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RAIL SAFETY BILL SIGNED INTO LAW

WASHINGTON --  President Bush on Oct. 16 signed into law the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

This is the most comprehensive rail safety bill in more than 30 years.

In the Senate, which passed the bill Oct. 1 by a 74-24 vote, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) voted "yes," and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted "no."

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 provides for certification of conductors, along with a minimum training requirement.

Additionally, it prohibits carriers from interfering with medical treatment of injured employees, mandates installation of positive train control, and offers railroads incentives to install electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes and switch position indicators.

Significantly, the safety bill caps limbo time and requires at least two days off following each six-day work week.

But a provision permits general chairpersons to negotiate with carriers a better balance between time off and earnings, while preserving guaranteed time off.

Also of significance, the legislative history of the bill supports two sets of eyes and ears in the locomotive cab, notwithstanding the installation of PTC.

Following are major provisions of the rail safety bill:

Conductor certification: Within 18 months of the bills becoming law, the FRA must establish a program to certify conductors, including minimum training standards.

Positive Train Control: Requires installation of positive train control by Dec. 31, 2015, on all main-line track where intercity passenger and commuter railroads operate, and where toxic-by-inhalation hazmat is transported. Also, grants are provided to assist railroads in implementing ECP brakes and switch-position indicators.

Hours-of-Service: Requires at least 10 consecutive uninterrupted hours off duty following 12 hours on duty. (There is a three-year exception for passenger train employees, during which time their hours of service limitations will be studied by the FRA.)

No freight railroad employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be called to work unless they have had at least 10 uninterrupted hours off during the prior 24-hour period. And following each six days of work, a covered employee must be given 48 hours of uninterrupted time-off at their home terminal.

If the carrier requires that employee to work a 7th day -- even if it is to return them to their home terminal -- then the uninterrupted time-off at the home terminal must be at least 72 hours.

As to limbo time, no employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be placed in limbo time after they have been on duty, waited for deadhead transportation or been in any other mandatory service for more than a total of 276 hours in any month.

And total limbo time per month is restricted to no more than 40 hours -- reduced to 30 hours on the first anniversary of the bills becoming law.

The bill permits general chairpersons to sit down with carrier labor relations officers and negotiate a better balance between time off and earnings, while preserving guaranteed time off.

Locomotive Cab Safety: Requires the FRA study the safety impact of the use of train crews using personal electronic devices. (The UTU has learned that the FRA already is considering issuing an emergency order prohibiting train crews from using personal cell phones, Blackberries, iPods and other electronic devices, except for company business -- and then only when two-crewpersons are in the cab.)

Medical Attention: Prohibits railroads from denying, delaying, or interfering with the medical or first aid treatment of injured workers, and from disciplining those workers that request treatment. Also requires railroads to arrange for immediate transport of injured workers to the nearest appropriate hospital.

Inspector Staffing: Increases the number of federal rail safety inspectors and supporting staff by 200. 

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PRESIDENT FUTHEY'S LETTER FROM DENVER

Brothers & Sisters:

I am writing this as I return from the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

A high point of my week was an invitation-only luncheon with Michelle Obama and Jill and Joe Biden on Friday, Aug. 29. 

What a privilege it was to hear Michelle Obama speak first-hand of her husbands' concern and support for working families, for making our tax code more equitable, for strengthening laws in support of organized labor, and investing in transit and Amtrak. Sen. Biden also voiced a similar message of support.

Sitting with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka, in a box above the convention floor to hear Sen. Obama deliver his historic acceptance speech, was another special event.

I also had opportunity to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, and House Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota -- who, incidentally, is among those mentioned as in the running to join President Obamas cabinet as our nations transportation secretary.

I also had a chat with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who shares many of our concerns about CSX and its management.

For sure, I was afforded these opportunities NOT because I am International President of the UTU. It is because the UTU has one of the largest political action committees (PACs) among organized labor, and one of the most effective Washington legislative offices.

The UTU PAC has helped countless labor-friendly candidates win and hold office, and those candidates never forget the assistance from our 125,000 active and retired members whose careers are, and have been, dedicated to keeping freight trains, intercity-rail and bus-passenger operations, and local transit on time and safe.

As high an honor as it was to represent UTU members in Denver, the real benefit of our political involvement occurs every day that the House, Senate and state legislatures are in session. It is on those days that UTU PAC contributions pay their compound interest, as our political friends -- those who share our dreams, our concerns and our sense of justice -- go to work for us in support of laws that advance the economic interests of working families.

Speaker Pelosi knew that many of our members are not Democrats. And she understood that the UTU is bipartisan in its political dealings -- that we support Republicans, as well as Democrats, so long as the candidate is labor-union friendly.

Speaker Pelosi also noted that the overwhelming majority of Democratic lawmakers vote in support of working families, and that is why it is so essential to keep the House, Senate, White House and state legislatures from being controlled by anti-labor conservatives, who would privatize and endanger Social Security and Railroad Retirement, forever block the Employee Free Choice Act, destroy Amtrak, cut transit spending, continue exporting jobs, and tilt our tax codes even more in favor of corporations and the super-wealthy.

I assured Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid and all our other friends in Congress with whom I met that what the UTU would concentrate on during this election season is to help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House.

We will do this, I said, by concentrating our efforts in registering our members, their families, neighbors and friends to vote. And we will then devote our efforts to explaining in a positive way to our members why it is so essential they vote their paychecks on Election Day.

While working families have legitimate differences on various social issues, we all agree that goal number one is job security, as well as better wages, benefits and workplace safety. To achieve these goals, we depend on judges and regulators (nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate) who are labor friendly. A President Obama will make those appointments; a President McCain will not.

It was anti-labor conservatives who set in motion policies that eliminated labor protection in railroad short-line sales.

It is anti-labor conservatives who want to turn Social Security and Railroad Retirement over to the free-wheeling, private-sector financial whiz-bangs who brought us the Enron, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacles.

It was anti-labor conservatives who called Federal Railroad Administration safety inspectors "meter maids," and who oppose stiff carrier fines for serious safety violations.

It is anti-labor conservatives who are trying to eliminate the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA).

It is anti-labor judges to whom the carriers run for injunctions against strikes.

And it is anti-labor lawmakers and regulators who keep in place such horrendous laws and regulations that, for example, put a commercial drivers license at risk for minor traffic infractions in a private automobile, or who impose degrading direct-observation drug-testing procedures.

These are our paycheck issues, which can insure or destroy a secure economic future for our families -- now and in retirement. A labor-friendly White House is essential to change in support of working families.

As I spoke with delegates, other labor leaders, and, especially, so many young Americans who traveled to Denver just to be part of the convention, I was reminded of John Kennedy's thrilling line from his 1961 inaugural address -- that, "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans . . ."

Barack Obama is about change -- about change that will improve our job security, wages, benefits and workplace safety.

And this is why it is so essential that UTU members, their families, their friends and neighbors come together to help elect Barack Obama president on Election Day.

In solidarity,

Mike Futhey
International President

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GETTING OUT THE VOTE FOR OBAMA

NASHVILLE -- When labor-friendly Democrats took control of both the House and Senate in 2006 for the first time in a dozen years, with Democrats gaining 31 House seats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said later, "We owe a great deal of gratitude to the UTU."

International President Mike Futhey promised at a regional meeting here Aug. 20 that the UTU would do even better this Election Day, by helping to put long-time UTU friend Barack Obama in the White House while increasing the labor-friendly majorities in the House and Senate.

"The UTU is putting its money where its mouth is," Futhey said in announcing the appointment of four energetic UTU state legislative directors to a special committee whose mission is to mobilize a get-out-the-vote campaign in the so-called battleground states essential to an Obama victory. Battleground states are those where neither presidential candidate has overwhelming support, making the state up for grabs.

UTU Illinois State Legislative Director Joe Szabo, already serving as a transportation policy adviser to the Obama campaign, will chair the four-member committee, which also includes Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson, Colorado State Legislative Director Rick Johnson, and Idaho State Legislative Director George Millward.

Battleground states currently include Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. "Our job is to educate, encourage and energize voters, who include UTU members, retirees, their families, friends and neighbors," Szabo said.

Essential to a successful effort is receiving help from the UTU Auxiliary, and Auxiliary President Carol Menges pledged her organization is prepared to work closely with the Szabo team. Additionally, other UTU state legislative directors will be called upon by the committee for their special political expertise.

A similar strategy, on a smaller scale, was instituted by Futhey in Louisiana in May, helping underdog and labor friend Don Cazayoux capture a congressional seat controlled by Republicans for 33 years.

The successful two month UTU effort of telephone calling and door-bell ringing was led by Louisiana State Legislative Director Gary Devall, with assistance from legislative directors in adjoining states.

In a July 5 letter to Futhey, Obama promised to "preserve the sanctity of Railroad Retirement and the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) and push for a fair process to receive and maintain a Commercial Driver's License. My administration will push for Amtrak, commuter rail, and public transit system funding, ensuring strong employment levels well into the future.

"I am proud to stand with UTU in our joint efforts to build an America that values the labor of every American and rewards it with a few basic guarantees -- wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, and a retirement that's dignified," wrote Obama.

Many of UTUs newest members already have asked how they can help in the effort to elect Obama to the White House and elect other labor-friendly candidates to Congress.

More than a score of first-time attendees were at the Nashville regional meeting, prompting General Secretary and Treasurer Kim Thompson to ask, "Who are these people who scurry everywhere? They didnt linger in the hallways. They scurry from educational session to educational session," Thompson said, "and they keep asking questions. It is this degree of enthusiasm that will serve labor well on Election Day and propel the UTU forward in the future."

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ARBITRATOR NAMED IN ENTRY-RATES DISPUTE

Veteran arbitrator Robert E. Peterson has been agreed upon by the UTU and the carriers to settle the dispute over entry rates tied to training.

The recently ratified national rail agreement provided for a three-person arbitration panel that will include UTU International President Mike Futhey, the railroads' chief labor negotiator Robert Allen, and Peterson serving as the neutral.

Presentations will be made by the UTU's general counsel, as well as by a carrier representative, in a one-day hearing that will be held in Washington, D.C. Also to be presented are declarations by members of the UTU national negotiating committee.

The date of the arbitration hearing has yet to be scheduled owing to the unavailability of Allen. The decision will be written by the neutral within 30 days of that hearing.

Earlier in his career, Peterson was chief personnel officer for the Long Island Rail Road and manager of manpower planning and development for Penn Central Railroad. He is a graduate of New York University.

Most recently, Peterson served on PEB No. 240, which investigated a dispute between Metro-North Commuter Railroad and the Transportation Communications Union and Machinists; and PEB No. 239, which investigated a dispute between SEPTA in Philadelphia and the BLET.