UTU News Digest - Tuesday, September 7, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Tuesday, September 7, 1999

Slater announces project to conduct passenger rail car crash tests

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today (Sept. 5) announced a public-private partnership to improve rail passenger safety by conducting a series of full-scale passenger train crash tests this fall at the DOT Transportation Technology Center (TTC) at Pueblo, Colo.

The project is supported by a $1 million Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contract with Simula, Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz., to provide technical support and testing equipment.

"Safety is President Clinton's highest transportation priority, and these tests will help us improve both operator and passenger safety in passenger rail cars," said Secretary Slater. "This public-private partnership underscores President Clinton and Vice President Gore's commitment to putting the safety of the American people first."

This project is a team effort by participants from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA); Transportation Technology Center, Incorporated (TTCI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads; the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge, Mass.; the department' s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); Simula; and the American Public Transit Association (APTA).

The first test will involve a full-scale passenger rail vehicle traveling at 30 miles per hour colliding into a rigid concrete wall. The concrete wall provides a consistent means for validating predictive models, and has been specially built at TTC for this purpose. The vehicle will be equipped with various passenger seat designs to test the effectiveness of passenger protection on human-like dummies - the same Hybrid III dummies used by NHTSA for car crash tests.

Future tests at TTC will examine the behavior of multiple cars in collisions on curves and at switches, and collisions between cab-car trains and freight locomotives.

"These tests will help the United States develop train component designs to increase passenger safety. It will enable us to have the most advanced safety features in our passenger rail equipment as we enter the new millennium," said FRA Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris.

In May 1999 the FRA issued historic, comprehensive standards in a rule to improve the safety of America's railroad passenger equipment. The rule includes many crashworthiness requirements for intercity and commuter rail vehicles. In addition, the FRA worked with APTA and its Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standards Task Force in developing industry safety standards and recommended practices for commuter rail cars.

The intent of these tests is to further verify modeling predictions and lead to development of safer rail-car design and operating guidelines. The series of full-scale tests will provide the technical data needed to evaluate specific crashworthiness features incorporated in existing car designs and to validate computer models that are helping to determine future improvements in designs.

Simula is an international company with headquarters in Phoenix. It has 10 divisions and subsidiaries and employs more than 1,000 people. Simula has expertise in crash survival design and manufacturing in all modes of transportation.

DOT's Slater announces proposals to improve small bus safety

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today (Aug. 31) announced a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) proposal to require businesses involved in interstate commerce operating small buses or vans to comply with three rules that would help the FHWA establish an objective basis for applying federal safety regulations.

"We are committed to a goal of reducing fatalities from truck and bus crashes 50 percent in 10 years, and this proposal will help achieve the goal and significantly improve safety, which is President Clinton's highest transportation priority," Secretary Slater said. "The data we derive will help target investigations and enforcement - passenger carriers of all sizes must ensure before all else that the service they offer is safe."

The proposal would require these businesses operating vehicles for hire and designed or used to transport between 9 and 15 passengers, including the driver, to complete a motor carrier identification report. The purpose of this would be to allow the FHWA to determine the number of companies currently operating, the number of drivers employed, and vehicles operated.

It also would require these companies to mark their vehicles with identification numbers assigned by the FHWA and to maintain records on crashes.

In a separate rulemaking notice also published today, the FHWA is temporarily exempting the operation of small passenger-carrying vehicles from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) applied the FMCSRs automatically to these businesses on June 9, 1999. The exemption will remain in effect for only six months while the agency reviews comments and information provided in response to other aspects of this rulemaking proposal.

The interim final rule and notice of proposed rulemaking are available in the U.S. Department of Transportation's docket (Docket Numbers FHWA-1997-2858 and FHWA-1999-5710). The notices and all comments on these proposals may be viewed at http://dms.dot.gov on the Internet.

Amtrak has eye on cargo; carrier needs income to break even

SEATTLE - Amtrak, the nation's passenger rail service, is delivering magazines, fresh cranberries and even tulip bulbs from Skagit County to reduce its reliance on the federal dollar, according to George Foster of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

That, along with passengers' tickets, is where the money is, and the rail carrier needs that money to become self-sufficient by 2002, a deadline imposed by Congress. Otherwise, the future of passenger trains in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the country becomes uncertain.

Members of the Amtrak Reform Council meeting in Seattle this week made it clear to executives of the passenger rail service that more could be done to build its express parcel business.

"Amtrak must have an aggressive approach," said Gil Carmichael, chairman of the council and a former head of the Federal Railroad Administration during the Bush administration. "And the freight railroads don't mind," he added.

The council was told that talks are under way with Federal Express. Amtrak already carries some United Parcel Service packages.

About 80 percent of Amtrak cargo is U.S. mail.

Long distance Amtrak trains, such as the Portland-Seattle-Chicago Empire Builder, have been big money losers and adding several baggage cars loaded with time-sensitive parcels could take these streamliners out of the red, Carmichael said.

Ed Ellis, Amtrak's vice president for mail and express services, said the $100 million revenue the line expects from shipping parcels and goods this year should increase to $215 million by 2002, helping the system break even.

Under Congress' current reauthorization bill for Amtrak, federal money for operations will cease at the end of 2002, leaving the public corporation to fend for itself.

At the same time, the 11-member Amtrak Reform Council created in 1997 is monitoring the carrier's progress toward self-sufficiency and is making recommendations.

Should it appear that Amtrak will fail to break even by the end of 2002, the council is expected to recommend restructuring the country's rail passenger service.

A local member of the council is Bruce Chapman, president of the Discovery Institute, a think tank that is looking at public and private ways to improve transportation linking British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.

Another member is Jolene Molitoris, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, who said in Seattle Tuesday that while Amtrak may eventually becoming self-sufficient, "I wish there was a little more time . . . I've heard people say 2003" is a more realistic deadline.

A U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general's report on Amtrak progress, issued in July, shows revenue and ridership figures are growing but "operating and cash losses have been consistently high and will remain so in 1999 and 2000."

Amtrak is banking on new high-speed service in the Northeast aboard 20 new "Acela" trains to generate more passenger revenue and compete more favorably with shuttle airlines between New York and Washington, D.C.

Today, a second passenger train is being added in the popular corridor between Seattle and Bellingham with money from the state of Washington. The southbound Cascades leaves Bellingham at 10:15 a.m., arriving in Seattle's King Street Station at 12:45 p.m.

A northbound train departs Seattle at 5:30 p.m., getting into Bellingham at 8 p.m.

The state is contributing $24 million during the current biennium toward operation of Amtrak trains operating between Oregon and British Columbia.

"We're not pinning our hopes on any one thing," said Amtrak spokesman John Wolf in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

The movement of express cargo has become a bigger factor with Amtrak on the East Coast, where the Chicago-New York Lake Shore Limited can shave eight hours off the time of a competing freight railroad, Ellis said.

Truck trailers adapted for travel over tracks have enabled the shipment of refrigerated goods. "And if it is refrigerated we can get more money for it," said Ellis.

"When you have trains covering the direct cost (of operations) we can add another one," Ellis said. Amtrak's Texas Eagle recently increased its run from three to four days a week between Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles as a result of an increase in revenue from express packages.

Ellis noted that in 1959, the last year the railroads reported a profit from passenger service, 46 percent of revenue from passenger trains came from mail and packages.

"If we were at the 46 percent level today," added Ellis, "we'd have $1 billion in (annual) revenue, and Amtrak would be close to making money."

Burlington Northern gives local crews crash course on railroad; seminars prepare agencies for emergencies

SPOKANE - Thousands of rail cars ferrying dangerous loads rumble through North Idaho every year. Emergency crews and railroad personnel usually meet during potential disasters, according to Dan Pelle and Zaz Hollander of the Spokesman-Review.

But hazardous materials response training in Spokane this week gave responders a chance to learn Railroad 101 without the ruckus.

A Kootenai County Fire Department staffer and a Post Falls firefighter joined about a dozen Spokane city and county responders at the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway's Hillyard rail yard.

Along with insider tips on handling dangerous freight cargo, Kootenai County firefighter Keith McConnell said he learned how to drive a train.

"We learned quick identification of different kinds of cars -- also how to start the locomotive. That's kind of cool," McConnell said.

BNSF hosted the two days of training to educate local emergency crews, railroad officials said. By the end of the year, BNSF expects more than 3,000 responders will have completed the training nationwide.

Communication with railroads can be problematic, North Idaho and Spokane County responders have said. And local foes of a proposed refueling depot near Hauser knock BNSF's safety record, citing a recent Moyie Springs derailment and federal statistics that show 24 of 34 reported train accidents in Spokane County between 1990 and 1999 stemmed from human error.

"Of course," the proposed depot is one of the reasons the Idaho responders valued the haz-mat training, McConnell said. But the depot "is not a main consideration at all."

Kootenai County faces potentially toxic spills from train derailments now, with more than 29,000 cars of hazardous materials rumbling across local tracks every year.

One of the main attractions Tuesday was a remodeled tanker car touted by the railroad as a rolling classroom that responders could walk through.

The group learned how to recognize potentially hazardous cargo by the shape of the tanker car containing it. Railroad staffers explained how to shut off fuel lines and batteries in the locomotive, and how to evaluate leaks.

The training got high marks from participants.

"This is by far the most comprehensive training I've had," said Lt. Gary Mauri, a paramedic with Spokane County Fire District 9.

Today, BNSF starts another training session in Sandpoint. In late July, a BNSF freight train derailed in the Kootenai River canyon and released a cloud of ammonia gas.

Caltrain train hits truck; 37 hurt in south San Jose as vehicle gets stuck on tracks

SAN FRANCISCO - More than three dozen people were injured yesterday morning (Aug. 31) when a Caltrain commuter train slammed into a Coca-Cola delivery truck in south San Jose, writes Marshall Wilson in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The impact sprayed sticky sweet cola around the crash scene as bottles and cans burst into a passenger car, which was at the front of the five-car northbound train.

The 6:25 a.m. crash delayed commuter service throughout the morning on the Gilroy to San Francisco rail line and forced officials to close the southbound Monterey Highway for several hours.

A dozen of the 150 passengers aboard the train were taken to hospitals with what was described as minor muscle aches and back pain. Twenty-five were treated at the scene, said San Jose Fire Capt. Tom Scully. The collision occurred at Richmond Avenue, which is steep near the tracks. As the truck tried to cross, the bottom of the trailer apparently snagged on the tracks, Scully said.

With the Coke truck stuck, the driver, identified as Chris Laughin, 27, called a telephone number posted at the crossing but was unable to reach Union Pacific, which controls the tracks, Caltrain spokeswoman Rita Haskin said. He then called 911, but the train struck the trailer before word got through. Laughin was not in the cab when the train struck and was not hurt, officials said.

The train typically travels at its maximum speed of 79 mph through the area, Haskin said, but the engineer spotted the stuck trailer and applied the emergency brakes.

Haskin said the engineer then warned passengers in the lead car to brace for an impact. Caltrain officials will study an on-board computer, similar to a "black box'' on an airliner, to see what speed the train was traveling and when the engineer applied the brakes, Haskin said.

Motorist dies as train hits car at crossing

UNION GAP, Wash. -- A train collided with a car at a rail crossing in this town just south of Yakima yesterday (Sept. 2), killing the car's driver, the Associated Press reported.

The train's engineer told investigators he saw the car approaching the tracks and blew a whistle to warn the driver, Police Chief Bill Silvers said.

But the car continued through the crossing and burst into flames on impact.

The lone occupant, identified as Sofia Andaverde, 44, of Union Gap, was ejected from the car and was dead when emergency crews arrived.

No one on the train was injured in the 11 a.m. accident.

Because the rail crossing is on a private road, there are no lights or gates to warn motorists of oncoming trains.

Norfolk Southern project in Buffalo will expedite rail shipments

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 3 - Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) today announced plans to rebuild a portion of Bison Yard in Buffalo at a cost of $13 million.

The project involves reconstruction of a 10-track facility on the site of the former joint Norfolk and Western/Conrail rail yard, adjacent to Norfolk Southern's automotive, intermodal and Thoroughbred Bulk Transfer (TBT) facilities. The additional capacity is scheduled to be in operation by December 1, 1999.

"Since we assumed control of our portion of Conrail on June 1, rail shipments moving through Buffalo on Norfolk Southern have increased," said Jon L. Manetta, Norfolk Southern's senior vice president Operations. "The rebuilt Bison Yard will give Norfolk Southern the capacity and flexibility we need to efficiently serve Buffalo, western New York and the Southern Tier. Once the yard is completed, rail customers should realize improved rail service immediately."

The project involves reinstallation of five tracks for local service and five 8,000-foot tracks to support operations and facilitate interchange with other carriers in Buffalo. The rebuilt yard will allow Norfolk Southern to improve rail freight movement through Buffalo.

Norfolk Southern, a Virginia-based holding company with headquarters in Norfolk, owns a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which operates approximately 21,600 miles of road in 22 states, the District of Columbia and the Province of Ontario.

Norfolk Southern's Pier 6 at Lamberts Point loads billionth ton of coal

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 4 -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) today loaded the billionth ton of coal at Lamberts Point's Pier 6, the largest coal-transloading terminal in the Northern Hemisphere. Lamberts Point is the only such facility in the world to mark this achievement.

The billionth ton of coal was loaded aboard the Loire Ore, an 895-foot vessel flying a Panamanian flag and bound for The Netherlands.

In fact, it would take 15,385 ocean-going vessels to transport the billion tons of coal shipped through Pier 6 since it opened in 1962. End-to-end, the vessels would stretch 2,258 miles - nearly the length of the Mississippi River. A billion tons of coal also would: fill the Louisiana Superdome 300 times; fill nearly 11 million 100-ton coal hopper cars, and form a train stretching 104,000 miles - which is enough to circle the Earth four times, travel from New York to Los Angeles 37 times or fly halfway to the moon.

Pier 6 stands as a testament to the importance of coal to Norfolk Southern and its predecessors for more than a century.

"This marks a historic milestone for Lamberts Point and Norfolk Southern," said David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern chairman, president and CEO. "Norfolk Southern and its predecessors have worked in partnership with coal consumers and producers around the globe. Together, we have encouraged greater use of our nation's most abundant resource. And together we will promote coal as the energy source of choice for generations to come."

Coal moving through Lamberts Point originates primarily in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, where producers mine some of the world's finest metallurgical coal. AAt Pier 6, Norfolk Southern transloads coal into vessels destined for receivers on five continents, as well as East Coast utility and co-generation plants. Custom blending at Lamberts Point allows mixing of various types and quantities of coal to meet specific receiver needs. Producers also ship high-BTU, low-sulfur steam coal through Lamberts Point, which permits utilities to comply with clean-air standards.

Pier 6, a descendent of five earlier piers located at Lamberts Point, extends 1,850 feet into the Elizabeth River. At a depth of 50 feet, the channel is the deepest on the East Coast. On the pier are two mammoth shiploaders that can each feed up to 8,000 tons of coal per hour into the holds of ships and barges. Each shiploader weighs 2,800 tons and stands 182 feet above mean water level. They were the largest self-propelled structures in the world when built. Today, only Cape Canaveral's massive rocket transporters are larger.

Norfolk Southern is a Virginia-based holding company with headquarters in Norfolk. It owns a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which operates a 21,600-mile rail system serving 22 states in the East, as well as in the District of Columbia and the Province of Ontario, Canada.

General Motors offers lifetime jobs

NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. has offered a guarantee of lifetime employment to many employees as part of negotiations over a new contract with the United Automobile Workers union, according to published reports.

The union's three-year contracts with the major automakers are due to expire Sept. 14. Under the existing contracts, workers effectively have lifetime employment because the terms bar automakers from allowing employment to fall by more than 5 percent nationally or in any of a dozen regions.

Under GM's proposal, the lifetime offer would cover current workers with more than 10 years experience, Bloomberg News reported Sunday.

The company's proposal is aimed at addressing workers' job security fears while allowing GM to reduce overall employment more rapidly, The New York Times reported today. Edd Snyder, a GM spokesman, confirmed the contents of the offer, the Times said.

The UAW was expected to pick a focus company whose proposal would offer the union the richest and easiest-to-obtain package of wages and benefits. It would then take that deal and use it as a model in negotiations with the remaining automakers.

GM also proposed a $500 lump-sum payment plus a 2 percent wage increase for the first year of the contract, a 3 percent wage increase in the second year and a $1,500 payment in the third year.

The proposal could drive a wedge between workers seeking job security and union leaders who prefer a large membership base, regardless of which workers belong to the union, the Times said.

The contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG cover 407,000 workers. The UAW hasn't held a national strike during negotiations since 1976. But it has used plant-level strikes as a bargaining tool -- the last in 1996 against GM.

Doctors examine union option; physicians are beginning to band together, and HMOs are worried

SAN FRANCISCO - Hospitals in San Francisco were first to feel the slowdown, as angry anesthesiologists refused to handle patients except in emergencies. With elective surgeries postponed, hospital beds emptied quickly, said the San Francisco Chronicle's Tom Abate.

No one was hurt. But the "strike" quickly achieved its objective, forcing the other side to meet some of the anesthesiologists' demands.

Sound like what might happen if doctors follow through on recent talk of joining unions?

Guess again. This work slowdown actually occurred in 1975, when anesthesiologists protested soaring malpractice-insurance rates. Their wildcat action, which spread by word of mouth, prompted the state Legislature to impose a $250,000 cap on awards for pain and suffering, to limit malpractice-liability judgments -- and insurance payments.

Today's labor unrest, which has been exemplified by the American Medical Association's recent decision to sponsor a doctor's union, has been sparked by different causes. Fed up with HMOs second-guessing their medical decisions and crimping their incomes, many doctors want to band together to fight back.

Just what form their collective action will take is unclear. Some doctors, especially employees of clinics or hospitals, could join traditional unions. Other physicians in private practice, whose businesses are professional corporations, could seek exemptions from antitrust laws to aggregate into large bargaining collectives.

Regardless of which path doctors take, HMOs maintain that organized physicians would use their clout to drive up health care costs.

But many doctors feel the time is ripe for united action. "A lot of us are getting off the plans where they pay miserably or they pay tardy,'' says Kathy Fields, a private dermatologist in San Francisco. "Doctors feel terribly devalued. They need a voice.''

Earlier this year, Fields quit doing business with insurers and required patients to pay cash. She also has joined the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, one of a half- dozen unions trying to organize the nation's 737,000 licensed physicians.

The union movement is still in the early stages of development. Exact numbers are hard to find, but unions seem to represent 40,000 doctors, or 5.4 percent of the physician workforce.

Edward O'Neil, director of the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California at San Francisco, sees two trends driving current union talk: a loss of pay and control.

"Up until five years ago, physician incomes were increasing faster than any other work group,''says O'Neil. But during the past five years, he says, medical incomes have stagnated or declined as HMO-style insurance has become more widespread.

At the same time, more doctors are working for someone else, be it a federal, state or county clinic, nonprofit hospital or private medical group.

A 1996 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that employee-physicians nearly doubled their presence, rising from 24.2 percent of all doctors in 1983 to 42.3 percent in 1994.

If such changes in income and working conditions weren't irritating enough, many physicians are incensed with the increasing power of HMOs to dictate everything from their fees to the standards of care.

"Our new membership is coming from doctors who resent cost controls'' says Dr. Robert Weinmann, a San Jose neurologist and president of the UAPD, which is based in Oakland.

"Doctors in every state are looking at unions,'' Weinmann says. "But where they've acted is in states like New York, Florida and California, where for-profit HMOs have interfered with first their practices and next with their incomes.''

Founded in 1972 over a controversial malpractice issue, the UAPD was the brainchild of San Mateo County physician Sanford Marcus.

"My wife and I sat down at our dining room table and sent out 5,000 letters to Bay Area doctors and got back a couple of hundred memberships,'' recalls Marcus, now retired in Daly City. "I'm delighted this union thing is still alive and growing.''

Since its inception, the UAPD mainly has represented doctors employed in public hospitals and private practices across the country. This spring, for instance, the 800 doctors who work for Los Angeles County voted for UAPD representation.

Though its members have never struck, Weinmann won't rule out job actions. "If you've given away your best weapon, you're like a general who says in advance he won't use ground troops,'' he argues.

However, the mere threat of strike worries many medical professionals -- even those who resent HMOs -- who question whether unions are the right bargaining agent for physicians.

"A strike or job action is, to us, an unethical concept,'' says Dr. Jack Lewin, chief executive of the California Medical Association.

Lewin has no problem with unions representing employed doctors, a category that includes residents or interns, who complete their training while working at hospitals.

Lewin thinks that federal law bars physicians in private or group practice from unionizing. Indeed, when a group of doctors in Delaware joined a union to negotiate a managed care contract, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit, charging the doctors with restraint of trade.

Instead Lewin thinks that private practitioners should persuade federal and state lawmakers to give more clout to a corporate collective bargaining agent -- the Independent Practice Association.

IPAs already exist in California and many other states. They are umbrella corporations that typically consist of a few hundred to a few thousand doctors who own their own practices. An IPA serves as the middleman between doctors and HMOs, negotiating the rates doctors get for treating HMO patients.

Lewin says the problem for organized doctors is that antitrust law considers IPAs a collection of independent businesses -- which, in fact, they are, because each private practice in the IPA is a professional corporation.

Organizing a large number of corporations to negotiate rates seems like price fixing under current rules. This has kept IPAs from signing up too many doctors in a given area. The net result, says Lewin, is that hundreds of small IPAs must bargain with a few large HMOs.

"In 1990, there were 18 major HMOs in California, and they've now consolidated down to six,'' Lewin says. "Unless all the docs in an area can stand together, the HMOs will divide and conquer.''

This week, Lewin sounded the alarm that many IPAs throughout California were on the verge of going bankrupt, in part because of what he considers a negotiating imbalance. He supports two legislative initiatives to tackle the antitrust issue.

One is legislation by Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Campbell, that is now in the House Judiciary Committee. It would treat IPAs like labor unions, allowing private doctors to form larger bargaining units than allowed under present antitrust law.

Lewin also hopes California lawmakers will take a close look at a law that took effect this week in Texas. That law gives private doctors in Texas some exemption from federal antitrust laws and allows the state attorney general to mediate in rate-setting talks with HMOs.

Both proposals are opposed by the American Association of Health Plans, the Washington, D.C., lobby that represents HMOs. HMOs haven't been alone in opposing the Campbell bill. When Congress held hearings on the measure in June, federal antitrust officials testified against it.

"We don't support the idea that hundreds of physicians can form a price-fixing cartel,'' says AAHP spokeswoman Susan Pisano.

Supporters of organized medicine disagree. Regardless of whether they prefer union or IPA bargaining, physicians insist they aren't simply out to boost their own pay, but also to protect patients.

"We are literally being deprived of the ability to take care of our patients . . . by some HMO dingdong with a clipboard,'' said John Ryan, a surgeon in San Jose and longtime UAPD member.

A study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in July found that 90 percent of doctors in a national survey complained of patients being denied care because of insurance considerations.

"Unionization is being positioned as a patient-care issue, but I don't buy that argument,'' says O'Neil, the UCSF researcher, adding that in his view, "It is motivated out of economic issues.''

O'Neil thinks doctors probably will choose the IPA form of organization as a way to improve their economic bargaining position. But if private practitioners really are frustrated about being second-guessed when they make a diagnosis, they may find IPAs just as willing to look over their shoulders as the HMOs.

That view is echoed by Dr. William DeWolf, who is on the board of Hill Physicians, a San Ramon IPA that is one of the largest in the nation.

"I'd love to believe every physician is wonderful and did a great job, but the truth is, unnecessary surgeries were done and bad treatments were made'' before managed care, said DeWolf, adding that "if you don't expect physicians should be accountable to someone, then you are dreaming of the early 1980s.''

Dr. Jay Crosson, executive director of the Permanente Federation, agrees. As the head of the 10,000 physicians who treat Kaiser patients, Crosson is one of the most powerful physicians in America. He favors IPA organizations, but says it will be up to such doctor groups to hold down medical care voluntarily because the system can't afford to keep paying for everything.

Doctors turning to union solution; more set up bargaining groups to negotiate with hospitals, health plans

WASHINGTON -- About 5 percent of America's doctors are carrying union cards this Labor Day, but disquiet over managed care makes it likely more physicians will attempt to organize to regain clout in bargaining with HMOs, according to Scripps Howard News Service writer Lee Bowman.

Doctors are forming their own labor organizations from coast to coast and also are being wooed by existing trade unions.

Last June, 800 physicians working at Los Angeles County hospitals voted to join the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Weeks later, the American Medical Association voted to form a "national negotiating organization" to help groups of doctors across the country establish themselves as bargaining units to negotiate with hospitals and health plans.

"We can no longer practice medicine the way we are supposed to, and patients are suffering," says Dr. Barry Liebowitz, president of the New York Doctors Council. "We need a countervailing force to stand up to the insurance administrators who deny patients needed care."

But major legal obstacles remain before most doctors can sign a union card.

Although many physicians say their status as independent small businesses is an illusion given the power of insurance plans, federal anti-trust law still precludes non-salaried, private doctors from negotiating with HMOs.

Only doctors with a direct employer, such as a hospital, clinic or government health agency, are allowed to unionize under this arrangement. Most health care experts believe about one in seven doctors falls under these categories.

Pro-union doctors argue that managed care plans in many markets have signed up so many of their patients that physicians effectively become their "employees," working for a fixed fee from each HMO patient they see.

That was the contention of 500 doctors in southern New Jersey when they sought to organize to bargain with AmeriHealth Corp. last year. They were turned down by a National Labor Relations Board administrative judge who concluded they were independent contractors. The decision is being appealed.

Legislation that would lift the anti-trust prohibitions for doctors -- but explicitly deny them the right to strike -- has been introduced in Congress, but so far has moved no further than hearings before the House Judiciary Committee.

Many doctors see the bill, introduced by Reps. Tom Campbell, R-Calif., and John Conyers, D-Mich., as nearly equal in importance to various Patients Bill of Rights proposals. It is vehemently opposed by the managed care industry and by federal regulators.

Robert Pitofsky, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, warned the Judiciary Committee during a June hearing that granting the anti-trust exemption "would be bad medicine for consumers" by driving medical costs higher.

"We certainly support the right of physicians who are employees to join unions, but we don't support the notion that physicians who are competitors should be able to collectively bargain," said Susan Pisano, spokeswoman for the American Association of Health Plans, the leading trade group for managed care.

"Why would the government want to roll back the law that protects competition for this one particular group of professionals," she added.

Gore offers health-care plan for uninsured

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vice President Al Gore today (September 5) will offer a wide-ranging package of proposals aimed at bringing millions of uninsured Americans into the health care system and improving coverage for those already in it, according to Scott Lindlaw of the Associated Press.

But Gore plans to make it clear that, if elected president, he would pursue the same incremental approach to changing managed care that President Clinton adopted after his attempt to revamp the system failed to win congressional approval in 1994.

"We have all learned that we cannot overhaul the system in one fell swoop," Gore said in remarks prepared for a speech at a hospital here today. "Experience has taught us that there is a way to keep what is right, while fixing what is wrong with American health care."

The centerpiece of the Democratic presidential candidate's plan would be a guarantee that by 2005, every child in the nation would have access to affordable health care.

The Children's Health Fund, an advocacy group for disadvantaged children, estimates some 11 million children have no health insurance and almost as many have inadequate plans or live in places without enough doctors.

To help insure more children, Gore would expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, which helps states provide coverage to children in working families. Currently, states can use the federal CHIP money to cover children in families that earn up to 200 percent of the poverty level. Gore would raise that cap to 250 percent.

Gore would also allow families that do not qualify for the program, and do not receive health benefits through their jobs, to buy into the program. He would give financial bonuses to states that meet enrollment targets for CHIP and Medicaid, programs he believes are not fully utilized.

Gore said the fastest-growing group of uninsured Americans are those between 55 and 65. Currently, Americans are eligible for Medicare at 65. Gore proposed allowing "vulnerable Americans" to buy into the program as early as age 55 and he promised a 25 percent tax credit to help defray the cost.

Gore also would:

•Let people with disabilities keep Medicare or Medicaid when they returned to the workplace.

•Encourage small businesses to band together to negotiate rates for their workers' coverage by providing a 25 percent tax credit to the firms.

•Press for a "real, enforceable" Patients' Bill of Rights, similar to legislation that Congress will consider when it returns this month from recess. Gore didn't explicitly say in his remarks whether he favors allowing patients to sue their health maintenance organizations and collect damages when care has been denied. But, he has promoted Democratic legislation this year that would do so.

Gore's "bill of rights" would guarantee patients the right to see a specialist, and ensure doctors can tell patients all their medical options. It would guarantee that pregnant women and cancer patients wouldn't have to change doctors in the middle of treatment.

He suggested that it also would require managed care companies to cover mental illness.

"I want to make sure that a patient with depression is given access to care on terms no different from a patient who has diabetes," he said. "And I will begin by improving mental health services for those who receive Medicaid."

Gore promised to establish new public-private partnerships to expand access to prevention and wellness programs and to promote such initiatives in the workplace. He didn't say what the government's role would be, however, nor did he say how he would finance the new initiatives.

Gore's proposal staked out ground between that of his Democratic rival, former Sen. Bill Bradley, who has said he will propose something approaching universal coverage, and Republicans, who fear that imposing too many mandates on private health care firms will drive up costs.

"Others will argue against reforming our health care system carefully, realistically, and step-by-step. Some of them will tell you that the only acceptable answer is a one-size-fits-all solution," Gore said, in an apparent reference to Bradley.

Gore seeks organized labor support

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Vice President Al Gore ripped into Republican rivals he said are "buckling" to anti-union pressure and pushing measures that would cripple labor's political clout, said Associated Press writer Mike Glover.

He mentioned none by name, but "paycheck protection" has been an issue in Texas, where Gov. George W. Bush is the leading GOP contender. Gore aides distributed complaints from Texas labor leaders about the issue, even as Gore pounded the point at labor rallies.

"Some of the anti-labor folks have put pressure on these candidates and they've buckled to it," said Gore. "It is designed to bust unions. It's probably the single most notorious union-busting proposal to come along in years."

Seeking to shore up labor backing, Gore hammered the point, even as he was collecting the formal endorsements of still more key Democratic politicians.

At issue is the ability of union leaders to use dues of members for political purposes. Many Republicans push for proposals that would require individual union members to annually give approval for such use, and dub the issue "paycheck protection."

Union leaders and many Democrats argue the move would effectively eliminate the ability of unions to be political players, and call it "paycheck deception."

"I've been surprised at some of the Republican candidates for president who have felt so much pressure from the far right wing that they have found it necessary to endorse this idea," said Gore. "It was out of the mainstream of the country."

He noted that voters in California voted on the issue in a referendum in the last election, rejecting it soundly.

"Most moderate Republicans have really stayed away from it," said Gore.

Gore faces opposition only from former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, and most polls show him with an early lead.

A Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll found that Bradley and Gore are running neck and neck in New Hampshire. Among 400 likely Democratic primary voters, Gore led Bradley, the former New Jersey senator, by 40 percent to 36 percent, the Globe reported Sunday. That amounts to a statistical dead heat because it falls within the poll's margin of error of 5 percentage points.

There have been occasional tensions between the White House and labor, mainly over trade issues, and Gore has devoted heavy attention to court labor and block Bradley from gaining ground with that key Democratic group.

He was sweeping through the state in a two-day swing touching areas of the state where labor has a high presence.

He was leading the annual Labor Day Parade in Des Moines today, where he was set to collect the formal endorsement of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who has close ties with labor leaders.

On Sunday, he picked up the endorsement of Secretary of State Chet Culver, also with solid labor ties.

At his stops, Gore hammered hard at labor themes, pledging to "close the loopholes" that have shifted the balance of power against the nation's workers.

Gore vowed to push for laws preventing striking workers from being replaced and demanded another increase in the minimum wage.

"I have always believed we need to close the loopholes that have allowed some of the union-busting tactics that began with the Reagan-Bush crowd," Gore said.

He warned against "a concentration of power" that is unhealthy for workers and said he'd bring balance to the workplace. As he worked to shore up labor backing, Gore also was moving ahead organizationally.

He is returning to the state next weekend to kick off a marathon round of organizational meetings in all of Iowa's 99 counties.

Though he was looking to head off Bradley, the public rhetoric centered around Republicans.

"The words 'outrage' and "Republican" kind of go together when you talk about risky tax schemes," Gore said.

Some polls show Gore faring poorly against potential Republican opponents, but he said there's a campaign ahead that will allow him to make a case that voters will buy.

"The struggle for the future of this country is a marathon, not a sprint," Gore said. "We've always found it within us to make the right choices."

Gore parades, basks in labor support

DES MOINES, Iowa -- With an endorsement from Sen. Tom Harkin, Vice President Al Gore paraded through a working class neighborhood Monday and basked in warm words from top labor leaders with whom he has sometimes disagreed, according to Mike Glover of the Associated Press.

Gore strode side-by-side with AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka, who spoke approvingly of Gore's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I'm proud to be with the vice president as he helps us celebrate Labor Day," said Trumka, who said the labor federation is likely to endorse a candidate at its October convention. "I think the heads-on favorite is the vice president."

The UTU endorsed Gore's candidacy in August, one of the first labor unions to formally back Gore.

President Clinton has clashed with labor leaders in pushing for free trade proposals that union say amount to exporting jobs, and Gore said that tension will continue if he's elected.

"We have the same general philosophy on trade," said Gore. "I think part of our success in the economy has been to open new markets for our products."

Gore shrugged off questions about differences with labor over trade issues.

"It's no secret that has been a matter on which I've differed with some in organized labor," said Gore.

Labor leaders argue that proposals like the North American Free Trade Agreement give businesses incentives to ship jobs to Third World countries with poor labor and environmental standards.

Gore said he will push those issues, while seeking to include provisions forcing trading partners to boost labor laws and environmental standards.

"It's no secret that President Clinton and I have worked and we've tried to integrate labor and environmental concerns into the fabric of trade negotiations," said Gore. "That's where the heart and soul of America is."

Harkin has close ties to organized labor and is a leading Senate liberal, but he handed a warm endorsement to the centrist Gore.

"I don't take this step lightly," said Harkin. "Al Gore is right for Iowa, he is right for America and he's right for our working families."

New York regional rail subsidiary wins contracts valued at an expected $75 million over the next five years

NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 1999--New York Regional Rail Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board Symbol: NYRR) announced today that over the last few months, New York Cross Harbor, a subsidiary of New York Regional Rail Corporation, has entered into a number of contracts and agreements for freight transportation. These contracts and agreements have expected volumes that are projected to result in over $75 million over the next five years. Certain contracts and agreements contain built in extensions that are expected to result in approximately $425 million over the following ten years. As additional contracts and agreements are signed, further updates will be issued.

"We are very pleased to report that the last few months mark the beginning of a new era for New York Cross Harbor," said Robert Bentley, President of New York Regional Rail Corporation. "Our expected business, with these contracts and agreements, will far exceed the level of revenues achieved during the 23 years of Conrail's existence."

New York Regional Rail Corporation, through its subsidiary, New York Cross Harbor operates the only rail-freight marine service in the NY/NJ/LI metropolitan area. With operations located at Jersey City's Greenville Yard, and multiple points of access on the Brooklyn waterfront, the Cross Harbor Railroad holds the only ICC Certificate of Necessity & Convenience to transport rail-cars via tug-propelled car-float (float-barge) between New York and New Jersey and throughout the Harbor. The Company currently has agreements with the Norfolk Southern Railway (NYSE: NSC) and CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) to handle traffic destined for New York.

Except for historical matters contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may reflect assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect New York Regional Rail's and the New York Cross Harbor Railroad's future business and prospects and could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.