Category: Washington
Calls for 2-person crews in response to amphibious vehicle fatalities
The Portland Press Herald reported that as amphibious vehicles (duck boats), designed to traverse land and water, have increased in popularity over the years, so has the number of accidents and fatalities involving these complicated vehicles. Advocates for increased safety m [...]
SMART Union Celebrates Black History Month
As we celebrate Black History Month in February 2017, read about the groundbreaking inventions from African-American inventors that had a major impact across all American labor sectors, including the transportation industry: Andrew Jackson Beard, born a slave in Alabama, beca [...]
Why Right-to-Work is wrong for union and non-union
Tire builder Jesse Isbell outlines in his recent blog post how the Right-to-Work bill is nothing more than a pack of lies intended to break unions and make the rich richer. Isbell and thousands of his co-workers lost their jobs when the Oklahoma City Bridgestone Tire plant th [...]
OSHA finds Amtrak in violation of Federal Railroad Safety Act
BOSTON – The National Railroad Passenger Corp., better known as Amtrak, retaliated against a supervisory special agent in its inspector general’s office when he raised concerns about railroad safety, fraud and abuse involving an Amtrak contractor and when he suppo [...]
Ann Begeman replaces Elliott as STB Chairman
President Donald J. Trump has appointed Ann Begeman to serve as Acting Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Begeman is currently serving a second, five-year term as a Member of the Board following her recent nomination by President Barack Obama Dec. 7, 2016, an [...]
Negotiations update on the National Rail Contract
Dear members, On December 5, 2016, SMART Transportation Division issued a press release to announce that the unions participating in the Coordinated Bargaining Group (CBG) had requested that the National Mediation Board (NMB) mediate the group’s negotiations with the National [...]SMART TD AND BLET: CALL CONGRESS for 2-PERSON CREW, NOW!
CLEVELAND, Jan. 20—The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Rail Air and Transportation Workers (SMART TD) are urging their respective memberships to contact members of the Hou [...]AAR describes rail job decline as “being flexible, efficient”
Trains.com reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing that railroad jobs dropped by 3.8 percent in 2016 – reflecting the elimination of approximately 8,600 railroad jobs. In 2015, the drop in railroad jobs was reported at at sharper decline o [...]