The Voice of Transportation Labor
By Mike Futhey, SMART Transportation Division President – Throughout my career as a union officer, I have experienced every type of carrier safety program imaginable: from official company “snitches” to complex, overly burdensome and intrusive research, to innovative, cooperative, joint ventures. Employees need a program to know the program du jour. When programs fall by the [...]
During a meeting with the presidents of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division on April 24, 2013, Kansas City Southern Railway announced that it intends to install and begin to use inward facing cameras in all of its locomotives over the next few weeks. According to KCS, each locomotive [...]
Norfolk Southern conductor and UTU member Jerrick A. Jackson, 47, was shot multiple times and killed May 7 in an apparent robbery at his home in Atlanta. Jackson was a member of Local 1245 in Atlanta and the local has established a memorial fund to assist his family, Local Secretary & Treasurer Jay C. Roy [...]
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a confirmation hearing on transportation secretary nominee Anthony Foxx May 22, according to Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). President Obama announced April 29 Anthony Foxx as his nominee for the next Secretary of Transportation. Foxx is currently the mayor of Charlotte, N.C, which he [...]
Amtrak employees represented by the SMART Transportation Division (UTU) have ratified a five-year agreement with management of the National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak). The new pact covers approximately 2,300 members employed as conductors, assistant conductors, yardmasters and dining car stewards. The agreement is retroactive to 2010 and the new rates of pay should become effective [...]
By John Previsich, Assistant President/General Secretary & Treasurer – Discipline’s roots in the rail industry reach back nearly 150 years. Following the Civil War, the industry was expanding at a breakneck speed, with Congress and the American public being hornswoggled on a continual basis by the robber barons of the day. From the “every other [...]
Airline passengers will soon be able to carry small knives, souvenir baseball bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto aircraft, and transportation workers represented by UTU-SMART and others are not happy about it. The new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) policy permits folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and [...]
By Mike Futhey, SMART Transportation Division President – Election day 2012 has passed, the celebration of an inauguration is done. Now what? Complacency is not a luxury we can afford. Our fight is not over. After the candidates’ assurances of brighter days for labor, a continuation of “business as usual” is unacceptable. It will only perpetuate [...]
After more than two years of negotiations, three UTU-SMART general committees representing some 2,300 Amtrak members have reached a deal with the passenger carrier on a new contract. General Chairpersons Bill Beebe, Robert Keeley and Dirk Sampson represent Amtrak conductors, assistant conductors, yardmasters and dining car stewards. The parties first began negotiations in 2010 and [...]
In-cab communication is an essential element in overall railroad safety. Too many fatal accidents and injuries have been attributed to a lack of or insufficient “in-cab communications.” Peer-to-peer interaction is the key component to effective in-cab communications, according to the UTU’s Rail Safety Task Force. Everyone knows someone who can benefit from peer-to-peer interaction. Post-accident [...]
Notified you are under investigation? Wish to file a grievance? Membership rights question? Click on the “Membership Toolbox” for your answer. … (Read more)
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The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a new report on the status of fatigue among railroad industry employees. In 2001, the FRA began examining the fatigue status of safety-critical railroad employees by using logbooks to collect work and … (Read More)
The dates and locations of the 2013 UTU regional meetings are: July 1-3: Boston, at the Westin Boston Waterfront July 29-31: Anaheim, Calif., at the Hilton Anaheim Members and attendees can now register online for a UTU regional meeting, as well … (Read More)
