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New rule to thwart railroad efforts to cut train crews to 1

By Admin

Reported by Josh Funk for AP News.

Major railroads will be required to maintain two-person crews under a new rule announced Wednesday that will thwart industry efforts to cut crews down to one person.

The Federal Railroad Administration said in a rule published in the Federal Register that railroads will be required to continue using two-person crews in most circumstances as they haul all kinds of cargo, including hazardous materials, across the country. But there will be an exception to allow short-line railroads that have already been using one-man crews to continue using them and railroads can apply for permission to use smaller crews if they can prove it is safe.

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Supply chains: The rail labor mayhem that Biden entered has been brewing for years

By Admin

Reported by Dani Romero for Yahoo Finance.

Rail workers across the country were set to walk off the job on July 18 before President Joe Biden intervened, the latest development in a contentious saga that has been brewing for years.

In an executive order signed on July 15, Biden established an emergency three-person board of arbitrators to work with the freight railways and their 115,000 workers to hammer out a contract that has been under negotiations since January 2020.

“The president’s goal is to make sure America’s freight rail system continues to run without disruption, delivering the items that our families, communities, farms, and businesses rely on,” the White House stated in a press release.

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FEDERAL COMMISSION SEEKS TO MEDIATE RAILWAY WORKER CONTRACT DISPUTE

By Admin

America’s Workforce Union Podcast

Samantha Brown, Communications Director for the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed how the Presidential Emergency Board, appointed by President Biden, seeks to reach a contractual agreement between the United Rail Unions and the railroads.

Biden recently announced the formation of the board under the process laid out by the Railway Labor Act after voluntary bargaining between the unions and the freight railroads stalled. Brown explained this was due to the railroads negotiating in bad faith. It is the final attempt to reach an agreement before a work stoppage or a lockout occurs, she added.

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AFL-CIO official on railroad labor dispute: ‘There is a basic fairness issue at stake’

By Admin

Reported by Yahoo Finance.

AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan joins Yahoo Finance Live to weigh in on how the union contract negotiations with railroads are proceeding, the issues at stake including wages and benefits, and the potential for work stoppage.

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Seven US unions urge senators not to raise pilot retirement age

By Admin

Reported by Pilar Wolfsteller for Flight Global.

A group of US unions has come out against raising the pilot retirement age from 65 currently – an idea that has been circulating in order to help alleviate the current pilot shortage.

In a letter to US senators on 19 July, the seven unions deny a shortage even exists, calling it a “false narrative” created by airlines and an “excuse for some airlines to water down pilot training requirements and flight experience time”.

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President Biden’s executive order aims to keep the freight trains running on time

By Admin

Reported by George Anderson for Retail Wire.

President Joseph Biden last Friday stepped in with an executive order designed to keep freight rail workers from striking over the next 60 days.

Mr. Biden signed the action naming an emergency board of arbitrators that will help resolve disputes between the workers and their employers. The arbitrators have been tasked with coming up with recommendations for the parties to consider in an effort to find a middle ground that will avert a strike or further federal intervention.

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‘Ticking time-bomb’: Lag in protections for transit workers could hamper hiring and system upgrades

By Admin

Reported by Eleanor Mueller for Politico.

Congress passed long-fought-for provisions aimed at improving transit workplace safety as part of its bipartisan infrastructure bill in November, 20 months into a pandemic that saw violence against workers spike across industries. One requirement: that transit agencies and unions join forces to form safety planning committees.

But the agency responsible for implementing the language, the Federal Transit Administration, says it doesn’t plan to enforce the provisions until the end of 2022. And the group that represents transit agencies, the American Public Transit Association, is pushing to extend that timeline, which it says does not give its members enough time to pull together the requisite committees.

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President Joe Biden stops national railroad strike, extends ‘cooling off’ period

By Admin

Reported by Harrison Mantas for Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

President Joe Biden blocked a strike Friday by the nation’s railroad workers by naming a board to help resolve the dispute.

Rail labor unions were preparing to strike July 18 when a federally mandated “cooling off period” expired, however, Biden’s order extends that period for 60 days.

The board’s recommendations aren’t legally binding, but can serve as a jumping off point for compromise.

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Biden names Presidential Emergency Board, preventing rail strike

By Admin

Reported by David Lassen for Trains.

Preventing a national rail strike that could have begun Monday, July 18, President Joe Biden has established a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate the ongoing dispute between railroads and workers.

Biden will name the members of the three-person board, whose members can not have any financial or other interest in either a rail labor organization or a railroad. The board will have 30 days from its establishment, effective Monday, to deliver a report recommending a resolution to the dispute. After that, the Railway Labor Act specifies there can be no work stoppage for another 30 days, except by agreement of both sides.

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Biden creates emergency panel to stave off rail worker strike

By Admin

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order to establish an emergency board to handle an ongoing dispute between freight railroads and their unions over a new labor contract.

The board’s formation averts a potential strike by union members on Monday.

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