News and Media

[As posted on The Hill’s Congress Blog] With all the challenges facing our aviation system, we’re also having to worry about in-flight fires due to poorly regulated lithium battery transport. Why? Because some members of the House of Representatives want to put profits before safety by blocking needed in-flight battery safety rules as part of […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), testified today before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Opening the Northeast Corridor to Private Competition for the Development of High Speed Rail. Below are excerpts from his oral testimony: “Wishful thinking won’t build and sustain a 21st century transportation […]

[As posted on FireDogLake] When the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the states that had applied for high speed rail grants last month – made available after Florida Governor Rick Scott rejected the funds – I was surprised to see Wisconsin on the list.  A bad joke?  No, five months after sending $810 million in […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement regarding the critically important role our nation’s air traffic controllers play in keeping the skies above the United States safe every day: “Air traffic controllers are ultimate professionals who are on the front lines of keeping air travel […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), made the following statement following the vote in the House of Representatives on the LaTourette-Costello amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration bill that reversed fair union election standards for aviation and rail workers: “Fair and democratic union elections took a severe blow […]

WASHINGTON, DC – The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) today, in testimony before a key congressional committee, called for full funding of Amtrak as the “centerpiece” of high speed rail and expressed strong opposition to privatizing the national passenger rail carrier. “We are not opposed to private sector participation in passenger rail – in fact, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attempts to reverse fair election rules for rail and aviation workers, and the mounting crisis at mass transit agencies across the country, are top priorities of transportation labor, as discussed yesterday at the winter meeting of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Basic fairness and fundamentally democratic elections are on the line with […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement regarding Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to reject federal high speed rail funding for Florida: “For the 12 percent of Floridians who remain unemployed, Gov. Scott’s decision to kill high speed rail in Florida is tragic. Rather than using […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement regarding an attempt to repeal National Mediation Board union election rules in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill: “Fairness and democratic union elections are on the line with a measure in the pending House FAA bill – to […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), made the following statement opposing Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) amendment to strip safety and health protections for flight attendants from S. 223, the pending aviation reauthorization bill: “Sen. Rand Paul seems to believe that flight attendants, of all people, are undeserving of […]