News and Media

Reported by Matthew Santoni for Law 360

In contrast, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, representing U.S. freight rail workers, issued a statement on the anniversary of the derailment supporting additional regulations.

“Rail companies have lobbied to evade or weaken safety provisions, such as the two-person crew minimum staffing standard in legislation pending before Congress. They have also sought to gut proposed safety requirements for rail inspections, defect detectors, and more,” the statement said.

The Railroad Retirement Board’s (RRB) ability to process retirements and sickness benefits for railroad employees and retirees “living in every state and every congressional district” would be “severely” impacted by the limitation on RRB’s administrative funding included in the fiscal year (FY) 2024 House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, the Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), and Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) told Congress in a July 31 letter expressing their opposition.

“As passed by the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee on July 14, 2023, the House FY 24 bill would cap RRB’s administrative funding at $103 million, a $25 million decrease from FY 23 funding, which is maintained in the Senate FY 24 bill, and over $35 million below the President’s FY 24 Budget Request,” the organizations told Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), Chairwoman, House Committee on Appropriations; Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member, House Committee on Appropriations; Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash), Chair, Senate Committee on Appropriations; and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Appropriations in the letter (download below). They stressed that at this funding level, RRB would be forced to cut approximately 23% of its current workforce, “dramatically slowing down processing times and service for beneficiaries.”

Reported by Bill Stephens for Trains.

Incoming Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena will not get a honeymoon with rail labor when he begins leading the railroad on Aug. 14.

Local SMART-TD leaders and the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO were critical of the company’s selection of Vena, who served as UP’s chief operating officer in 2019 and 2020.

Vena accelerated UP’s shift to a low-cost Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. During Vena’s tenure, overall employment at UP fell 21%, according to Surface Transportation Board data, including a 43% reduction in the number of shop workers, a 19% drop in maintenance of way employment, and a 14% decline in train and engine crews.

Reported by Lillianna Byington and Andrew Small for Bloomberg Government.

The August recess might not be much of a break for anyone working on FAA reauthorization as lobbying and staff negotiations in Congress race against a September deadline.

Despite the aviation agency battling flight delays, staff shortages, and stalled tech upgrades, the Senate left town last week without agreeing on legislation to renew the FAA’s authority.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would better evaluate the impacts of automation on workers in order to inform workforce development strategies and best practices. The Workforce Data for Analyzing and Tracking Automation Act – which Peters reintroduced last Congress with U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-IN) – would authorize the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) […]

Reported by Lillianna Byington and Diego Areas Munhoz for Bloomberg Gov.

Nearly 6% cut to some railroader benefits hits post-pandemic

Congress faces tough path despite bipartisan support

A recent cut in railroad workers’ sickness and unemployment benefits has made bedfellows of usually-adversarial groups—railroad companies and their employees—now pushing Congress to fix an issue that could strain their workforce and the nation’s supply chain it supports.

Reported by People’s World.

In just two weeks, thanks to federal infrastructure funds from legislation last year—and coordination by state, federal, and local officials plus round-the-clock work from unionists—the collapsed I-95 bridge in Philadelphia was replaced and reopened, thus solving a major transportation bottleneck in the Northeast U.S.

But if the House’s ruling Republicans have their way, in the transportation money bill they’re considering before Congress skedaddles out of town for its August recess, not only would the Philly repair not have been finished so fast, it might not have even begun.

WASHINGTON—Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement after the House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee approved its fiscal year 2024 THUD spending bill:  “The proposed fiscal year 2024 THUD spending bill would be disastrous for America’s transportation systems, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced the Reliable Rail Service Act to help address the unreliable service and high costs of rail shipping for American businesses. The legislation, which is supported by members of the agriculture industry, labor organizations, energy producers, and manufacturers, ensures the largest freight railroads provide American businesses […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representatives Tracey Mann (KS-01), John Garamendi (CA-08), Rick Crawford (AR-01), and Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) introduced legislation that would ensure that U.S.-grown commodities remain the cornerstone of international food aid. “America’s international food aid programs have enjoyed bipartisan support for more than 65 years because they are simple, effective, and they feed […]