Obama wants union attorney to head STB

Obama wants union attorney to head STB    President Obama has nominated railroad union attorney Daniel R. Elliott III to become chairman of the Surface Transportation Board.
   Elliott has been associate general counsel of the United Transportation Union (UTU) since 1993, and has represented the union in numerous proceedings before the STB, as well as the National Mediation Board, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Labor Department. He has also handled litigation for the union in the federal courts in a wide variety of cases.
   The UTU, an AFL-CIO affiliate headquartered in Cleveland, represents about 125,000 active and retired railroad, bus and mass transit workers in the United States and Canada.

Elliott

   If confirmed by the Senate, Elliott, 46, will fill an empty seat on the three-person board left vacant since March when W. Douglas Buttrey departed the agency. Elliott would join Charles D. Nottingham and Francis P. Mulvey, acting chairman of the STB since Buttrey retired.
   Elliott is the second UTU official to be selected for a senior position in the Obama administration. Former UTU Illinois State Legislative Director Joe Szabo was nominated by Obama and confirmed by the Senate to head the Federal Railroad Administration.
   “The selection by President Obama of Dan Elliott and Joe Szabo to head major transportation regulatory agencies is tribute to the political influence of the UTU, which flows from the UTU PAC,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey. “We have good reason to expect President Obama to reach into the UTU ranks for other appointments in the near future.”
   The UTU PAC contributed about $2.8 million to various recipients in the 2008 election cycle according to the Web site campaignmoney.com. According to opensecrets.org, $1.2 million went to federal candidates, 93 percent to Democrats, 7 percent to Republicans.
   In written testimony to the STB back in October 2005 for an STB hearing on the 25th anniversary of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, Elliott wrote: “In sum, the general effects of Staggers have improved the bottom line for rail carriers, which is good for the industry; however, much of this occurred at the expense of rail employees who are the backbone of this industry. UTU supported the Staggers Act only to be later blindsided by its use to eliminate jobs without income protection and lower wages.
   “UTU now is somewhat hesitant to give any further support to changes to the rail regulatory system based on its past treatment by the railroads and the ICC. Any further changes to the rail industry should have labor at the forefront of the discussions,” he wrote in testimony that can be found here. ' Chris Dupin