Category: Front Page
New Canada Bill Looks To Create Registry of Workplace Hazards
In Canada, a private member’s bill, supported by SMART and the Canadian Building and Construction Trades, has passed its first reading. The bill, C-292, would amend the Canadian Labour Code to require the Minister of Labour to maintain a registry containing information report [...]
Members make all the difference!
Dear Member: Recently, Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas – one of the most conservative members of the U.S. House of Representatives – cosponsored our two-person crew legislation, H.R. 1763, the Safe Freight Act. This show of support follows cosponsorship from Co [...]
Santa Cruz Metro drivers narrowly avoid layoffs
Santa Cruz Metro bus drivers narrowly avoided being laid off, when a new budget was reached Friday, June 24, saving the drivers’ jobs. The budget hinges on a pending sales tax ballot measure to be voted on by taxpayers in the November elections. Metro approved a two-year budg [...]Feds blame Union Pacific for June 3 derailment
Federal investigators are placing the blame squarely on Union Pacific Railroad for their lack of track maintenance that caused the June 3rd fiery derailment that resulted in a mass evacuation as 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the small town of Mosier, Oregon. Read t [...]San Francisco Regional Meeting update
Fairmont San Francisco sold out, overflow rate expires June 17 The Fairmont San Francisco hotel has sold out. Not to worry, the overflow hotel – Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel – still has rooms available. The Mark Hopkins is conveniently located across the st [...]SMART TD, BLET to FRA: Ban one-person freight train crews
SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) President Dennis Pierce, issued a joint statement, following their submission of their comments to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on train crew size. [...]
Local 441 Gives Back to Local Youth In Mobile
A skateboard half-pipe was built and installed by SMART SM Local 441’s fourth- and fifth-year apprentices in Mobile, AL, as a community service project for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. SM Local 441 Business Manager Robert Payne said, “we are proud that our appr [...]
Court Sides With NLRB Election Ruling
On June 10, a federal appeals court sided with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule which speeds up the union election process. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NLRB did not exceed its authority in issuing the rule. The NLRB, in its original ruling, [...]