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Volume 20 - Number 3 March 2006
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Rail Labor: 'No' to single-man crews BNSF Railway should not be permitted to operate trains with single-person crews until appropriate safety studies have been completed and regulations are in place, the Federal Railroad Administration was told by rail labor on February 23. Carriers oppose needed rail security legislation The Association of American Railroads has sent a letter to members of Congress urging them not to support H.R. 4372, the Rail Worker Emergency Training Act of 2005. This bill, introduced by Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA), would mandate security training for railroad workers, and would address many of the concerns expressed by BLET members in the Safe Rails, Secure America surveys conducted by the Teamsters Rail Conference. Negotiations at a standstill for Amtrak engineers Amtrak's scarce funding allocation coupled with the lingering effects of David Gunn's anti-labor ideology continues to plague the Amtrak property today and has resulted in labor/management relations becoming virtually non-existent, according to General Chairman Mark Kenny. A message from Jim Hoffa; Safety and Security Our nation's homeland security has again been a major topic lately with the scandal over foreign control of our ports, but what has been continuously ignored is the threatened economic security of America's working families. Workers are facing unprecedented attacks on their wages and pension, skyrocketing health care costs and fuel prices and jobs leaving for foreign shores. In my mind, this assault on the American Dream is damaging our country as much as any foreign threat. |
