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Cleveland railroad workers win 44-year-old suit

After a legal battle that dragged on for more than four decades, a group of Cleveland railroad workers and their heirs will be sharing a multi-million-dollar award. ideastream’s David C. Barnett says it’s the surprising conclusion of a story that has its roots in the rise and [...]

Railroads support retrofitting flammable liquid cars

WASHINGTON – The Association of American Railroads Nov. 14 urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to press for improved federal tank car regulations by requiring all tank cars used to transport flammable liquids to be retrofitted or phased out, and new cars built to more [...]

Supreme Court Hears Case On Neutrality Agreements

Supreme Court Justices heard from SMART outside General Counsel Richard McCracken on behalf of UNITE HERE Local 355, which is defending the legal status of neutrality agreements in front of the US Supreme Court.  The union agreed to help win a gambling ballot initiative legal [...]

Agreement Ratified On Belt Railway Of Chicago

SMART Transportation Division members of General Committee of Adjustment GO 065 employed by Belt Railway of Chicago recently ratified a new agreement governing their rates of pay and working conditions, according to SMART Vice President John E. Lesniewski. The agreement mirro [...]

Former NS General Chairperson Paul Emert dies

Former Norfolk Southern General Chairperson Paul E. Emert, 65, died Nov. 11 following a heart attack. Emert, a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 750 at Knoxville, Tenn., retired in 2011 following 39 years of railroad service. He had served as general chairperson o [...]

Agreement ratified on Belt Railway of Chicago

SMART Transportation Division members of General Committee of Adjustment GO 065 employed by Belt Railway of Chicago recently ratified a new agreement governing their rates of pay and working conditions, according to SMART Vice President John E. Lesniewski. The agreement mirro [...]

SMART Takes Part In Michigan Blue Green Initiative

On the heels of a state report on renewable energy and energy efficiency in Michigan, local labor and environmental leaders got together in Troy, MI to discuss how Michigan workers and the environment are benefitting from renewable energy and energy efficiency investments in [...]

McConnell, Paul seek national Right-To-Work law

WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have proposed an amendment to a workplace discrimination bill in the hopes of creating a national right-to-work law. The measure — which, as Roll Call reported Nov. 4, would be tacked onto [...]

McConnell, Paul seek national right-to-work law

WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have proposed an amendment to a workplace discrimination bill in the hopes of creating a national right-to-work law. The measure — which, as Roll Call reported Nov. 4, would be tacked [...]

After Ala. explosion, new oil-by-rail questions arise

The second explosive oil-train derailment this year, which has finally burned out in rural Alabama, may raise new questions about the safety of the crude-by-rail boom, pointing to problems beyond those that surfaced following the earlier tragedy in Quebec. Within hours of the [...]