Transportation News

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Local 1846 loses member in accident, fundraiser established

Local 1846 in West Colton, Calif., tragically lost a brother on Sept. 8, and a fundraiser has been established to help his family in this inexplicably difficult time.  Conductor Zachery “Zach” Lara, 25, and his engineer Steven Brown were in helper service assistin [...]

SMART-TD statement on the tentative agreement (Sept. 16, 2022)

To TD members covered by national handling: Since the announcement of the tentative agreement (TA) yesterday morning, a number of posts purporting to reveal the finalized contents or finalized components of the TA have spread rapidly and are being presented as factual. They a [...]

SMART-TD, BLET reach tentative agreement with railroads

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  September 15, 2022 CONTACT: Jamie Horwitz, 202-549-4921, jhdcpr@starpower.net Statement by Jeremy Ferguson, President SMART Transportation Division and Dennis Pierce, President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen On Tentative Agreemen [...]

SMART-TD mourns loss of Local 1263 Local Chairperson Richard Keen

Members in Local 1263 (Valdosta, Ga.) are in mourning after their Local Chairperson Richard G. Keen Jr., 36, was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver Saturday, Sept. 10 while on his way home from work as an engineer at Norfolk Southern. A member of SMART-TD since [...]

SMART-TD, BLET joint statement on rail embargo

Jeremy Ferguson, President, SMART Transportation Division and Dennis Pierce, President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Teamsters Rail Conference, on move announced by the nation’s largest railroads to further abuse shippers and gridlock the supply chain in [...]

SMART Mechanical Department reaches tentative agreement with the NCCC

September 11, 2022 — SMART’s Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department (Mechanical Department or MD) reached a tentative agreement with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which includes the highest wage increases ever achieved in national freight rail b [...]

Labor rallies planned Sept. 10 in Nebraska, Ohio

SMART Transportation Division members are invited to gather for a pair of rallies taking place Sept. 10 in Nebraska and Ohio. Solidarity Saturday is happening at Lincoln County Fairgrounds AG Center in North Platte, Neb. The event starts at 11 a.m. and will run until 5 p.m. L [...]

Ann Simon, wife of TD Alt. VP Anthony Simon, passes away

Services have been arranged for Ann Simon, the wife of Transportation Division Alt. Vice President/General Chairperson Anthony Simon, who has passed away. Visitation will be 3 to 5 and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at Frederick J. Chapey & Sons Funeral Home, 20 Hi [...]

Calif. governor signs bill placing Santa Cruz members under PERB

On Sept. 2, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S.B. 957 into law, thus placing employees of the Santa Cruz Metro (SCM) under the umbrella of the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to foster improved relations between public employees and management. The law takes e [...]

Commenting on Rule of 2 a call to action for our members, allies

Most topics divide our organization to varying degrees. It’s a healthy debate that assists SMART to formulate majority-based positions on the many issues for which they advocate on our membership’s behalf. The belief that there should be a minimum of two persons on a train cr [...]