Railroad workers should be aware that in addition to retirement annuities based on age and service, the Railroad Retirement Act also provides disability annuities for workers who become totally or occupationally disabled. Medicare coverage before age 65 is also available for totally disabled employees and those suffering from chronic kidney disease, according to the Railroad [...]
Interest-based bargaining key to success
April 13, 2010
By Retired GS&T Dan Johnson In the January issue of UTU News, the two-page centerfold summarized provisions of the Railway Labor Act. In the February issue, I explained how the Railway Labor Act is purposely designed to encourage both sides to reach a mutually acceptable solution that keeps the trains running. In the March issue, [...]
RRB celebrates 75th birthday
April 13, 2010
The 75th anniversary of the enactment of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935 is being observed during 2010. Part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, the Act was signed into law on August 29, 1935, the Railroad Retirement Board reports. It was in the rail industry that the first formal industrial pension plan [...]
RRB explains retiree benefits
March 5, 2010
Employers and employees covered by the Railroad Retirement Act pay higher retirement taxes than those covered by the Social Security Act, so that railroad retirement benefits remain higher than Social Security benefits, especially for career employees. The following questions and answers show the differences in railroad retirement and social security benefits payable at the close [...]
RRB fesses up on customer service
January 22, 2010
The following questions and answers discuss the Railroad Retirement Board’s performance in the key areas of retirement applications, survivor applications, disability applications and payments, and railroad unemployment and sickness benefit applications and claims during fiscal year 2009 (October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2009). Included are the customer service performance goals the RRB set for [...]
BNSF treasurers’ workshop set for Jan.
November 11, 2009
The UTU International is conducting a Treasurers’ Workshop and BNSF Railway Direct Receipts of Dues training session Jan. 19, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. All BNSF locals are being converted to the direct receipts billing system with the February 2010 billing, and local treasurers of all BNSF locals are encouraged to attend. Due to advances [...]
