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Battle for retirement benefits
to continue in 107th Congress
Hope remained for passage of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2000 (H.R. 4844) right up to the final session of the 106th Congress, when the House and Senate approved a $450-billion spending package that provided funding for Medicare, health research, and to hire teachers, but didn't include the provisions of the rail pension measure or aid to Amtrak. -- Full story.
H.R. 4844: Behind the scenes
After ten months of hard work by a coalition of 13 labor unions and retiree organizations, a handful of conservative Republicans and others and killed the legislation. Here is the behind-the-scenes saga of H.R. 4844. -- Full story.
C&W employees get jobs back
PUEBLO, Col. -- Train and engine service employees fired in October 1997 for refusing to cross a steelworkers' picket line at a Pueblo, Colo., steel mill are to be reinstated by a Public Law Board (PLB) decision issued on November 20, 2000. -- Full story.
UTU downplays transit zones
LOS ANGELES -- General Chairperson James A. Williams, who represents UTU workers on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), believes the recently resurrected plans for a separate San Fernando Valley bus district amount to "much ado about nothing." -- Full story.
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Status of
negotiations
CLEVELAND -- The National Carriers' Conference Committee's (NCCC) review of the question-and-answers portion of the pending national rail contract was continuing as this issue of the UTU News went to press. "We're having serious problems negotiating the Qs and As over some items I thought were clear," said Assistant President Byron A. Boyd, Jr., who heads the UTU National Negotiating Committee. "We hope these are simply legitimate differences of opinion."
-- Full story.
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CN workers OK pact
TROY, Mich. -- About 450 UTU-represented conductors, yardmen and brakemen employed on Canadian National's Michigan Zone (the former Grand Trunk Western Railway) have ratified a new three-year contract with the carrier that is retroactive to 1998. The conductors approved the package by a vote of 135 to 44; the yardmen and brakemen also approved the deal by substantial margins. The new contract eliminates pay discrepancies for employees hired after 1985, provides for weekly guarantees, and improves insurance coverages. The pact also provides for participation in a quality-of-life labor/management committee which will examine availability, rest days, assigned days off and similar issues.
Bus firms
procrastinate
CLEVELAND -- UTU Bus Vice President Bernie McNelis reports that contract negotiations with Cimarron and Renzenberger are continuing, but both companies are dragging their feet over economic issues. "While there has been a lot of progress with Cimarron on non-economic issues, the company continues to cry poor mouth," McNelis said. "We should be getting more into economic issues at our next meeting." With Renzenberger, McNelis said that "time is running out." If they do not try to provide a better economic package, the UTU will have to consider alternatives to the negotiating process, McNelis said. Negotiations with Alex Transportation also are ongoing.
New testing rules set
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Transportation has revised its drug and alcohol testing rules, making the testing process easier to carry out and providing additional safeguards for some 8.5 million transportation employees. The new rules mandate that, to ensure fairness to employees, a medical review officer -- who is a physician -- will review the test results when a laboratory indicates that an employee's specimen may have been adulterated or substituted. Any employee will also be able to obtain, at a different certified laboratory, a test of his or her split specimen -- so called because specimens are split into two separate containers to allow for retesting -- to make sure that the original laboratory did not make an error.
Molitoris gets new post
BOCA RATON, FLA. -- GeoFocus, a provider of positioning technology to the world's transportation markets, has named Jolene Molitoris as its new chief executive officer and president. Molitoris was formerly administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. She joined the company on Jan. 2, 2001.
Monthly winner
This month's lucky winner of his choice of any item of apparel bearing the UTU logo is Paul E. Stewart of Local 339, Jackson, Tenn., which represents workers on the Illinois Central. These items are awarded every month by random drawing as a show of appreciation to the many members who have been supportive of the UTU throughout the years.
UTU Travelers Club
offerings for 2001
Members interested in opportunities for fraternal travel and adventure in 2001 are being reminded of the packages sponsored by the UTU Travelers Club: A Swiss Rail Tour, set for March 21-29, 2001; the seven-night Voyage of the Glaciers on May 21, 2001, and the Grand Australia & New Zealand Experience, set for October 10-28, 2001. For complete information, call toll free (888) 280-7657, phone (440) 748-2777 from Canada, write to Lynn Westphal Tours, 8715 Timber Edge Dr., N. Ridgeville, OH 44039, or send e-mail to <lwestphal2@aol.com>. -- Full story.
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Son's death brings life
to "Angels on Track"
CANAL FULTON, Ohio -- When Vicky Moore's son, Ryan, and two other teenagers were killed by a Conrail train at an Ohio grade crossing in 1995, she blamed anyone associated with the railroad industry. Mrs. Moore came to the United Transportation Union for help. "Since then, I realized not only is my family and my son a victim, but so are employees. We have a mutual interest in grade crossing safety." Angels on Track, a non-profit foundation begun by Mrs. Moore and her husband, assists local governments in paying for lights and gates at railroad grade crossings. -- Full story.
UTUIA Scholarship: Key to Success
Education is the key to success. The key to an education can be a United Transportation Union Insurance Association scholarship. This is the 28th year UTUIA is making available 50 continuing $500 scholarships for its members, and the sons, daughters and grandchildren of its members. -- Full story.
UTUIA representatives visit local
 Three UTU/UTUIA representatives recently spent time with members of Locals 78 and 265 in Pocatello, Idaho, to answer their questions about union membership and to explain the many benefits of fraternal insurance protection. Above, Union Pacific conductor Scott Kinney (L-265), left, meets with UTUIA Field Supervisor Andy Sanderson. "They were glad we came in to explain the benefits of the UTU and UTUIA," UTU Special Representative Billy Packer said.
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Erdman Act secured
respect for union members
It sometimes takes an act of Congress to secure progress. In 1898, unionized workers in the U.S. gained an important protection through passage of the Erdman Act, which made it a criminal offense for employers to dismiss employees or to discriminate against prospective employees because of their union membership. -- Full story.
40 years ago
"LAKEWOOD, N.J. Drivers and maintenance men of Lodge 1007 are pressing their strike against Lincoln Transit Co. for higher wages, an improved pension and hospitalization plan. The 88 members of the lodge voted to strike the property after all legal avenues of procedures were exhausted." -- Trainman News, Vol. 15, No. 1, January 1961.
30 years ago
"Sweeping transportation law changes which would virtually repeal the Railway Labor Act were high on the list of President Nixon's legislative priorities as Congress poised for a return to action. Secretary of Labor J.D. Hodgson said the administration will seek passage of an emergency disputes act 'essentially the same' as its proposal of last February. Covered would be railroads, airlines, trucking, maritime and longshore operations." -- UTU Transportation News, Vol. 3, No. 2, January 1971
20 years ago
"Competing railroads are getting ready to offer stiff opposition to the proposed consolidation of the Union Pacific, the Missouri Pacific and the Western Pacific into a 22,800-mile rail system. Competing carriers are seeking more than 10,000 miles of trackage rights as conditions of the consolidations, ICC reports show." -- UTU News, Vol. 13, No. 2, January 1981.
10 years ago
"Conrail and Canadian Pacific Ltd. have settled a dispute over trackage rights, setting the stage for a major restructuring of railroad operations in the Northeastern United States. The agreement completes CP's $25-million purchase of the bankrupt Delaware & Hudson Railway, which had been threatened because of the dispute over the trackage rights. The agreement also gives CP Rail its long-sought access into the U.S. Northeast Corridor and better connections to its other U.S. property, the Soo Line." -- UTU News, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 1991.
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