Tool's Disability Outrage

A guy in Transportation years ago used to say "The LIRR never lets facts cloud an issue." It's ironic that today finds him fighting a libelous media and Railroad president bent on demonizing and humiliating LIRR employees and retirees.

Most bizarre is the LIRR's one-year president's bashing of her own employees in the media. Where else -- what other company anywhere on the planet is ruled by a CEO who runs to the media with scandalous accusations against its own employees? They're not even doing that on Wall Street yet.

The media pounds away at railroaders past and present as subpoenas are "slapped," retirees "scam," and last but not least the NYS Attorney General calls for the "jailing" of retired railroaders.

The Tool's limit for exposure to nonsense of this nature has been exceeded, and he begs for a venue to speak out with facts.

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Newspapers cite outlandish penalty payments being paid but ignore the incompetence that violates ninety year old agreements to require these payments. Gee -- we'd get fired three years ago if we violated five work rules in a day. Today, it's so commonplace that some employee's penalty payments exceed their paychecks.

We must ask "What band of imbeciles would make a guy earn five days pay by ordering him to violate the agreements five times in eight hours"

Unlike the "court of public opinion" which seems to control newspapers, politics and finances in America today, Railroad Retirement Disability annuities are governed by law. If you have this ailment or that ailment, you are occupationally disabled. With today's technology, documenting physical conditions is a breeze, as is, apparently winning an Occupational Disability. But it's the law.

A former poster here commented that if Macy sends me a 20% discount coupon, am I a criminal for cashing it because Macy's is having a bad year?

How dare employees work overtime when it will increase their pension calculations? Don't they know the LIRR underfunded their pension system year after year after year, after auditors warned time and time again?

The media outrage culminated yesterday with accusations levied against a golf-playing "disabled" railroader. The guy is 61 years old. Disability annuities end with your 59th year on earth. This man's no longer disabled. His disability ended two years ago. We hope he's feeling better.

The Post was further outraged yesterday by a "High Government Official's" taking payments for awarding annuities. First of all, this Tomato was actually the former Railroad Retirement office manager who earned a whopping $35,500 in her best year. After retiring, she offered assistance and counseling to employees about pensions, investments and of course Railroad Retirement. How did employees find out about her services? The president forgot to mention that the LIRR featured her at company-sponsored retirement seminars.

Now, the LIRR's nube-president is railing at her discovery that employees purchase private disability insurance -- 1600 of them. That's a quarter of all LIRR workers. She's outraged. "Criminals," she called them. Certainly she knows that the LIRR recommended the insurance. That the LIRR sent employees letters suggesting that they buy it. That the disability-insurance-salesman-mutt is an omni-present fixture on LIRR property selling his wares through MTA promoted payroll deduction and with the MTA's blessings?

The LIRR is proud of its safety record of reducing days lost to injuries. Once an employee is killed, he is no longer losing time. The LIRR has lost at least a half dozen employees to on-the-job fatalities in just as many years, a number exceeding all the areas police departments combined.

Tool has invested nearly 35 years proudly serving the passengers of the LIRR days and nights. He has made a good living and has had lots of fun. He also buried too many of his fellow workers.

How dare this plebe president -- earning a $2,000,000 pension after completing her third year, by the way -- steal the pride, honor and dignity from him and the generations of men who have given their years and lives to her Company.

But remember, The LIRR never lets facts cloud an issue.

very well said Tool, even on MNCR the same AFLAC people try to sell us insurance with the companies blessing.

Where else -- what other company anywhere on the planet is ruled by a CEO who runs to the media with scandalous accusations against its own employees?

To answer that, while off topic, would be eBay.

eBay has had a disastrous year with their CEO publicly denouncing sellers concerns as "just noise." His business plan has driven thousands of "noisy" merchants away from the online giant, and total listings has dropped at an astounding rate. By driving away sellers, they have also driven away the buyers, because in many cases, they were one in the same.

Jay

That was a great read and well summed up, Tool.

People are acting as if it's a crime in putting in extra time to make sure you retire with a good pension. It's common practice on the police department, too. In your last ten years of service, you haul serious time for your best three consecutive years. Overtime is just that, you're working extra. And I would hope you are compensated for it. These work rules were negotiated with the unions as well as the company. That means both parties were in agreement over the work rule regulations. This has been discussed about in depth in the past.

This is all directly as a result of the degrading of our economy. With budget pressures across the board and re-elections it shouldn't come to as a suprise that this is all happening. What the attorneys did with the school districts in double dipping was indeed unethical and there were quite a few loopholes. But this is a case where the newspapers are not reporting the entire story and are publishing an incomplete picture.

And it doesn't help you have a president that's selling out everyone, including her own help. You may ask, for what? Obviously it isn't to promote good ethics. Just look at her cell phone plan and how that blew up in her face.

Excellently said, Tool. A pleasure to read, as always.

Well said, tool. I only wish all the facts were laid out and not just those the LIRR wanted to make themselves good.

Well said Tool, Thank You

KRO52

Sounds like "That Bus Lady" is one strong wind from flying out the door...

Excellent summation, Tool. I agree totally. But now the damage is done, and reputations will be tarnished forever. Will the media recant their erroneous statements and outright lies? Not going to happen, and the public will only forget what they believe to be true as they were fed by the papers when the "perp walk" takes place. Ah, revenge! they will say, finally they got the ones who are ripping us off! Even my barber had to be set straight, after digesting the trash from Newsday and the Post. They will gloss over some guy from Big Money getting 468 mil in a golden parachute, and then cling to ruining the lives of many who are getting 35K. How sad its all become.

In 1948, the LIRR's Public Relations Director said something to the effect of

People hate commuting, so they hate the means of commuting.

The LIRR has always been an easy target of the Yellow Media. What has changed since then is the State's pouring of advertising dollars into the media, which assures its ire is directed from the State's incompetent management to the working man.

Meanwhile, the untimely and particularly grizzly deaths of workers go virtually unreported.

While the LIRR's new president, Helena Williams issued a press release calling her employees criminals for buying private disability insurance, Norman, the Aflac salesman was selling his "MTA Promoted" insurance to new employees at the railroad's most secure Hillside Facility yesterday through payroll deduction.

Just a thought:
Somebody needs to read 20 CFR in regards to the federal law that is currently in effect regarding the RRRB's allocation of annuity payments to those in the system. The fools who are in office pumping the frenzy to aggrandize their ambitions do not understand that, as said by the RRRB Boardmember, "the law is the law." My assumption is that is what he was referring to, but what do I know? The "sweeping reforms" that are mentioned in the press lately are moot until they are published in the Federal Register and are listed as "proposed rulemaking". That can take a year to evolve, as the other rail roads in the USA work it out. Remember them? Oh, and what can Helena do to further damage those like myself on a fixed income after severance from the LIRR? Make an a++ out of herself to deflect attention to Emergency Order 26, as imposed by FRA to stop the madness of Cell Phones on the job at LIRR. Meanwhile, all NYAR train movements are done by Cell Phones every day on the the property. Helooooo!! Hellloooooo!!!!!

Tool, you make some excellent points here. One that escapes being mentioned, as in the interview with the president, she says "There's a brain drain occuring on the LIRR", what does she expect, when the LIRR only hired in huge lots, we were all in our 20's, so after we put in our 30 years, we're history. Of course, working on the LIRR, has taken it's toll on most workers, so to deny them their right to a occupational disability is downright wrong. It's a smoke screen, created to divert attention away from the real facts, that LIRR management has failed on so many levels to properly maintain a level of trained employees. But it's always been the way for the LIRR not to take the blame for their failures. We had to make do with what we were given and keep the trains moving.

Yes, Section 20 in the Code of Federal Regulations is the law that authorizes Railroad Retirement Occupational Disability, all the details of which are also legislated. Unlike the much more common Social Security Disability, the Occupational does not require an inability to work. It simply requires the applicant to suffer from any one of many thousand tabulated physical deficiencies. They are charted by ailment and job title. So if the law still mattered a darn in this Republic (if we still are a Republic) and their diagnoses are sound then the present annuitants are truly entitled to their benefits and should remain so.

Of course the problem is that this can all change tomorrow. Politicos are governed by public frenzy, and as the US slips onto the Banana Republic league of nations, class envy expands to threaten more than just the wealthy of our declining society.

There were good reasons for legislating the Occupational Disability back in 1946. Relief from huge FELA injury awards by elderly employees and the strengthening of the workforce with younger employees were among them. And as has well been covered here, the solvency of the Retirement system fueled the movement.

The public, or at least those few who still read newspapers, has been lead to believe that this system is outdated, inequitable, insolvent, costly and unfair to them. Railroad employees have been branded thieves and cheats by an insecure LIRR president and at least one very stupid union leader.

Tool isn't being overly optimistic to believe that when the roar of the masses does die down, and it will, the voices of the few reasonably informed will continue to ask about the Railroad's lack of foresight, planning, financial prudence and honesty, and why its president must resort to name calling and wild accusations of criminality to retain loyal skilled workers.

way to go tool,its a shame you will never see your post in any New York newspaper.Keep up the good work

We may have to split this topic as it refers to two different pensions, one a result percentage-wise to the other. There are certain individuals under scrutiny that were earning a living under existing work rules as negotiated between the MTA and LIRR. They now have been crucified by various opinions in the media and our nefarious friend Helena as "abusing the system". Well, the system is in place as a result of the aforementioned contractual agreeements. These folks worked their a**es off on relief days and in all types of weather and hours, 24/7. Does the public and our esteemed politicians care about that sacrifice? NO! thats a given in our world. Take the abuse, suck it up and carry on.Then later on, when you try to recover some of the 15% you donated every week for year after year, your a SCAMMER! I want to puke.
When you "pull the pin" as we say, you are arranging for the fixed income that you will receive for the rest of your days. So, now the new ethics training will steer current employees to NOT build up their pensions so they can live as middle-class society and attempt to survive if they stay here on the Sandbar.
Its only the logical thing to do: Your hurting. You have been working through the pain to get to the end of the tunnel. That 30-year milestone is right ahead, and there are laws in effect that provide for your "comfort in your closing years" of compensation to reward that over-the-top work you did for years. When you told non-railroad types what you did and the penalties that were levied if you failed to perform, they were incredulous. "You really get suspended for days just for not being there? No Way!" Yada, yada, yada.
I'm tired.
And totally disgusted.
All over a little tiny, white golf ball. THANKS GUYS!