Union hopes to trim layoffs at GE plantERIE — GE Transportation and its union are in talks trying to reduce the number of jobs the company plans to cut at its locomotive plant in northwestern Pennsylvania.GE Transportation last month announced plans to transfer up to 190 jobs to other Erie-area companies and other GE Transportation facilities.The company met with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America on Monday to discuss saving some of the jobs.May’s job-loss announcement came after the company completed a layoff that affected about 1,500 Erie workers. That move cut its Erie work force to about 3,000.The union says workers are “dejected and angry” but the company says it’s struggling to compete with Chinese locomotive manufacturers and EMD, a locomotive manufacturer owned by Caterpillar Inc.

Health systems fined for dumping wasteHARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined two health systems for illegally dumping medical waste in a landfill.The state agency says the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has been hit with $451,000 in fines and Allegheny Health Network has been fined $86,900. Officials say the state found 12 of UPMC’s hospitals illegally dumped large quantities of needles, bloody dressings and body fluids into a Monroeville landfill.Operators at the landfill prompted the investigation when they found medical waste had been combined with municipal waste shipments from UPMC’s hospitals. Investigators also discovered that two AHN facilities were violating regulations.Both health systems have paid the fines. UPMC officials say they’re working to ensure waste disposal is done in compliance with the DEP. AHN didn’t return a call for comment.