You can’t vote often on Election Day, Nov. 6, but you can vote early.

Most states permit early voting by those who may not be near their voting location on Election Day.

For UTU members who work unconventional hours and are frequently at away-from-home terminals, early voting assures you will be able cast a ballot.

Early voting is different than casting an absentee ballot.

To determine if your state permits early voting, and to view the instructions and dates for casting an early ballot, click on the following link and scroll down to your state:

http://www.longdistancevoter.org/early_voting_rules#.UGBaipgzK5R

There is also time, in most states, for requesting an absentee ballot. For more information on obtaining an absentee ballot, click on the following link and then click on your state:

http://www.longdistancevoter.org/absentee_ballots

This may be the most important election in the careers of transportation workers and their families. Don’t allow others to determine your future.

By Larry Mann, 
UTU Rail Safety Coordinator - 

The FRA amended its conductor certification rules in February, delaying the time for testing conductors, extending the time for formulating training programs and amending the territorial qualification requirements.

By Sept. 1, 2012, each railroad shall have grandfathered as “certified conductors” all persons who were performing conductor duties as of Jan. 1, 2012. This includes conductors on Class I, Class II, Amtrak and commuter railroads, and means they must have issued “certified conductor” certificates to those conductors. 

After Sept. 1, Class I and Class II railroads, as well as Amtrak and commuter railroads, must designate and issue certificates to all persons authorized to perform as conductors between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 1, 2012.

Class III railroads, after Sept. 1, must designate and issue certificates to all persons authorized to perform as conductors between Jan. 1, 2012, and April 1, 2013.

After Dec. 1, 2012, Class I and Class II railroads, as well as Amtrak and commuter railroads, may not initially certify or recertify a person as conductor unless that person has been tested and evaluated in accordance with FRA conductor certification rules.

For Class III railroads, that date is after April 1, 2013.

In all cases, testing and evaluation must be conducted under FRA-approved carrier certification programs. Class I and Class II railroads, as well as Amtrak and commuter railroads, have until Sept. 30 to submit to FRA for approval their programs for training, testing and evaluation of conductors. The programs must be approved by the FRA no later than Dec. 1. For Class III railroads, the submission date is Jan. 31, and the approval date is April 1.

All of the programs submitted by railroads will require the railroads to consult with general chairpersons before being submitted to the FRA; and general chairpersons have 45 days to file comments, objections, and alternative plans with the FRA.

The railroads are required to conduct annual reviews of their programs and respond to detected instances of poor safety conduct by certified conductors.

If a conductor lacks territorial qualification on mainline track physical characteristics, that conductor shall be assisted by a person who meets the territorial qualification requirements.

For a conductor who has never been qualified over the particular territory, the assistant shall be a certified conductor who is not an assigned crew member.

If the conductor was previously qualified, but such qualification has expired for one year or less, and who has not regularly traveled over the territory prior to the expiration, the assistant may be any person, including an assigned crew member who meets the territorial qualification requirements.

If the qualification expired more than one year, the assistant may also be any person, so long as the duties of the assistant do not conflict with his safety duties and he is qualified for the main track physical characteristics and that person is not the assigned locomotive engineer.

This year’s annual open enrollment for railroad employees, conducted through railroad enrollment services and scheduled for September/October, will be completed online.

You start the open enrollment process by going to the “Alerts and Important Dates” section on the Railroad Information Depot home page (www.rrinfodepot.com). During the open enrollment period, you can link directly into the railroad enrollment services secured portal.

The new web-based open enrollment period will be available 24/7, and will provide the following capabilities:

•Step-by-step review of personalized benefit election choices with links to everything needed to enroll for the upcoming year.

•Links to your medical provider’s network.

•A quick and easy way to update your information.

•The ability to add, delete, and/or change dependent information. (If you’re adding a dependent who is not listed, you will be required to send in the specified documentation before the dependent can be added to the plan. Information on what is needed and where to send it will be provided on the site.)

•The option to review enrollment information in Spanish.

•Flexibility to make multiple changes during the open enrollment period.

•An immediate confirmation statement once you complete your selections.

If you use the online portal, there is no need to mail any paper enrollment forms.

In September, you will receive a personalized letter with information about how and when to access the railroad enrollment services portal.

For those unable to enroll online, instructions on how to obtain a paper kit will be in the September mailing. You will not need to access the railroad enrollment services portal if you elect to keep your current benefit options for the 2013 calendar year or do not want to opt out.

For assistance with the online enrollment website, call railroad enrollment services at (800) 753-2692.

Medco and Express Scripts are now one company managing the prescription benefit for those whose health care plans include Express Scripts or Medco.

You should continue to refill your prescriptions as you normally would by using your current prescription drug ID card, member ID number, mail-order refill forms, www.medco.com, and the toll-free member services telephone number on your ID card. 

The combined company is in the process of changing the name on all of its communications to Express Scripts. Until the renaming process is complete, you may see messages from both Express Scripts and Medco. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Who is Express Scripts?

Express Scripts, like Medco, is a prescription benefit manager. The combined company will now be known as Express Scripts.

How did Express Scripts get my prescription information?

Since Medco and Express Scripts have come together as one company to manage your prescription drug benefit, the information Medco had on file for you is now available to the merged company. Express Scripts will protect your private health information with the same level of security you’ve always received.

Do I use the same phone number I’ve always called?

Yes. Continue to call the number on your prescription drug benefit ID card.

Will my member ID number change?

No. Continue using your current prescription drug benefit ID card and the member ID number on the card. 

Can I continue ordering new prescriptions as I normally would?

Yes. Continue to submit new home delivery prescriptions by mail or have your doctor send them via fax or ePrescribing. Also, continue using your member ID number, order forms, www.medco.com, and the toll-free member services number on your ID card.

Can I still order refills on the member website or by phone? 

Yes. Continue to use www.medco.com or call the toll-free Member Services number on your ID card. You can also use the refill forms enclosed with your prescription orders.

Will my home delivery packages look different?

The packaging may look different because your medication may be shipped from an Express Scripts Pharmacy or the Medco Pharmacy, depending on factors including weather, medication supply, and the distance between the pharmacy and the delivery address. There may be differences between bottle caps, bottle colors, and the labels used. You may also notice changes in the materials used to package temperature sensitive medications. There will be no changes to your medications.

Can I still use the same participating retail pharmacy that I do today?

Yes. You can use the pharmacies in the current retail network.

What name changes might I expect to see?

The Express Scripts name and brand will begin appearing on most member communications around Sept.1. Some communications may still reference Medco along with Express Scripts until the name transition is complete. Below are some examples.

* Member website. The address will remain www.medco.com. The branding on the website will change to Express Scripts.

* Letters. Most letters to members will reflect the Express Scripts branding.

* Literature enclosed in home delivery packages. Information related to prescription orders will refer to Express Scripts and Medco.  

* Member Services greeting. When you call, you will hear reference to Medco is now part of the Express Scripts family of companies.

What won’t reflect a name change as of Sept. 1?

Certain communications and organization names such as those listed below won’t change on September 1, but will likely change over time.

* Medco Pharmacy

* Accredo Health Group, Inc. (specialty pharmacy)

* Prescription drug ID cards for existing Medco cardholders

If you’re part of a working family and attracted to some of the positions of the Tea Party, you had best check the bait for a barbed hook intended to reel-in labor unions, government-provided benefits such as Railroad Retirement, Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, and workplace safety protection.

That was the unvarnished message from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) July 23, as he told some 1,000 UTU members at a regional meeting in Memphis that the Tea Party has become so extreme that it is driving from the Republican Party those of moderate political positions who once made bipartisan cooperation possible in Congress. “The Republican Party as we know it today is run by Tea Party extremists,” Cohen said.

He contrasted the approach of Democrats and moderate Republicans in Congress – who historically worked to create jobs and protect the middle class – with today’s Tea Party extremists, whom he said are committed to revoking collective bargaining rights, repealing workplace safety laws and regulations, and spending more supporting foreign wars than rebuilding a crumbling American infrastructure that would “create American jobs in America.

“I’m a liberal and I don’t hide it,” Cohen said. “I’m inspired by John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey,” all praised by Cohen as having worked “to give people a step up” by a government “that provides for the common good.”

If Mitt Romney and Republicans beholden to the Tea Party win in November, said Cohen, “they are coming after you – your jobs, your working conditions and your economic standards.”

To combat the anti-union, anti-middle class Tea Party agenda, which Cohen said is bankrolled by conservative billionaires, the middle-class must contribute to union PACs, register to vote and help get out the vote on Election Day for candidates who support the middle-class. “This election is about [saving] the middle-class,” Cohen said.

Cohen, who spent 24 years in the Tennessee state senate before being elected to Congress in 2006, has a 100 percent voting record on issues of importance to working families, according to the AFL-CIO. He is a member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee