News
Amtrak employees represented by SMART Transportation Division General Committees of Adjustment GO-769, GO-663, and GO-342 (Conductors, Assistant Conductors, and Yardmasters) voted in overwhelming favor of ratifying a tentative agreement reached last month. The agreement, effective April 1, 2018, provides a compounded 18.83 percent pay increase over the life of the contract, which runs through 2021,…
After months of having his nomination on hold in the U.S. Senate, Ronald L. Batory was confirmed Tuesday evening as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration by unanimous voice vote. Batory’s ascension to the position came after U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, removed a hold he had placed on the nomination. The…
The Safe Freight Act, the two-person crew bill introduced Jan. 30 by U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, has doubled its number of cosponsors in two weeks. On Feb. 12, U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Tina Smith of Minnesota joined in supporting the bill, bringing the total number of cosponsors to…
The United State Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has issued its spring schedule of informational conferences and pre-retirement seminars for union officers and for rail workers respectively. Registration for both of these types of programs is required and available at the RRB website (www.rrb.gov). RRB informational conferences The RRB’s informational conference program was started by the…
Medicare is always working to fight fraud and abuse. With that, a new type of claim review has recently begun: a process called Targeted Probe and Educate, or ‘TPE’ for short. How TPE works: Palmetto GBA/Railroad Medicare will conduct data analysis and find providers whose billing may be very different from their peers. Palmetto will…