Policy

The Maritime Security Program (MSP) is a model federal program for efficiently leveraging taxpayer dollars to help meet the Department of Defense’s (DOD) sealift needs and to sustain a viable, U.S.-flag shipping industry. To keep this mission viable, Congress saw fit to increase the program’s authorization for the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration […]

During consideration of the surface transportation bill, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation System Act (FAST), a coalition of anti-worker special interests unsuccefully pushed to undermine the collective bargaining rights of longshore workers. Their principal line of attack was to require the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) data collection agency – the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) […]

Over the last several months, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) has made repeated offers to acquire Norfolk Southern (NS) to create a railroad stretching from British Columbia to the Eastern seaboard and Southeastern United States. Having experienced the wave of mega-mergers during the 1980s and 1990s that have left this country with only seven Class I […]

The record in the NAI proceeding shows that NAI is staffing its long-haul flights with flight crew based in Thailand and employed by non-European crew supply companies on employment contracts governed by Asia law: Singapore law in the case of pilots and Thailand law in the case of flight attendants. The record in that case further shows the terms and conditions of employment for those pilots and flight attendants are substantially inferior to those that apply to pilots and flight attendants employed directly by Norwegian or its subsidiaries. The Labor Parties showed that granting NAI either an exemption or a foreign air carrier permit would be inconsistent with the public interest standards set out in the aviation statutes and the provisions of the ATA, in particular, Article 17 bis.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I urge you to vote for the conference committee report on H.R. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. We commend Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member DeFazio, Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Boxer for finalizing a bipartisan and multi-year surface transportation bill that will create and sustain good middle-class jobs and make urgently needed investments in our transit systems, roads, bridges and passenger rail network.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I urge you to vote NO on the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act (H.R. 511) when it is considered on the House floor. This bill would exempt all tribal-owned and operated commercial enterprises located on Indian lands from coverage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and deny critical labor protections to hundreds of thousands of workers, the majority of whom are not Native Americans. In addition to the over 600,000 tribal casino workers, this bill would cover mining operations, power plants, smoke shops, saw mills, construction companies, ski resorts, high-tech firms, hotels, and spas, stripping all workers in these commercial enterprises of their rights and protections under the NLRA.

Dear Representative: As the House continues consideration of H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRRA), the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) urges you to ensure the bill remains a bipartisan comprise that can continue to move through the House. To achieve this end, we recommend the following votes on amendments: Oppose:  Vote […]

Dear Representative: As the House continues to consider H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRRA), the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) strongly urges you to oppose Representative Newhouse’s amendment (#120) on port metrics. When the underlying bill was marked up in the Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, we were supportive of the […]

Dear Representative:

As the House begins to consider H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRRA), the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) believes it is imperative that the bill remain a bipartisan compromise that focuses on our transportation priorities. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) has worked hard and effectively to create a long-term surface transportation authorization that can pass the House of Representatives. TTD supported the underlying T&I bill. We therefore believe it is important that amendments should only seek to improve this bill, and those which upset the careful compromise should be rejected.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to comment on the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Draft Availability Payment Concessions Public-Private Partnership Model Contract Guide as well as on the Labor Best Practices chapter. By way of background, TTD consists of 32 affiliated unions in the transportation sector, including those who may be affected by a Public Private Partnerships (PPP or P3) concession agreement.