Category: Member Spotlight
SMART Local 88 Organizer Featured in AFL-CIO Newsletter
SMART Local 88 Organizer Al Lopez was featured earlier this month in the weekly newsletter of the Western Region of the AFL-CIO. Below is the full text of the newsletter’s profile. Congrats Brother Lopez! Al Lopez is a member and organizer for International Association [...]
After 44 years, John Dunn of Local 756 in Texas pulls the pin
After 44 years with Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific, John Dunn of Local 756, a great advocate for members in the great state of Texas in which he lives, has called it a career. Dunn joined our union back in November 1977 after hiring on with Missouri Pacific in July 1977. [...]
COVID-19: Our determination will get us through this together, Local 610 LR and Navy veteran says
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to move a lite engine from customer to customer. I like moves like this because they are different from the normal everyday work of a local road switcher. This move was no different from normal railroading, other than this yard bird cau [...]
Ty Dragoo: Making A Difference At Party Conventions
Ty Dragoo: On Making A Difference By Becoming A Convention Delegate Ty Dragoo is the Kansas State Legislative Director for SMART TD. From roll calls and speeches to flags and ticker tape, the national conventions are usually conventional pep rallies for the two majo [...]
Conductor, engineer rescue wandering 5-year-old girl in Minnesota
The efforts of a two-person crew in East St. Paul, Minn., helped to save a wandering five-year-old girl and reunite her with her family. Near midnight Saturday, Feb. 1, SMART Transportation Division Local 1293 member Jarrod Campbell and BLET member Angela Knutson were operati [...]
Newsday article remembers retired member Brzozinski
Richard Brzozinski, 78, is remembered as a compassionate man and model employee of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in a recent story by Newsday. “A veteran Long Island Rail Road conductor on the Babylon line, Brzozinski made a habit of learning the names of all of his regula [...]
GoFundMe opened for member shot while on the job
On July 22 of this year, Local 1715 member Karen Taylor was shot five times in broad daylight while her Charlotte Area Transit Systems (CATS) bus was stopped to unload passengers. “…just as the last person stepped off of her bus, a man appeared out of nowhere and shot five ti [...]
Sons of member touted as heroes
The sons of member Byron Watson have been labeled as heroes after saving a 4-year-old girl from drowning while at a birthday party March 24 at the Santa Maria Beach in Santa Cruz, California. The boys’ mother, Nicole, who was watching over her boys while they were swimming in [...]