UTU Local 426 Archived News.
December 20, 2005 08:41:13 PM PST
By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Fumes belched from 18-wheelers
and other diesel-powered vehicles and engines may be especially
tough on the human cardiovascular system, new research reveals.
In a carefully controlled study, the arteries of healthy volunteers
exposed to diesel exhaust lost part of their ability to expand,
while their blood became more likely to clot.
The bad news about the cardiovascular harm that polluted air can
inflict doesn't end there.
In a study reported in the Dec. 21 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association, New York University researchers found
that mice exposed to air as polluted as what floats around New York
City showed that the effects can be particularly damaging,
especially when coupled with a high-fat diet.
The human study answers a question scientists have posed for years,
one expert noted.
"People have wondered for a long time whether diesels were harmful,
and if so, how," said Dr. Russell V. Luepker, a professor of
epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, and a spokesman for the
American Heart Association. "This study is a building block. It
shows that when you look hard for mechanisms, you find them."
Luepker was not involved in the study, which was conducted by
Scottish researchers at the University of Edinburgh and published in
the Dec. 20 issue of Circulation.
The research relied on a specially built "exposure chamber" at the
university's Center for Cardiovascular Science. In two one-hour
sessions, 30 healthy young men were exposed either to filtered air
or to exhaust from an idling diesel engine. The researchers then
injected vasodilators -- drugs that cause the arteries to expand --
and took blood samples to measure clotting levels.
Response to the vasodilators was reduced significantly after the
diesel exposure, and levels of an enzyme that helps keep clots from
forming were reduced, the researchers reported.
The findings have potentially important implications for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, which is currently sponsoring a
voluntary program to outfit diesel-powered vehicles with devices
that trap fine particles in exhaust fumes.
"Diesel exhaust consists of a complex mixture of particles and
gases," said study author Dr. Nick Mills, a clinical research fellow
at the Edinburgh center. "Before we can advocate the widespread use
of particle traps in diesel engines, we need to verify that
combustion-derived particles are the responsible component."
A number of real-world studies have linked diesel fume exposure to
heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems, Mills noted.
"However, observational studies cannot prove causality," he said.
"In human exposure studies, we can control for all potential
confounding factors and assess the direct effect of particulates on
the cardiovascular system. Our findings provide further support for
the observational studies and a plausible mechanism to explain
association between particles and acute cardiovascular events."
It's not clear whether the findings apply to gasoline-powered
engines, Mills said, because their emissions are very different from
those of diesel-powered engines. In particular, diesel exhaust
generates 100 times more pollutant particles, he said.
Because the study was so carefully controlled, Luepker labeled the
results "interesting initial data." But he added that "the
controlled study in the laboratory is not totally dissimilar to what
people out on the street can be exposed to."
"If this study were done in mice, I would say, 'very interesting,' "
Luepker said. "A study done in healthy humans gets my attention
more."
In the mouse study from JAMA, the scientists found that mice
breathing polluted air developed far more plaque than those
breathing filtered air. Rodents that were exposed to polluted air
and a high-fat diet had arteries that were 41.5 percent obstructed
with plaque, while the mice exposed to a high-fat diet and filtered
air only experienced 26.2 percent blockage in their arteries.
The mice on normal diets also revealed differences in plaque levels,
with the mice exposed to polluted air showing 19.2 percent blockage
while those exposed to filtered air showing only 13.2 percent
blockage. All the mice were genetically prone to develop heart
disease.
12/22/05
Members Local 426,
I wish to wish you and your families a merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
It has been a very busy past year for all the Local Chairman. Last
year, we helped establish a safety site team, had reinstated several
members charged with insubordination issues. This month alone
charges of dishonesty with tie up, red block violation and
attendance violation investigation notices were on the plate. The
local chairmen met with the carrier on the 19th and were informed
that the trainmasters, desired the 48 hour rule upon receipt of
notice of investigation, would be adhered with. If you receive a
notice of investigation, promptly notify your local chairman if you
qualify, it will be in the body of the notice, and if you and your
representative agree alternative discipline is the way you wish to
have the issue handled, it must be requested in that time frame.
This is a extremely important issue.
All of us are watching the contract negotiations at the present, the
UTU has a excellent staff of people on the bargaining side for us,
they are seasoned veterans at RAILROAD NEGATIONS, we wish them well.
As you know the UTU was the only UNION to go to court on the Federal
Employees Liability Act, a law passed in 1908 to protect you in case
of injury, this is a vital law the railroads have been trying to
change for years, now they are trying to back door the law and want
to change it through negotiations, seeing how Congress has the
wisdom to not repeal this act, that is why WE are in court, that
alone is enough to remain in the UTU if you take promotion to
Engineer, Local 426 can still represent you in claim and
investigation issues.
Again, I wish you and your families health and happiness throughout
the season and the coming New Year.
Jim Larkin L/C
RE:
BNSF 4002 Battery Problems
Dear Mr.
Brooks:
It appears
that another BNSF engine in the Dash 8 or 9 series has experienced a
battery problem with Smoke, Fumes and Acid rolling out of the
battery box on BNSF 4002. I have been trying to gather information
on this incident for some time from various sources. I have been
told that the incident happened on November 21 or 22, 2005. BNSF
4002 came into Interbay Yard in Seattle on the pasedm train and that
crew intended to hand it off to the inbound crew for movement to
Everett. The outbound crew noticed lots of smoke and acid rolling
out of the battery box on the engine. The inbound crew said the unit
had stunk all the way over and they had been smelling fumes for
hours. I understand that Conductor Bizell and Engineer Bell of the
inbound crew went to the hospital complaining of fume
inhalation. The outbound crew set the unit out and went on their
way. After BNSF 4002 was set out the environmental people worked on
the unit for several hours using oil diapers or clothes to soak up
hazardous material. Collected almost a truck full of material for
disposal.
BNSF management is giving a different version of this
incident. Evidently saying no Hazmat problem and zero escape.
Please investigate this incident and let me know the results of your
investigation. This could be the 8th documented battery
overheating and fume release problem that I'm aware of. I would
like to commend the forces in Interbay Yard for calling in the
environmental folks to handle the discharge from the batteries
before movement to the roundhouse. That action is a lot better than
what happened in Pasco during the Fred George battery explosion
incident.
Sincerely,
Tom Retterath
RE: Possible
False Clear Signal - Longview
Dear Mr.
Brooks:
December 1, 2005 I had a report regarding a incident on the mainline
near Longview. I understand that a Amtrak train might have
experienced a false clear signal. Two trains ended up stopping on
the mainline face to face. I also understand that at least four
train crews were forced to sit and wait while local BNSF management
tried to discern what happened. Since the incident occurred in the
exact same place of the head on fatal about a decade ago I decided
to contact your office to give your agency a chance to investigate
before to much time passed. I called your office about 4pm 12/1/05
to give your inspectors a heads up.
I would appreciate a brief written report when you ascertain if a false clear signal was experienced or determine exactly what caused the problem.
Thanking you
in advance, I remain
Sincerely,
Tom Retterath
12/5/05
CARRIER ILLUSION COULD BACKFIRE BADLY
By James M. Brunkenhoefer
National Legislative Director
With Republicans controlling the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, it is no wonder railroad CEOs and their labor negotiators have the illusion they hold the upper hand in the current round of wage/rules negotiations.
As some CEOs are telling Wall Street, if railroads don’t get all they want at the bargaining table, they will call upon their friends in the Bush White House to have an impasse declared in negotiations and a carrier-favorable Presidential Emergency Board appointed.
That Bush-appointed PEB, which carrier CEOs are certain will contain three clones of Frank Lorenzo, is expected to make recommendations that read like a carbon-copy of the carriers’ Section 6 notices. Then, the ever-hopeful carrier CEOs expect the Republican-controlled House and Senate will rubber-stamp those PEB recommendations.
Carrier CEOs think they have the upper hand because of their special friends within the Bush administration – Vice President Dick Cheney, a former Union Pacific board member; White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, a good friend of a former Union Pacific chairman; and Treasury Secretary John Snow, a former chairman of CSX.
All is not always as it seems to be, however.
In fact, those in the know on Capitol Hill are telling a different story – a story carrier CEOs and their labor negotiators, not familiar with congressional politics, have yet to fully digest.
Carrier CEOs and their labor negotiators, say these insiders, would be wise to cool it because the Washington environment no longer is as carrier friendly as the CEOs and their labor negotiators think.
There are many reasons for this.
President Bush is losing popularity. A CNN/USA Today polls concluded that 60 percent of voters disapprove of the way the president is doing his job. Low approval ratings translate into less support for the president’s policies in Congress. Republican lawmakers, worried about their own re-election in 2006, already are abandoning the Bush bandwagon and voting to oppose the president’s legislative proposals.
Further causing Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from the president and his policies are the Republican scandals being reported in the news – scandals involving the presidents’ friends such as disgraced Republican congressmen Tom DeLay and Duke Cunningham, shamed Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, troubled White House political strategist Karl Rove, and the indicted Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who is VP Cheney’s chief of staff.
A case in point is the Bush administration’s attempt to eliminate federal subsidies for Amtrak and force its sale to non-union private operators. Republican lawmakers – including many in leadership positions -- thumbed their noses at the Bush attack on Amtrak. Instead, they voted to give Amtrak $1.3 billion in federal subsidies for fiscal year 2006.
Thus, say Capitol Hill insiders close to Republican lawmakers, even if a Bush handpicked PEB recommends one-person crews on freight trains, Republican lawmakers in Congress cannot be counted on to impose those PEB recommendations as law.
Carrier lobbyists have presented their CEOs with some troubling math.
In the 435-member House of Representatives, 218 votes are needed to pass into law recommendations of a PEB. Those carrier lobbyists agree that at least 200 votes will always be cast for the UTU position. That means the carriers must attract at least 218 of the remaining 235 votes, which is considered almost impossible in an election year (2006) when many Republicans will be trying to distance themselves from the unpopular Bush administration and its policies.
The situation is similar in the 100-member Senate, where a minimum of 60 votes will be required to cut off an almost certain filibuster by labor-friendly Democrats against legislation to impose a Bush-administration’s PEB recommendations.
Indeed, the last thing moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats – the lawmakers that carriers will depend upon to impose anti-labor PEB recommendations – want in an election year is a controversial issue that will turn union-families against them at the polls.
Moreover, railroad CEOs are being told by those in the know that any discussion in Congress of single-person crews will not turn in favor of the carriers.
Lawmakers are quite sensitive to safety and security concerns in the wake of 9/11 and the terrorist bombings of trains in London and Madrid. With railroads carrying some of the most deadly chemicals known to mankind – including nuclear weapons and nuclear waste – no lawmaker wants his or her name attached to a decision that could result in massive casualties and property destruction.
Some lawmakers already are asking railroad lobbyists very difficult questions about one-person crews.
The questions include: What if the lone operator of a train has a heart attack or other serious medical problem? What if nature calls? What about a derailment or other accident? And, why are carrier operating officers and FRA officials saying that the technology required for safe single-person train operations is seven-to-10 years away from being perfected?
Lawmakers already are in possession of data showing that the number of train accidents has been rising, and that what the railroads really are seeking are even larger profits at the risk of more deadly accidents and a public calamity.
Lawmakers also recognize that railroads are not suffering financial losses as are the automakers or airlines, which might otherwise dictate a need for reducing crew size. In fact, railroads are earning higher profits than at anytime in modern history, and any bigger profits will just further enrich the railroads’ top executives through bigger bonuses.
Perhaps the most important message carrier CEOs and their labor negotiators need to read, study and inwardly digest is that it makes eminently better sense to reach a negotiated settlement than to force the UTU to turn up the heat on Capitol Hill and within the FRA.