UTU News Digest - Friday, March 5, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Friday, March 5, 1999

Amtrak's president testifies carrier’s business turnaround continues

WASHINGTON -- In his first appearance before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation since being named Amtrak's new President and CEO, George Warrington testified that the railroad is meeting financial targets as it strives to become profitable.

Warrington also emphasized that to continue its progress Amtrak must receive $571 million in capital funds in fiscal year 2000, as requested by the Administration.

"Over the past year, I have led Amtrak's management team, with the advice and support of the Board of Directors, in crafting a business plan to revitalize the national passenger rail system by transforming Amtrak into a business-like, market-driven company that delivers services customers want," testified Warrington. "Amtrak is putting in place a business-planning process and an internal discipline to stick to that process that will incrementally move this corporation forward, and will prove to you and the American public that we are making progress."

Also testifying was Kenneth M. Mead, Department of Transportation Inspector General, who, taking note of Amtrak's future prospects, said, "Our overall assessment is that with strong leadership, intense management, and favorable economic conditions, it will be possible, albeit difficult, for Amtrak to become operationally self-sufficient by 2003. Nevertheless, even if Amtrak reaches operating self-sufficiency, it will require substantial and continuing capital funding to support the system as it currently exists."

Since Warrington took the helm of Amtrak 16 months ago, initially as interim president, passenger revenue for fiscal year 1998 surpassed $1 billion for the first time ever. Powering this record was the largest ridership increase in a decade -- 4.5 percent -- and the best on-time performance system-wide in 13 years, 78 percent. The trend is continuing this year with ridership up another three percent and on-time performance rising to 80 percent.

In addition to supporting the FY2000 funding request, Amtrak also supports the Administration's request that Congress confirm that the railroad can invest capital funds just like every other transportation mode. Last year, Congress affirmed Amtrak's ability to invest capital funds for maintenance of equipment. This year, Amtrak and the Administration are requesting confirmation that capital funds may be invested in both maintenance of equipment and maintenance of way.

Wise investment of capital to increase revenues and generate cost savings has resulted in Amtrak performing $41 million better this fiscal year than projected in the Department of Transportation Inspector General's recent Independent Assessment of the railroad.

"We have a commercially focused business plan that will maintain this momentum," testified Warrington. "It contains valuable lessons we have learned from successful businesses that we have incorporated to fit Amtrak's unique environment. Our core objective is to increase our share in the travel market, squeezing every dollar of revenue we can by leveraging our assets and never ever squandering a business opportunity. It's all about making money and building the best railroad anywhere."

Amtrak's key business plan strategies are the phasing in of high-speed rail in the Northeast, developing other high-speed corridors nationwide, forging partnerships with state governments and private businesses, operating a market-based national route structure, and improving and guaranteeing consistency and quality of service. Working in tandem, these key strategies will generate additional revenue and savings and build a modern passenger rail network.

UP Update: Record arrests; Chairman speaks

OMAHA -- Union Pacific police removed trespassers at a record pace in 1998, as the department intensified its "zero tolerance" policy toward interlopers.

A total of 48,099 trespassers were escorted off the property last year, up 12 percent over the 42,770 removed in 1997. The figure doesn't include the 48,558 undocumented aliens from Mexico taken off trains or discovered in yards.

Augmenting the efforts of local police units are Special Operations Response Teams that are brought in when a particular trouble spot is identified. In addition to removing the trespassers, a heightened awareness of the problem is brought to the communities, to emphasize that people should not trespass on UP property.

UP Police also had good success with the Crossing Accident Reduction Enforcement program, in which UP Police team up with local and state officers to cite drivers who violate crossing regulations. Last year, 1,220 citations and warnings were issued in 43 CARE operations.

In other news, Chairman Dick Davidson, speaking at the Western Wood Products Association in San Francisco this week, highlighted the railroad's Transformation efforts and merger integration successes, plus re-regulation challenges in Congress.

Davidson said the first two Transformation steps, regional decentralization and establishing a Network Design & Integration team are up and running. The third stage, melding UP/SP/CNW into one cohesive operation is under way supported by a common set of strategies, initiatives, values and behaviors.

Among the 1999 challenges for UP, Davidson cited a movement among certain well-organized shipper groups to press Congress for legislation that would re-regulate railroads or the 'forced access' debate. Some shippers are pushing this because they want to reduce what they pay for transportation.

Davidson said, "Average revenue per ton mile for all commodities has already been reduced in real dollars by more than 50 percent since 1980, and our return on invested capital is already significantly below that of American industry. Reregulation would be extremely dangerous for railroads' economic health and would put the industry right back to where it was in the 70's with government ownership of a crumbling network of railroads, many in bankruptcy."

Davidson asked businesses for their help in fighting the "forced access" concept in Congress to maintain a healthy rail system.

Ford workers get record profit-sharing

DEARBORN, Mich. -- About 160,000 Ford Motor Co. employees in the United States receive record profit-sharing payments Wednesday averaging $6,100.

It's a record high since 1984, when Ford began issuing profit sharing checks. Last year's checks averaged $4,400. Last year, the Dearborn company earned $22 billion dollars.

DaimlerChrysler AG's hourly U.S. employees will get profit-sharing payments averaging $7,400, while General Motors Co. workers will get checks averaging about $200.

Ghost made man push woman under subway

NEW YORK -- A man accused of shoving a woman to her death under a subway train in January says he felt a ghostly sensation that made him do it.

Andrew Goldstein, who has a history of mental illness, said an irresistible force was driving his behavior as he walked on a subway platform, according to court papers filed Wednesday.

"As I'm walking, I felt a sensation like something entering me, like a ghost or a spirit or something," Goldstein said in written statements he gave to police following his arrest. As the train approached, he felt an overwhelming desire "to push, kick or punch."

He pleaded innocent Wednesday to second-degree murder in the Jan. 3 death of Kendra Webdale, a 32-year-old aspiring screenwriter from Fredonia, N.Y., outside Buffalo. Goldstein, 29, said he pushed the woman into the path of the train. Police arrested Goldstein at the station.

Two psychiatrists told the court Goldstein is competent to stand trial, but Goldstein lawyer Harvey Fishbein has said his client suffers for severe schizophrenia and has for at least a decade. A hearing on Goldstein's competency has been scheduled for March 23.

Steelworkers disrupt tire conference, condemn illegal strike breaking

HILTON HEAD, S.C. -- As a Continental General Tire Co. executive addressed an industry conference at a resort hotel here, 125 of the company's striking employees from Charlotte, N.C., burst into the room and confronted the startled crowd with accusations of lawless strike breaking, according to a union spokesman at the scene.

The workers were led by Earl Propst, president of Local 850 in Charlotte whose 1450 members have been on strike at German-owned Continental General Tire since last September. They made the four-hour journey in two buses and several cars.

Propst challenged corporate executive Chris Dickenson for Continental General's refusal to meet with union representatives, hiring 700 replacement workers, bad faith bargaining, and other unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act.

"Why are you savaging Continental General's American workers in a way that violates the law in the company's own homeland?" Propst asked. Hiring replacement workers is illegal in Germany, where General Tire's parent company, Continental AG, is headquartered.

The Steelworkers chided Continental General's German CEO, Bernd Frangenberg, for "hiding" from the Charlotte workers. Frangenberg was scheduled to address the conference, but failed to show up.

The striking workers passed out leaflets detailing the company's violations of law to participants at the conference. They concluded their protest by assembling in the hotel lobby and sang several verses of the labor anthem, Solidarity Forever, the spokesman said.

The Buford Co. Sheriff's Dept. detained the demonstrating union workers for nearly an hour after the confrontation, but union members were undeterred. Propst said, "We are going to continue to confront Continental General Tire management, including CEO Bernd Frangenberg, at every opportunity until union members are back at work in Charlotte."

Mexico says it will improve labor rights

MEXICO CITY -- Following a four-day visit by U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, Mexican officials said Tuesday they will push for an U.S. worker exchange program, improve Mexico's labor-rights record and promote gender equality in the workplace.

"We will do all that is possible to follow up on the issues that were brought up," Mexican Labor Secretary Jose Antonio Gonzalez said during a joint public appearance with Herman.

Gonzalez suggested he would like to see a renewal of a "guest worker" program in the United States. A 1940s plan, known as the Bracero program, allowed Mexicans to immigrate temporarily to the United States to perform seasonal labor.

"We have been thinking about analyzing what occurred between the United States and Mexico years ago, when there was a regulated interchange of workers," Gonzalez said.

Suggesting a "legalized exchange of workers from Mexico to the United States," Gonzalez said a similar agricultural-worker program in Canada would be a model. Proposals for a renewed Bracero program have found political support in some U.S. states such as California.

Herman said: "I expect we can continue our deliberations on the passage of goods and services, and our people as well."

Gonzalez also promised a federal investigation into the killings of scores of working-class women in the northern border town of Ciudad Juarez. Since 1993, about 100 women, many of them teenagers, have been found dead in the industrial city across from El Paso, Texas, according to police figures. Independent groups have counted between 129 and 192 victims.

Many of the victims were young women who worked in maquiladoras, assembly-for-export plants along the border, which prompted civic groups to request the intervention of the Mexican labor secretariat.

On the last day of her visit, Herman attended a conference that addressed the problems working women face in Mexico and met privately with President Ernesto Zedillo.

IRS warns against scam

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers about a scam in which people falsely are led to believe they can deduct from their income taxes money they have paid into Social Security through payroll taxes.

The IRS already has blocked 1,100 such refund claims around the country, totaling about $95 million, officials said Wednesday. Total income tax refunds paid out through Feb. 26 have reached $43.5 billion.

In the scam, a taxpayer is charged a "paperwork" fee of $100 plus a percentage of any refund received by someone who then prepares a return claiming lifetime Social Security payroll taxes as a deduction.

"This is nothing more than a hoax designed to fleece the victims for the upfront fee," said Ted Brown, IRS assistant commissioner for criminal investigation. "The law does not allow such a refund of Social Security taxes paid, and the IRS will contact taxpayers filing these claims."

Brown said taxpayers should question anyone who offers to prepare a return for a percentage of the refund or charges a fee that seems unusual. Taxpayers who believe they were subjected to the scam or who know anything about can call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.