News and Media

[By Keith Laing of The Hill] The transportation sector added 36,000 jobs in the month of May, despite an overall increase in the national unemployment rate to 8.2 percent. Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the U.S. economy added only 69,000 jobs in May, but employment in the transportation industry increased […]

WASHINGTON, DC—Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement in response to the May jobs report released today. “The May jobs figures released today are disappointing for millions of unemployed Americans.  Lawmakers in Washington must stop stonewalling jobs creating initiatives and then pointing fingers at the President for not doing […]

WASHINGTON, DC— Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) issued this statement to commemorate National Maritime Day: “As we celebrate the 79th National Maritime Day in the U.S., we express our gratitude to the nation’s skilled maritime and longshore workers who endure hardships and make sacrifices to keep cargo and people moving […]

Hear TTD President Edward Wytkind live on the Leslie Marshall Show talk about the 9,600 passenger service workers at American Airlines who deserve the opportunity to hold a union election. Corporations such as AMR should not be able to game the system and use delay as a tactic.

WASHINGTON, DC— Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) President Edward Wytkind issued this statement in support of Rep. Nick Rahall’s (D-WV) Motion to Instruct Conferees on the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 (H.R.4348): “Transportation labor wholeheartedly endorses a Motion to Instruct Conferees by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) that will boost the U.S. manufacturing sector and […]

[As posted by Ed Wytkind in The Huffington Post] Lawbreaker. That is exactly what we need to start calling American Airlines for its blatant refusal to proceed with a union election among its 9,600 passenger service agents that was legally and properly ordered by the National Mediation Board. The NMB needs to aggressively step in and […]

WASHINGTON, DC—Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) President Edward Wytkind issued this statement following TTD’s submission of comments to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration pertaining to the in-flight transport of lithium cells and batteries (Docket No. PHMSA-2009-0095 (HM-224F)): “Fire is the most serious threat to an aircraft in flight, especially when it is due […]

WASHINGTON, DC— Edward Wytkind (@EdWytkind), president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement following the decision by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to squander a chance to boost domestic manufacturing in the selection of a rail car supplier: “Today the BART Board gave its stamp of approval to a rail car manufacturing […]

The committee of lawmakers appointed to negotiate a new federal highway bill will meet for the first time Tuesday, beginning their talks amid low expectations for a deal in a charged election-year environment. Many observers, including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, have expressed doubt that Congress will pass a multiyear bill before the November election. But […]

WASHINGTON, DC— Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement ahead of this week’s House-Senate conference on surface transportation reauthorization legislation: “As House and Senate conferees begin negotiations on surface transportation legislation tomorrow, nearly 2 million current jobs, and up to 1 million new jobs, are at stake in […]