News and Media

A senior American labor union leader will tell U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the government should require human operators in all self-driving passenger services to take over in the event of an emergency.

Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department for the AFL-CIO, will tell a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee that autonomous vehicles place “millions of jobs at risk” and any legislation to speed deployment of self-driving cars should not apply to commercial trucks weighing 10,000 pounds or more, according to his written testimony released by the panel on Monday.

Washington, DC – Warning of severe consequences to safety, working people, and transportation access and equity if driverless vehicles are not properly regulated, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), today announced a legislative framework for the testing, deployment, and regulation of autonomous vehicles (AVs). The two organizations, which collectively represent […]

Even as railroads are operating longer and longer freight trains that sometimes stretch for miles, the companies have drastically reduced staffing levels, prompting unions to warn that moves meant to increase profits could endanger safety and even result in disasters.

More than 22% of the jobs at railroads Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern have been eliminated since 2017, when CSX implemented a cost-cutting system called Precision Scheduled Railroading that most other U.S. railroads later copied. BNSF, the largest U.S. railroad and the only one that hasn’t expressly adopted that model, has still made staff cuts to improve efficiency and remain competitive.

Washington, DC – Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement applauding House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chair Donald Payne Jr (D-NJ) for calling on the GAO to study the impacts of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) on workers, safety, […]

Podcast Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Matt Miller for Bloomberg. Ed Mortimer, Vice President of Transportation and Infrastructure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department for AFL-CIO, discuss the latest on infrastructure.

Washington, DC – Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in support of the Fair and Open Skies Act, introduced today by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR): “Open Skies agreements have been successful when they promote fair competition and lift labor and safety standards for all participating nations. Those airlines […]

Emerging rail technologies got their chance to shine in a congressional hearing last week, but countering them were calls to invest in Amtrak and existing rail service.

Advocates for various new travel modes — including hyperloop and maglev, some of which are still years away from becoming reality — urged greater federal investment during the second half of a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.

The win by Uber and Lyft over their workers in a hotly contested—and expensive—California referendum last year, giving the firms absolute control over their drivers, shows the need for passing the PRO Act, says Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department. Enacting it would bring those and other “independent contractor” workers under federal labor law protection, he states.

Without the PRO Act, those 10.5 million independent contractors must depend on “a hodge-podge” of state and local labor laws to protect their rights, pay, and the right to organize, he told Press Associates Union News Service in a telephone interview.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Greg Regan, president of the 33-union Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), today joined President Joe Biden, labor union leaders, and frontline workers to mark Amtrak’s 50th anniversary, and set a bold, new vision for passenger rail in America. Together, labor leaders, Amtrak’s workers and passengers, and President Biden are calling for passage […]

Washington, DC—Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement commemorating the 50th observance of Workers Memorial Day: “On Workers Memorial Day, as we pause to remember and honor those injured and killed at work, we are reminded in the starkest ways that safety in the workplace doesn’t simply happen. It […]