Railroads and government shutdowns
Whether a federal government shutdown lasts one day or for weeks or months, safety-critical functions affecting railroads are undisturbed.
Whether a federal government shutdown lasts one day or for weeks or months, safety-critical functions affecting railroads are undisturbed.
Have others noticed that aside from those few souls conscripted to promote the interests of railroads on Capitol Hill, the term “Staggers Rail Act” has lost its intended meaning?
Watching Washington, December 2017: Ignore Professor Plum in the library with a candlestick as being responsible for Amtrak inefficiency. Refocus on reform—and clues leading to Amtrak’s new President Richard Anderson, who ideally possesses the determination, means, motive and opportunity to correct decades of fuzzy accounting, impose financial transparency and purge waste.
For 54 weeks beginning in 2003, Roger Nober was the lone member of the Surface Transportation Board (STB), tormented that if he discussed cases with himself he would violate the Government in Sunshine Act, which prohibits a quorum from discussing anything of substance outside a properly noticed public meeting.
Nearly 11 months into the Administration of Donald J. Trump, leadership appointments at the three federal regulatory agencies of significant importance to railroads—the National Mediation Board, Federal Railroad Administration and Surface Transportation Board—have yet to be finalized.
Watching Washington, November 2017: Almost three years since 12 rail labor unions commenced collective bargaining over wages, benefits and work rules with Class I railroads, plus many regionals and short lines, a coalition of six unions—representing some 60% of the 145,000 affected workers—has reached a tentative agreement with the carriers.
RAILWAY AGE, WATCHING WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 2017: As the three-member National Mediation Board (NMB) shifts to Republican control for the first time since 2009, a knotty issue lying dormant since 2006 may emerge: Who pays for binding arbitration to resolve grievances over interpretation of collectively bargained labor contracts and employee discipline?
A tentative national agreement on wages, benefits and work rules has been reached between major railroads and seven of their 13 labor unions. Almost two-dozen unionized regionals and short lines also are participating in the talks.
Former Surface Transportation Board (STB) chairman and now STB member Dan Elliott announced Sept. 25 he is resigning Sept. 30 to join, in early October, the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm, Connors & Winters, whose specialization is employee compensation, health and benefit plans, and employment law.
Senate confirmation of two new Republican members to the three-member National Mediation Board (NMB), and confirmation of a Democrat to a third NMB term, is anticipated in the next few weeks. The NMB will then be under Republican control for the first time since 2009.