Dear Member: As many of you may recall, the SMART Voluntary Short Term Disability Plan temporarily suspended the Elimination Period for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) disabilities. In an announcement to you dated April 15, 2020, we communicated that the Elimination Period was being w [...]
President Joe Biden today signed his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan intended to stabilize the nation’s economy as it continues the task of rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 525,000 people in the United States. The plan has $30.5 billion in em [...]
National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes was a guest on the labor-oriented Rick Smith Show on Feb. 24 where he discussed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this week that threw out the Federal Railroad Administration’s negative preemption claim which w [...]
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Feb. 23, 2021) — Two of the country’s largest freight railroad unions achieved a favorable decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday regarding an attempt by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to preempt legislation passed by a number of [...]
Dear members of the SMART Transportation Division: Thousands of our brothers and sisters in Texas are struggling with the effects of the winter storm that devastated the state’s infrastructure this month. Many people throughout the state — from big cities to rural areas — are [...]
Shortly after the launch of SMART Transportation Division’s online Safety Condition Report, numerous reports have been successfully submitted and passed along to union leadership for handling. This information will help to make our properties safer and bring any conditions th [...]
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 3, 2021) — The nation’s largest freight railroad worker union pledges its full support to U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio as he considers a potential bid for the United States Senate. “Rep. Ryan, throughout his 10 terms as a representative of Ohio’s 17th and [...]
Misinformation has been circulating regarding an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that revoked the permit of the Keystone XL pipeline and supposedly “eliminated 11,000 union jobs.” The 11,000-job number came from a press release issued in October 2019 by TC Energ [...]
January 22, 2021 — The Rail Unions comprising the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition (CBC), negotiating together in the current round of National Negotiations, have issued the following statement: The CBC and the nation’s Rail Carriers first met concerning the November 1, 2019, [...]
To address the growing safety concerns of our membership, we have implemented a universal Safety Condition Report that is now available on the SMART-TD website for all members to use. This form will become the primary tool to report and collect data concerning unsafe working [...]