Tag: National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes

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“I want to make it very clear that the SMART Transportation Division’s National Legislative Department has outdone itself with the announcement of House Resolution 8996, known as the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024.

This legislation is the result of National Legislative Director Greg Hynes and Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity’s passion for railroad safety, which combined forces with the leadership and vision of Congressmen Troy Nehls (R-Texas) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). These men had the desire to get down to the ballast level and fix what needed to be fixed on America’s rails. SMART-TD was more than happy to provide the details and first-hand knowledge needed to produce comprehensive and effective safety legislation.

As president of the largest labor union in this great country, I want to personally thank these two representatives and their 7 colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked to realize this important bill. I also want to extend my appreciation to Greg, Jared and Jenny Miller for their dedication, fortitude, and the shoe leather worn through to make sure the RSE of 2024, when passed, will keep our brothers and sisters safe for years to come!”

Jeremy Ferguson, president, SMART-TD

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (July 24, 2024) — SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson and TD’s National Legislative Department proudly endorse Congressman Troy Nehls’ bill known as the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024.

National Legislative Director Greg Hynes delivers testimony before the House Rail Subcommittee on July 23.

Greg Hynes, SMART-TD’s National Legislative Director (NLD), noted that in his years of working toward rail safety legislation that “H.R. 8996 is the most complete and comprehensive rail safety bill I’ve seen on the Hill. With the bipartisan leadership of Nehls and Moulton and the coalition of co-sponsors they have put together, this bill is poised to change this industry for the better. It locks two-person crews in as a federal law and goes much further to remedy some of our most-important day-to-day safety concerns on this country’s rails. I can’t thank these two Congressmen and their staff enough. They engaged Jared and I early in this process, and they were relentless in their pursuit of a bill that made sense and fixed our industry’s problems organically from the ground up.”

Hynes went on to say that he was honored to be selected by Congressman Nehls to represent the operating employees of rail labor in the House’s first hearing for the RSE of 2024.

“The congressman has been working directly with Brother Cassity and I every step of the way on this bill, and I was proud to stand for every SMART member and every railroader past, present, and future to discuss the safety enhancements we aim to accomplish by passing H.R. 8996.”

Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity had this to say: “This bill and the legislators behind it deserve the support of every man and woman in this union. Some of the highlights include:

  • Two-person crews aboard Class I railroads becoming federal law with penalties to railroads in the range of $5,000 – $1 million;
  • Strict regulations on blocks of empty cars in mixed-freight trains;
  • Buffer cars being required between locomotives and hazardous commodity trains;
  • Amtrak and all six Class I railroads will have 60 days to enroll in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) run by NASA and FRA;
  • Comprehensive studies to be done on train length and weight aimed at putting federal limits on both;
  • Managers directly causing federal hours-of-service violations will be fined between $100 and $1,000;
  • Accurate real-time updates will be provided to ensure consistent information is electronically maintained by carriers and made available to all first responders in emergencies;
  • Phase-out of DOT 111 tank cars that have proven to be prone to puncture in derailments, putting our crews in harm’s way, will be expedited;
  • Carriers’ practice of limiting the time taken to inspect locomotives and cars by Qualified Mechanical Inspectors (QMIs) will be banned;
  • Mandates that class one brake tests on originating trains must be conducted by QMI employees (not conductors);
  • The Department of Transportation secretary will change rail accident reporting forms to include train length and weight data as part of an effort to regulate the size of trains;
  •  The National Academy of Science will conduct a study to determine the effect longer trains have on community safety by creating more blocked crossings;
  • Railroad managers will face personal fines for interfering with engineers’ inspections of locomotives;
  • Hot bearing defect detectors will be regulated and no more than 15 miles apart on main lines. They will be strategically placed within 10 miles of population centers;
  • Rail crews will be notified of the results of all defect detectors;
  • Railroads will be required to notify state emergency services about hazardous load locations and quantities.

All labor unions in this country are founded on the principle of increasing the safety of their membership. SMART-TD is proud to stand on our record in this arena. President Jeremy Ferguson, along with our National Legislative Department, have been pushing hard to get Congress’s attention to address day-to-day issues creating unsafe conditions for our members and the communities we travel through.

The RSEA and the leadership of its sponsors stand to do just that. SMART-TD looks forward to ensuring this bill reaches President Biden’s desk for a signature.

If you’re interested in speaking more about the legislation, we’d be happy to connect you with:

SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson

President Jeremy Ferguson, a member of Local 313 in Grand Rapids, Mich., was elected president of SMART’s Transportation Division in 2019.

President Ferguson, an Army veteran, started railroading in 1994 as a conductor on CSX at Grand Rapids, Mich., and was promoted to engineer in 1995. Ferguson headed the recent national rail negotiations for the Union with the nation’s rail carriers.

SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes

Greg Hynes is a fifth-generation railroader and was elected national legislative director in 2019.

Hynes served on the SMART Transportation Division National Safety Team that assists the National Transportation Safety Board with accident investigations, from 2007 – 2014.

In 2014, he was appointed to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), which develops new railroad regulatory standards.

Hynes was appointed the first chairperson of the UTU Rail Safety Task Force in 2009 and served in that capacity until being elected SMART Transportation Division alternate national legislative director at the Transportation Division’s 2014 convention.

SMART Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity

Jared Cassity, a member of Local 1377 (Russell, Ky.), was elected to the office of alternate national legislative director at the Second SMART Transportation Division Convention in August 2019 and became director of the TD National Safety Team in June 2021.

Cassity started his railroad career with CSX in September 2005 and was promoted to engineer in 2008.

In addition to his elected roles, he has been a member of the National Safety Team since 2014, where he was subsequently elected to the position of Alternate Director (East) for the NST in 2016. Likewise, he was elected by his fellow peers of state directors to serve as the directors’ representative on the CSX Safety Model Executive Board in 2013.

Daily headlines about new railroad safety laws make it feel like every day is “Railroad Day on the Hill.” However, the formal event falls once a year on the legislative calendar, where rail union representatives share the many issues that face our industry with legislators in D.C.

Thirty-eight men and women represented SMART Transportation Division, the nation’s largest railroad union. They spread the gospel of the Railway Safety Act, the need for shorter trains, increased quality of life and our call for better safety inspections of rolling stock.

The SMART delegation represented 20 different states and held 130 meetings with any Congress member or staffer willing to listen throughout the day.

The event was organized by National Legislative Director Greg Hynes, Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity and Legislative Department Chief of Staff Jenny Miller. The Legislative Department invited 13 other unions to participate in Railroad Day on the Hill.

President Jeremy Ferguson, multiple vice presidents, state legislative directors, alternate state legislative directors, general chairpersons, local legislative reps and state legislative vice chairs from across the country all were present.

Ohio senators support Railway Safety Act, REEF Act

Senator Warnock and his staff hosted a Constituent Coffee at the Capitol, in Washington, DC on May 1, 2024. (Official U.S. Senate photo by Renee Bouchard)

SMART-TD representatives started with a breakfast with Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. Vance has proven himself to be a champion for rail safety and is the lead sponsor of the Railway Safety Act.  Transportation Division representatives discussed ways our union could help rally support for the RSA and the REEF Act.

The REEF Act is a bipartisan bill that will end an out-of-date tax on Railroad Retirement Board benefits awarded to rail employees who are furloughed or medically out of service.

Vance and fellow Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown are with us and continue to strategize with SMART-TD on ways to build support for the RSA and REEF Acts.

America’s largest railroad union leaves a lasting impression

Following the successes of the day’s events, NLD Hynes expressed his gratitude to the army of SMART-TD leaders who made the trip.

“These men and women went above and beyond the call of duty to be here today. Because of them, we had a fantastic show of force in the halls of Congress. The validity of our issues speaks for itself, but when leaders from these different states show up to meet with their congressional and senate delegations, it makes an impact on these lawmakers,” he said. “They hear from Jared Cassity and me all the time, but when someone from home comes to meet with them in D.C., it puts a face to our issues in a unique way.

“I want to thank each one of them for making the effort to come out this year. With your help, we will deliver on the promise of the Railway Safety Act, the REEF Act, and all the issues that speak to the quality of life our members deserve and the dignity of the work they do each day.”

For immediate release 
March 1, 2023 
Phone: (216) 228-9400  
Department email: news_td@smart-union.org   

“This legislation goes a long way toward protecting American families and communities while fortifying the rail industry to be sustainable and safe long into the future. The voices of SMART-TD’s brothers and sisters have been heard by these senators and are echoing through the halls of the United States Congress.” 

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (March 1, 2023) — Jeremy Ferguson, president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Transportation Division (SMART-TD), is calling for national support of The Railway Safety Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill that acknowledges the real-world conditions that shape the day-to-day safety concerns of the railroad workers who haul America’s freight.  

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have listened to the concerns of their constituents and put forward a comprehensive package in the Railway Safety Act that lives up to its billing — prioritizing the safety concerns expressed by the public and rail worker alike. In this bill, they give credence to the common-sense safety measures that our union and others in rail labor have advanced for years. 

“The provisions in this act add up to the end of the era of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) and attempt to take back control of our nation’s supply chain from Wall Street’s ‘profit at any cost’ mentality. It offers a chance for the nation to make the giant rail corporations take rational measures to get the industry to do what it’s designed to do — move freight through our nation safely and efficiently and be an example for the rest of the world to model,” President Ferguson said. “SMART-TD is proud to support this bill and its efforts to bring about generational changes in this country and to take a major step to stop PSR. We will work tirelessly with this team of like-minded Senators to realize their vision for a safer and stronger rail industry.” 

The safeguards offered in the bill include, but are not limited to: 

  • A nationwide mandate for well-trained two-person crews on all freight trains; 
  • Restrictions on train length and weight; 
  • Regulations on the installation, frequency, upkeep, and response to wayside defect detectors; 
  • Speed restrictions; 
  • Drastically increased fines for rail companies and management employees who do not adhere to rail safety protocols; 
  • Universalized track maintenance standards; 
  • Universalized rail-car maintenance standards; 
  • Higher standards for tank cars carrying hazardous material; 
  • Emergency response plans for carriers and communities; 
  • Phasing out of rail cars that do not meet strengthened safety requirements; 
  • Annual government audits of rail carriers to validate compliance to new heightened safety standards. 

“Hedge fund management of rail companies and their PSR strategy have careened the United States rail industry into a dark and dangerous place in the last six years. This bill has the potential to put safe operations into its rightful place as the gold standard in railroading and not what the next quarterly report can bring. We owe it to the people of East Palestine, Ohio, and to all communities that have railroad tracks running through them to have members of Congress do the right thing — to support this bill and insist that it makes it to President Biden’s desk without being watered down by negotiations or the special interests that will seek to stop it and claim that it is too ‘burdensome’ for a highly profitable industry to implement,” Ferguson continued.  

A recently released Ipsos-USA Today poll shows that 53% of Americans believe that strengthened rail industry safety regulations could have prevented the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. 

Read the text of the bill

Fact sheet about the bill

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SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members who work in a variety of different crafts in the transportation industry. These crafts include employees on every Class I railroad, Amtrak, many shortline railroads, bus and mass transit employees and airport personnel.

If you’re interested in speaking more about the Railway Safety Act of 2023, PSR, East Palestine, rail safety, and the next steps for the rail industry, we’d be happy to connect you with:  

SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson 

President Jeremy Ferguson, a member of Local 313 in Grand Rapids, Mic., was elected president of SMART’s Transportation Division in 2019.President Ferguson, an Army veteran, started railroading in 1994 as a conductor on CSX at Grand Rapids, Mich., and was promoted to engineer in 1995. Ferguson headed the recent national rail negotiations for the union with the nation’s rail carriers. 

SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes 

Greg Hynes is a fifth-generation railroader and was elected national legislative director in 2019. Hynes served on the SMART Transportation Division National Safety Team that assists the National Transportation Safety Board with accident investigations, from 2007-2014. In 2014, he was appointed to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), which develops new railroad regulatory standards. 

SMART Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity

Jared Cassity was elected by his peers in 2019 and currently serves as the Alternate National Legislative Director. In addition to his elected roles, Cassity has also been appointed as the union’s chief of safety, serves as the director for the SMART-TD National Safety Team (which assists the NTSB in major rail-related accident investigations), is SMART-TD’s voting member on the Federal Railroad Administration’s C3RS Steering Committee, and is the first and only labor member to ever be appointed to the Transportation Security Administration’s Surface Transportation Safety Advisory Committee.