The USDOT is allocating $600 million for transportation projects in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Grants totaling more than $131 million were awarded to 17 rail and transit-related projects, including: • $20 million for upgrades to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Ruggles Station; • $12.5 million for improvements along Amtrak’s Southwest Chief corridor
Beginning October 1, 2014, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will reduce railroad unemployment and sickness insurance benefits by 7.3 percent, up from the current 7.2 percent reduction, as required by law. The adjusted reduction amount is based on revised projections of benefit claims and payments under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. It will remain
Pictured Presenting MNPL check from left to right, IAM Legislative Representative Matt McKinnon and TCU Lodge 1315 Local Chairperson Olivia Nelson-Richards, Congresswoman Karen Bass, DL 725 Organizer Walter Carroll, Organizing Director Joe Solis and Organizer Calixto Tapia Karen Bass (D-CA) received a check from the IAM MNPL in recognition of her strong support of TCU
Transportation Trades Department’s (TTD), of which TCU is a member, rail safety agenda got a boost last week when Senator Richard Blumenthal, along with three other Senators, included several reforms that rail labor has long championed in their Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014. Some 130,000 miles of freight rail tracks crisscross the United States,
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today approved bipartisan legislation that improves the infrastructure, reduces costs, leverages private sector resources, creates greater accountability and transparency, and accelerates project delivery for Amtrak and the Nation’s passenger rail transportation system. The Committee approved by voice vote the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2014, or PRRIA (H.R.
Railroad retirement benefits are based on months of service and earnings credits. Earnings are creditable up to certain annual maximums on the amount of compensation subject to railroad retirement taxes. Credit for a month of railroad service is given for every month in which an employee had some compensated service for an employer covered by
By a 4 to 1 margin in favor, Duluth and Missabe Iron Range (DMIR) Ore Dock members successfully ratified a tentative agreement on September 11, 2014, after 3 years of bargaining, mediation and a failed first ratification. TCU wanted to follow the pattern set by National Bargaining; we were not interested in making rules changes
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) has filed two petitions with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for a six-month temporary waiver of compliance from Federal Railroad Safety Regulations. If both of these waivers are granted two critical changes would be made, it would allow BNSF to: • Move defective equipment further than the current
BNSF Railway Co. has been found in violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for disciplining an employee at its Murray Yard complex for following a physician’s treatment plan. The company has been ordered to pay the conductor $12,000 in damages, remove disciplinary
In very high turnouts, TCU Clerks and MofE Supervisors ratified new contracts with Metro-North by over 90% margins. The contracts have identical terms to the breakthrough Long Island contracts, with 18.2% in compounded wage increases over 6-1/2 year terms, fully retroactive. “We promised our Metro-North members that our struggle on Long Island was their struggle
