News and Media

Reported by Lillianna Byington for Bloomberg Government.

Labor unions are blaming freight railroad operators for cutting employees to streamline operations, contributing to rail delays and straining the nation’s food and energy supply chains.

Worker shortages caused by layoffs have hurt the U.S. economy by delaying freight rail shippers, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO told the Surface Transportation Board rail regulator in a letter released Tuesday. It specifically called out grain companies’ concerns about disruption on tracks operated by Union Pacific Corp., Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and Norfolk Southern Corp.

Reported by Lori Aratani for the Washington Post.

Lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to create a “no-fly” list for unruly passengers, part of an effort to address the rise of violent incidents in airplanes.

Under “The Protection From Abusive Passengers Act” unveiled by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), people convicted of assaulting crew members aboard an aircraft could be placed on a “no-fly” list that would be maintained by the Transportation Security Administration. Those individuals also could be barred from special programs that allow for expedited passenger screening, including TSA’s PreCheck program and Global Entry, which is managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

The Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO is urging federal agencies to rein in Class I railroads’ attendance policies, which TTD says force union employees to work long hours without adequate rest.

TTD wants the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether the attendance policies should incur statutory or regulatory violations, according to a new policy brief issued by the group, whose leaders are meeting in Washington this week to formalize TTD’s policy and regulatory agenda.

WASHINGTON – Leaders from 30 transportation labor organizations gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday to outline a robust legislative and regulatory agenda for the year. The unions are affiliates of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest transportation labor coalition. At the bi-annual legislative summit, transportation labor leaders formally called on Congress […]

Reported by Jessica Wehrman for Roll Call.

Transit operators and unions say they’ve seen a spike in violence against transit workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. And workers complain it’s hard to quantify that spike.

Under the Federal Transit Administration’s prior definition, a worker was considered assaulted if, for example, they had to be hospitalized for more than 48 hours or of they had certain fractures, severe bleeding, or damage to nerves, muscles, tendons or internal organs. The FTA also does not separate customer assaults from assaults by fellow workers in the National Transit Database, according to the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO.

Provisions in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law aim to change that.

WASHINGTON – This week, the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers became the 37th affiliated union of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO. The Iron Workers union represents 130,000 workers across North America. Members of the union have worked on nearly every major construction project in the country, including the Golden Gate Bridge, […]

America’s Work Force Union Podcast.

AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed big wins on federal transportation policy, particularly when it comes to the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and legislation that protects federal transportation workers from assault.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill will result in some of the biggest investments in the history of transit, Regan added.

Between Dec. 29 and Jan. 14, Mark Bass, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1410 in Mobile, Ala., watched as COVID-19 cases swept through the maritime workforce, ultimately infecting about 20 percent of it.

With workers packed in tight quarters, loading and unloading ships and often interacting with seamen coming in from different countries, infection was unavoidable. “There are just some jobs where you can’t stay 6 feet apart,” he said.

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement in response to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s announcement of $2.9 billion for major infrastructure projects through a combined Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law:  “Today’s announcement of nearly $3 billion in combined […]

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO today called on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to seek consultations with European aviation authorities regarding Wizz Air Hungary Ltd.’s application for a foreign air carrier permit and exemption pursuant to the US-EU Open Skies Agreement. TTD also urged DOT to defer further action until […]