- Tags California, Galesburg Illinois, Illinois, Labor Day 2023, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia
News Archive
Local 583 member John Thornton killed when crew van hit by suspected DUI driver
SMART Transportation Division Local 583 (Fond du Lac, Wis.) suffered a tragic loss prior to the Labor Day weekend when member John A. Thornton was killed Aug. 31 after a suspected drunken driver smashed into his transport vehicle in Matteson, Ill., while en route to work. Bro [...]Retired TD Local 1374 leader Sam Marino passes away
Samuel “Sam” J. Marino, 77, passed away at his home September 4, 2023, after a long illness. He hired out with the B&O Railroad (now CSX) in December 1966 and he applied and was approved for membership in the United Transportation Union predecessor Brotherhood of Railroad [...]
A Labor Day message from TD President Jeremy Ferguson
Brothers and sisters, For many Americans, Labor Day simply signifies the end of summer, beginning of the school year or is viewed as a day off from work. For those of us involved in organized labor, it means more. However, and whenever you are able to celebrate Labor Day, I a [...]
Despite RR rhetoric, PSR mentality hasn’t changed, here’s how we fight it
Local 200 chairperson, general chairperson and SLD’s combined efforts get opportunity for cut workers to remain in industry E. Hunter Harrison has been dead since Dec. 16, 2017. His legacy known as Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) is still alive and kicking. & [...]
Local 44 sheet metal worker: “SMART was the best choice that I ever made for my family.”
Another entry from the Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) fall challenge: Bob Bomboy, a sheet metal worker member of SM Local 44 (Northeastern Pennsylvania) shares how he overcame career-change nerves and joined SMART! “I was a mechanical/architectural draftsman with a [...]
Incremental progress on hot wheel detection’s not enough
As kids, the term “Hot Wheels” brought to mind good times playing with tricked-out toy cars and letting your imagination take it from there. As railroad professionals, this term goes from warm and fuzzy childhood memories to the gut-churning stuff of nightmares. Railroaders a [...]
Colorado legislative update: Rail safety bill before influential committee
BNSF and UP have made a solid investment in lobbyists in Colorado and they’re getting their money’s worth. In 2023, SMART-TD Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith put forward a solid railroad safety bill to the Legislature that your union wholeheartedly supported. Br [...]
When technology failed, our NS members rose up during outage
On August 28, the Norfolk Southern rail network’s technological infrastructure failed. Crews couldn’t print off their pre-departure paperwork at the terminals. No one was able to report their hours of service. Many were unable to verify the consists of their trains. Emails we [...]