriate and responsible to let the process run its course."

The ethics commission charged that Johnson helped select Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to offer voluntary life insurance policies in 1997 to NJ Transit's non-union workers at the time he was dating and later became engaged to Luckey Scott, a MetLife account representative.

The complaint alleges that in June of 1997, Scott worked with NJ Transit to use 3,500 sheets of NJ Transit letterhead, envelopes, and mailing labels so MetLife could send out announcement letters to agency employees. The complaint charges that by October of 1997, 126 NJ Transit employees signed up for the whole-life insurance policy, and Scott began to receive commissions on the MetLife premiums.

CSX plans to trim management roll by 800 positions

RICHMOND, Va. -- CSX Corp. will launch a voluntary early-retirement and separation program in October to reduce management posts by about 800, or 14%, according to Daniel Machalaba of the Wall Street Journal.

The company said it expects the program to produce annual savings of about $75 million. CSX said it will take a fourth-quarter pretax charge of up to $75 million for the costs of the early-retirement and severance-pay benefits. The company is prepared to pay a portion of the charge from its "overfunded" pension plan.

CSX reported 1998 fourth-quarter net income of $108 million, or 51 cents a diluted share, on revenue of $2.51 billion. The company declined to project 1999 fourth-quarter earnings.

The offer will be available to eligible nonunion employees of its CSX Transportation, CSX Technology Inc. and CSX Intermodal Inc. units. The units have a total of 5,700 nonunion employees.

Under CSX's voluntary early-retirement program, employees can add three years to their years of service and three years to their age for purposes of calculating their pension benefits. The voluntary separation program allows employees to leave the company and receive a separation payment based on their years of service. Amounts will range from one month's to one year's salary, CSX said.

The program comes more than three months after CSX took over part of Conrail Inc.'s rail operations in the Northeast and Midwest. CSX's early-retirement and separation program is a "benign way to lower head count after the Conrail merger," said Carole Neely, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman.

Last month, CSX Transportation, which operates the company's railroad, began reorganizing its management structure. The company said that over the next year or two it plans to hire 1,300 train crew employees throughout the system to handle more freight trains.

The railroad industry has been under pressure by investors to reduce costs and boost earnings growth. In July, Union Pacific Corp.'s railroad unit offered an early-retirement program to management employees. Union Pacific, based in Omaha, Neb., declined to estimate savings from the program.

Computer technology gives engineers a precise approach to high-speed rail.

WILMINGTON - Amtrak dedicated its new $4.7 million training center here yesterday (Sept. 8), showing off how the tools inside will both polish up customer service and teach locomotive engineers to give smoother rides on less fuel, according to Henry Holcomb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A $3 million simulator, which has the look and feel of a real locomotive, and mock-ups of passenger cars will let employees practice what they do before they serve customers on a real train, said Amtrak president George Warrington.

When the throttle is advanced inside the simulator, the sound and ride seem quite real. "The engineer has a seat-of-the-pants feel of what's happening," said Donald F. Knapik of Philadelphia, Amtrak's general manager for high-speed rail development. There's only one thing unrealistic about the view out the windshield - the cleanliness.

There are no abandoned cars and refrigerators along the way. Everything else on the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor is in the computer graphics, from city skylines to crucial signals alongside the track. On a simulated glide into Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, there are even passengers milling about the platform.

The instructor in an adjacent room can change the weather from sunshine to a heavy downpour, blinding snowstorm or dense fog, or have deer dart across the track.

"We can let them experience many things - many types of emergencies - that in the normal course of events one would never see," Knapik said.

The center staff will teach a much more precise approach to running trains on the Northeast Corridor. This will save electricity on the new 12,000-horsepower high-speed trains. And more precise timing will be required when the 150-mile-an-hour Acela Express trains blend in with slower regional and commuter trains next year, Knapik said.

"The time slots allotted to every train must be precise," he said. "A slight delay in Philadelphia, for example, could cause a major problem later in Boston or Washington."

Now there is a simulator only for the new high-speed trains, but others will soon replicate other types of locomotives that must fit into the more precise timetables.

The locomotive simulators measure performance very precisely from the standpoints of safety, passenger comfort and fuel efficiency, Knapik said.

Delaware Gov. Tom Carper, a former member of Amtrak's board, said the training center is an outgrowth of market research: "One of the things passengers told us is that they like to have people on board the trains who treat them as valued customers."

In the center's mock-up railcars, Amtrak employees will practice new ways of greeting passengers, taking tickets and serving food.

Both Delaware senators - Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Republican William V. Roth Jr. - also spoke at the center, which overlooks Interstate 95 on one side and the Northeast Corridor tracks on the other.

Biden called the development of high-speed rail corridors "the single most important transportation need in America."

He said it would take nine additional lanes on Interstate 95 to handle the traffic that now moves on Amtrak between Washington and Boston.

"That would be hundreds of thousands of tons of pollution," Biden said. "Amtrak is important not only because it helps our quality of life. It literally impacts our health."

NJ Transit makes big plans for future of rail system

NEWARK -- NJ Transit took several steps into the future on Wednesday for its rail passengers, who by 2002 will have new rail cars, "real time" public address announcements, and a new $448 million transfer station to speed trips into Manhattan, according to Pat Gilbert of the Bergen Record.

The agency's board of directors approved three major contracts aimed at improving life on the rails, the largest of which was the award of an $86 million contract to a Wood-Ridge firm to complete the Secaucus Transfer station in the Meadowlands.

When it is opened in June 2002, the Secaucus Transfer will -- for the first time -- allow rail riders from NJ Transit's Main, Bergen, Pascack Valley, and Port Jervis lines to travel into Manhattan without having to go to Hoboken.

Some 16,000 projected daily riders, who will be able to switch to trains on the Northeast Corridor line and go directly into New York Penn Station, will shave about 15 minutes from their commute.

The contract awarded Wednesday to Terminal Construction Corp. calls for completion of the station building and reconstruction of some bridges. The transfer project, under construction since 1995, is now about 65 percent complete. Officials say the work is on schedule.

"It's huge. It connects our system," said Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein, who heads NJ Transit's board. "The award of this contract will put the finishing touches on the rail transfer facility."

The board also approved an $11 million contract with Syseca Inc. of Marina del Rey, Calif., to design, build, and put into operation a system that by 2002 can provide up-to-the-minute train arrival announcements for every train at every station, and has the future capability to give riders that information at monitors and kiosks at train stations.

The Train Management Control System, known as TMAC, will allow managers to better coordinate the rail system so that it can handle more than the current 610 trains a day, and accommodate future growth, including 25 percent more trains expect from the Secaucus Transfer station. At the home of the new system, located in Kearny, rail workers also will have integrated information on catenary, or overhead wire, power control, voice communications, and will have the ability to remotely control bridge openings and closings.

"Many of our passengers express the need to know when their train will be arriving at the station," said Weinstein. "Customers will know exactly when they will be boarding their trains by way of public address announcements. If the train is delayed, the TMAC system will instantaneously inform passengers of the situation."

By 2002, rail passengers also will reap the benefits of new rail cars under the first phase of a major plan to address future ridership growth. NJ Transit awarded an $8 million contract to STV Inc. of New York to provide engineering help for an assortment of rail cars, electric locomotives and diesel locomotives.

Under the first phase, the agency plans to buy 98 single-level cab cars, 102 single-level coach cars, 24 electric locomotives, and 33 diesel locomotives by 2002. Under the second phase, the agency will buy 200 bilevel coaches by 2004. The bilevel coach cars will have to be designed to fit through the Northeast Corridor tunnels that pass under the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey to New York.

NJ Transit rail ridership is up 22 percent since 1991, and many of its trains are at capacity. With new services like the Secaucus Transfer and the Montclair Connection, the agency's rail ridership is expected to grow another 36 percent, from 94,000 daily riders to 128,500 by 2005.

Man hit, killed by train while lying on tracks

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A man died Monday (Sept. 7) after being struck by a southbound Alaska Railroad freight train in Talkeetna late Sunday, a railroad safety official told Lisa Demer of the Anchorage Daily News.

Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson identified the victim as Darrell McGhee, 50, of Anchorage.

McGhee was lying with his head on the rail just north of the depot when the train hit him about 10:45 p.m. Sunday, said Ernie Piper, Alaska Railroad vice president for safety.

It's not clear what led the victim to lie on the tracks.

By the time the crew saw him, the train was right on him and couldn't stop in time, though the crew tried, said Scott Banks, an Alaska Railroad spokesman.

It would be very difficult for a freight train to stop quickly enough, Piper said.

"A fully loaded train, it takes thousands of feet to stop," Piper said.

McGhee was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where he was declared dead just before 5:30 p.m. The accident is being investigated internally by railroad special agents, who are reviewing a tape of the train's maneuvers, including its speed and when the brake went on. They also are interviewing the three crew members.

While the normal train speed was 49 mph, the railroad had issued a slow-down order to 35 mph because of track conditions in the area, Piper said. The crew said it had slowed down, Piper said.

There was no indication that the crew did anything wrong, Piper said. The railroad does not release the names of crew members in accidents, he added.

As is standard procedure, the crew was relieved of its duties and was replaced for the rest of the trip to Anchorage.

The railroad continually battles people using its tracks to get around. In winter, it's snowmachiners, Piper said. In fall, it's hunters on four-wheelers.

Earlier in the morning Sunday, a train had to make an emergency stop at the railroad bridge in Ferry, north of Healy, because of four-wheelers on the bridge.

Piper said people mistakenly think they will hear a train or feel the vibrations from the rails in time to get off the tracks. But they don't, he said.

"You'd be surprised under the conditions you cannot hear a train," he said. "If the wind is blowing the wrong way or the atmosphere is not right, the train can be right on top of you before you know it."

SEPTA says it's on the right track for Y2K readiness

PHILADELPHIA -- SEPTA will be ready to carry riders into the Year 2000 without disruption thanks to readiness efforts of a team of SEPTA senior professionals, assisted by external experts, the carrier claims.

While Y2K poses a traditional risk to any business with data and financial systems, the added challenge at SEPTA is to its service operations where computer processors are embedded throughout the system.

From commuter rail to buses, trolleys and subways, computer chips help SEPTA transport 700,000 riders a day. Turnstiles, signals, switches, elevators, enunciator systems, and 1,500 fare boxes are just a few examples of systems to be immunized against the Y2K bug.

Nonetheless, SEPTA is traveling down the long road to full compliance with relative ease. Its team has conducted an inventory of all date-sensitive automated systems throughout the Authority, evaluated their impact, and has implemented solutions. SEPTA has run a number of tests to show that performance of the system should be sound when the clock strikes midnight on January 1.

To date, 80% of all systems (403 total systems) identified as date-sensitive are now Year 2000 compliant. And 90% of all systems deemed "critical" to daily operations -- including safety-sensitive, transportation-related operating equipment and financial control and collection mechanisms -- have been certified as compliant.

But that is only part of the compliance conundrum. Since SEPTA is also dependent on third-party service providers, the Authority is developing contingency service plans. And SEPTA is actively engaged in compliance planning with providers such as PECO, Bell Atlantic, and the City of Philadelphia. In fact, to date SEPTA has surveyed 1300 vendors about readiness.

The Authority is investing about $5.7 million to achieve Year 2000 readiness. Agencies including the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Transit Administration have endorsed SEPTA's efforts.

Most drug users hold full-time jobs, report says

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seven in 10 people who used illegal drugs in 1997 had full-time jobs, the government reports, according to Laura Meckler of the Associated Press.

Officials hope the data will dispel notions that most drug users are burned out and disconnected from the mainstream.

"The typical drug user is not poor and unemployed," said Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy director. "He or she can be a co-worker, a husband or wife, a parent."

About 6.3 million full-time workers, ages 18 to 49 -- or 7.7 percent -- admitted in 1997 using illegal drugs in the preceding month, according to the report issued every few years by the Department of Health and Human Services. The proportion has been steady since 1992.

Workers in restaurants, bars, construction and transportation were more likely than others to use drugs, the report said.

HHS officials were using the report's findings to encourage businesses to establish treatment programs. Increasingly, drug users are working in medium-sized companies, which have the resources to establish these programs, they said. Still, 44 percent of drug users were working for small businesses -- those with fewer than 25 employees, down from 57 percent in 1994 but still the largest category.

"Whether you are corporate CEO or a small-business owner, you need to know that simple, low-burden, effective steps ... can increase workplace safety and productivity and lower substance abuse and its human and economic effects," said Nelba Chavez, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the HHS agency that produced the report.

The report also found that in 1997:

--Young adults, men, whites and those with less than a high school education were more likely to use drugs than other workers.

--Nineteen percent of food preparation workers, waiters, waitresses and bartenders used illegal drugs. For construction workers, it was 14 percent; for transportation and material moving workers, it was 10 percent.

--Workers who used drugs were more likely to have worked for three or more employers, to have left a job in the past year and to have skipped a day or more of work in the past month.

The report is based on an annual household survey of Americans about their drug and alcohol use. Every few years, the government includes questions about respondents' workplace in order to conduct this analysis. In 1997, there were 7,957 workers ages 18 to 49 who participated in the survey. They are statistically representative of the nation's 81.8 million full-time workers.

Teamsters: NLRB okays vote for union at UP unit

WASHINGTON --The National Labor Relations Board certified a vote for Teamster union representation at the Detroit, Mich. terminal of Union Pacific Corp.'s (UNP) Overnite Transportation Co. unit, according to the Dow Jones News Service.

Overnite Transportation officials weren't immediately available for comment.

In a press release Wednesday, the union said certification of the election, held in March 1995, was delayed as Overnite challenged the vote, alleging that individuals taking pictures as ballots were cast intimidated workers. Overnite officials weren't immediately available for comment.

On Aug. 16, the labor relations board certified Teamster representation at Overnite's Lexington, Ky. terminal.

As reported July 15, the labor relations board ordered Overnite to bargain with the Teamsters regarding a worker's strike against the company's labor practices at seven terminals. Overnite appealed the decision and said it didn't intend to bargain until the appeal process is complete.

New York Stock Exchange-listed shares of Union Pacific recently traded at 50 7/16, up 2 1/2, or 5.2%, on composite volume of 1.9 million. Average daily volume is 724,393.

GE-Harris to use satellite network for locomotive tracking system

DULLES, Va. - ORBCOMM Global, L.P. (ORBCOMM), the first commercial provider of global low-Earth orbit satellite data and messaging communications services, has announced that GE Harris Railway Electronics, L.L.C. (GE Harris), has signed an agreement with ORBCOMM providing for the use of its global satellite services as part of GE Harris' PINPOINT Locomotive Tracking System.

GE Harris, a joint venture between the General Electric Company and Harris Corporation, is a leading provider of electronics, communications and train control technology for the global railroad industry.

GE Harris' PINPOINT Locomotive Tracking system enables railroads generally to determine each locomotive's position inside the parameters of their road fleet within approximately 100 meters. The PINPOINT system is able to tightly integrate into the railroads' existing systems to realize this benefit.

The PINPOINT system also provides fuel status and several other onboard data reporting features. ORBCOMM's global tracking, monitoring and two-way communications capabilities enable GE Harris to provide this valuable information to its customers.

By using the PINPOINT Locomotive Tracking system with ORBCOMM's satellite communications service, railroads can improve their overall efficiency through better fleet utilization and refueling operations. GE Harris recently completed a pilot program with a major Class 1 railroad on the effectiveness of the PINPOINT system. The results indicated that a six percent increase in locomotive utilization and a ten percent increase in miles traveled over the road could be achieved with the PINPOINT system.

"We are pleased that GE Harris has selected ORBCOMM as its satellite communications provider," said Scott L. Webster, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ORBCOMM. "The PINPOINT system provides customers with access to data that can substantially improve operational performance. ORBCOMM is proud to play an important role in delivering this information.

ORBCOMM's system was designed to give its customers a powerful tool to manage their assets more effectively, anytime, anywhere. I'm excited to see ORBCOMM used to make this cutting-edge solution available to the railway industry."

"The PINPOINT system is poised to transform the way in which the railway industry monitors and communicates with its mobile and remote resources," said Kevin Clyne, Business Development Manager, Communications Systems, for GE Harris. "ORBCOMM's satellite network will provide a critical link in the communications chain."

UAW continues GM, DaimlerChrysler talks

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers union continues its unique approach in talks with U.S. automakers, negotiating simultaneously with General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG, according to Ben Klayman of Reuters.

UAW President Stephen Yokich spent the early part of this week visiting the Detroit-area headquarters of GM and DaimlerChrysler. About 350,000 UAW members at GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler are covered by contracts that expire at midnight on Sept. 14.

While many officials and analysts in the auto industry still believe one automaker ultimately will be picked to bargain with first, anything -- including deals announced with GM and DaimlerChrysler on the same day -- is possible.

The only certainty at this point is Ford will not be the lead bargainer in the United States, as it was eliminated from consideration partly for its intention to spin off its Visteon parts unit. However, the Canadian Auto Workers Wednesday selected the world's No. 2 automaker as its bargaining target.

"It's basically kind of a new game," said David Cole, director of University of Michigan's Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation.

"I don't know where this is ultimately going to lead. At this point anyway, it's very different," he added. "It certainly puts a lot of pressure on Ford."

Automakers prefer to be the lead negotiator in labor talks because the deal cut by the initial company can be structured to favor its operations while possibly hurting competitors. The lead deal is used as a template for the other firms.

Yokich, who has shown a propensity to break with tradition, said Monday bargaining would continue simultaneously with GM and DaimlerChrysler for now. But he said a lead company may yet be picked later this week.

CAW President Buzz Hargrove said Wednesday that Yokich told him the decision would be made in the "next few days".

This bargaining season has been filled with surprises, including Ford's elimination from consideration after being the lead negotiating firm in 1996 and 1993. Another has been GM's smooth relationship with the UAW after bitter strikes last year cost the world's largest automaker $2 billion, Cole said.

Since then, GM has spun off its former parts unit, Delphi Automotive Systems Corp., shelved talk of using modular-build techniques the union fears as job threatening and brought in a new labor negotiator, Gary Cowger. Cole called the warming relationship a "180-degree reversal".

While analysts, and company and union officials agreed the parallel talks at GM and DaimlerChrysler this close to the expiration of the current contracts was new, nothing can be taken for granted.

Cole said he wouldn't be surprised if DaimlerChrysler and GM announce deals one hour apart on the same day, leaving Ford to scramble to cut its own deal.

"These are wild times and a different world," he said.

UAW and company officials said Yokich met with his staff and company executives at DaimlerChrysler Sunday and Tuesday, and visited GM Wednesday morning.

Yokich called the two automakers' proposals, which include guaranteed lifetime employment and raises or lump-sum payments every year of the contracts, the most generous first-round contract offers he's ever seen.

Many in the industry still expect the UAW to select one company to deal with first before Sept. 14. In that case, DaimlerChrysler remains the odds-on favorite as its offer to the union was more generous than GM's, UAW officials said.