March 22, 2007 — Members of Lodge 5058 at Amtrak’s Hialeah, Florida yards met this day with Supervisors International Representative Joe Derillo. Discussion at the meeting focused on their concerns about ongoing negotiations of their contract. Also up for review were corporate computer practices. Derillo reports that members “did not hold back” in expressing their thoughts
The Union Plus program has an online retirement center to help plan for the future. One caution: the site works with an assumption of Social Security benefits and does not consider Railroad Retirement benefits. To adjust for this, get estimates of your retirement benefits from the RRB’s website here.
June 19, 2007—TCU’s Dennis O’Malley has been appointed to the Department of Labor’s new 16-member Advisory Committee on Job Corps. O’Malley is director of TCU’s Manpower Training Department which administers the Job Corps Advanced Transportation program at eight facilities nationwide. (Overseeing the work of the TCU department is International Vice President David Steele.) In her announcement, DoL
WRSA System Board 555 held its semi-annual convention in El Paso April 30-May 2, 2007. In elections held May 2, Brian O’Reilly (District 5517) was voted General Chairman and Carla Henderson-Bradley (District 5504) as General Secretary/Vice General Chairperson. Chosen to serve on the Board of Trustees are Chairman Allen Brunson (District 5513) and Members Lloyd Gibson (District
Court Backs Labor on FMLA Leave February 28, 2007—In what TCU legal experts call a “major victory,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the position of rail labor that where a collective bargaining agreement grants employees the right to determine when or how they use paid vacations or personal leave, those provisions prevent
April 23, 2007—International President Bob Scardelletti announced today that TCU members at Metro-North Railroad have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new agreement that is “positive and progressive” and “a testament to the unity of the membership and to the labor coalition that persevered through four long years of difficult bargaining.” That coalition of unions, the
Settlement Reached at Disney World June 6, 2007 —Members of the Service Trades Council at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, finalized a three-year contract Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The contract includes pay hikes of 4-5 percent annually and improves pensions. It runs through October 2, 2010. The Council includes TCU members of District 1908, as well
Effective July 1, 2007, LabCorp will no longer be a network provider of laboratory services for Aetna. This applies to all whose health care benefits are administered by Aetna, either under the Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan (Group Policy GA-23000) or AmPlan. Quest Diagnostics, Aetna’s national preferred provider of laboratory services, will continue
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April 2, 2007 — In a letter to rail union leaders, Railroad Retirement Board Labor Member V. M. Speakman calls attention to a situation which sometimes arises in cases involving disability anuity applications under the Railroad Retirement Act. ”An employee cannot file an application for a disability annuity until he or she is no longer on the
