A team of SMART-TD transit officers engaged with the top safety and technology innovators in the world during the 2024 InnoTrans conference in Berlin, Germany. “Knowing what's out there will help us to propose engineering and procedural safeguards for our members.” General Chair John Ellis, GC 857.
A Federal bill known as the Railroad Yardmaster Protection Act was introduced today, following our recent success protecting yardmasters in Minnesota. The SMART-TD railroad union is gathering additional co-sponsors for the bill, which would bring Yardmaster hours in line with those of other critical railroad employees across the nation.
While many teenagers were figuring out what classes to take the next school year, Emilee Och was making plans to be a union welder. As a student in the School to Apprenticeship Program, her aspirations were complemented with training while she was still in high school, and sh [...]
No one deserves to wake up in the morning and wonder, is today going to be the day that I'm verbally assaulted while I'm doing my job? Is someone going to lay hands on me, spit on me, stab me, shoot me? No one deserves to wake up and wonder “is today the day that I lose limbs? That I suffer a career or life altering injury? Is today the day that I don't make it home?”
That's not Republican. That's not Democrat. That is union. And we should stand united when we talk about these issues. Do not let someone else drive a wedge between you. We must move forward together.
The SMART Education Department held its new “Right to Work and Member Retention” class in Detroit, Mich., during the week of September 30th. The class focused on the open shop movement, the impact of so-called right to work, strategies for improving membership retention, and [...]
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, our union has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to supporting one another in times of crisis. Thanks to your generous contributions, SMART and our general president, Michael Coleman, have established three distribution centers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. These centers provide immediate assistance to our members.
The SMART Transportation Division would like to congratulate our Mechanical Division peers for ratifying their new collective bargaining agreements. Their agreements with BNSF, CSXT and Norfolk Southern guarantee wage increases, improvements in paid vacation, stronger health and welfare benefits, and maintain a consistent employee monthly cost-share contribution.
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (MD) members employed on BNSF, CSX-T and Norfolk Southern Railway have voted to ratify their respective collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). [...]
Whether carrying freight or moving passengers, the potential for an on-the-job fatality is always there. A memorial in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station honors the men and women lost while working for Amtrak and ensures they will not be forgotten.