Every member should be part of Constitution process

By SMART General President Joe Nigro –  It was really great meeting so many of your leadership team at the recent regional meetings in Boston and Anaheim. They are an active and involved group with a commitment to the labor movement. It confirmed my belief in the potential va [...]

Share your message of union pride, win iPad mini

By SMART General President Joe Nigro –  This article, submitted to the Members’ Journal by James Jackson, SMART’s Director of Canadian Affairs, applies not just to Canadian members and trade unionists, but to all of us in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Share your [...]

Our purpose is safety, security, opportunity

As our Washington staff interacts with decision makers here in the nation’s capital, our focus is to improve our members’ job security and safety and to create more job opportunities in our industries. We are presently involved in a number of efforts to fulfill those goals. F [...]

Do programs produce safety, or manipulate reality?

By Mike Futhey, SMART Transportation Division President –  Throughout my career as a union officer, I have experienced every type of carrier safety program imaginable: from official company “snitches” to complex, overly burdensome and intrusive research, to innovative, cooper [...]

We cannot afford to be complacent

By Mike Futhey, SMART Transportation Division President –  Election day 2012 has passed, the celebration of an inauguration is done. Now what? Complacency is not a luxury we can afford. Our fight is not over. After the candidates’ assurances of brighter days for labor, a cont [...]

With elections past, our work begins

By James Stem, National Legislative Director –  As a new Congress begins its largely partisan struggles, which are sometimes difficult to understand and frequently disturbing, the job of the National Legislative Office is to convince lawmakers that the legislative agenda of S [...]

We pledge allegiance, in solidarity

By SMART General President Joe Nigro –  We are one! Not only as a result of our recent merger, but also by the pledge we make to one another as union brothers and sisters. The strength of organized labor lies in the hearts and minds of every union member who understands the m [...]

They hire you, then work to fire you

By John Previsich, UTU Assistant President/ GS&T –  Discipline in the railroad industry is a curious business. I recall that when I first hired out, I was proud of my new employment. The railroad had selected me over other well-qualified applicants, and I was sent to scho [...]