Industry News

UTU Chief Declares SMWIA Merger 'Dead'

July 13, 2009 | 12:15 p.m. CDT

A top UTU official said a plan to merge the United Transportation Union (UTU) and other rail workers with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) is now "dead," reports The Journal of Commerce.

Malcolm Futhey, UTU's international president, made the comment July 8 at a conference in San Francisco of his union's western regional members. "There will not be a merger today. There will not be a merger tomorrow. There will never be a merger with the Sheet Metal Workers," Futhey said to the group.

Proponents of the merger plan said it was needed to shore up fragile UTU finances, and said it would give the union more clout in its lobbying efforts. Opponents said it would upend the rail union's internal structure, and fought it in court. 

A federal court halted the merger in December 2007, shortly before it was to take effect at the start of January 2008, the same time the new officers – including Futhey – took over UTU leadership. A number of high-ranking UTU officials continued to fight for it, aided by the SMWIA, so the union's leadership had a major split over the legal issues. The legal cases continued, and the two unions have not negotiated changes or a new merger agreement.

Futhey said his board was overwhelmingly told to "walk away" from efforts to re-do the merger plan. Meanwhile, Futhey said, UTU finances have improved. And its clout has been in evidence as President Obama named former UTU official Joseph Szabo to head the Federal Railroad Administration that oversees industry safety issues and financing programs. He has tapped another UTU official, associate general counsel Daniel R. Elliott III, to chair the Surface Transportation Board that regulates rail economic issues.