News and Media

AS REPORTED BY JERRY BOWLES FOR DIGINOMICA Driverless automobiles are an important step closer to becoming a reality on American roads.  The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed—by a vote of 54 to 0–the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market. The measure, called the SELF-DRIVE Act, would require automakers to submit […]

AS REPORTED BY SAM SACKS FOR THE DISTRICT SENTINEL A bill that would open US roadways to hundreds of thousands of automated vehicles over the next half decade passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Almost entirely absent from consideration were the hundreds of thousands of human drivers who stand to be replaced by the burgeoning […]

AS REPORTED BY SABRINA EATON FOR CLEVELAND.COM WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would speed development of self-driving cars by letting companies like Google, Uber and Honda deploy up to 100,000 of them each year without obtaining advance approval for their autonomous vehicle technologies. Bowling Green GOP Rep. Bob […]

AS REPORTED BY TONY ROMM FOR RECODE The U.S. House approved a bill on Wednesday that could soon pave the way for Ford, Google, Uber and other companies to deploy hundreds of thousands of new self-driving cars on the country’s roads. But the measure isn’t yet law — it still has to survive the slow-moving Senate, […]

Washington, DC — Larry I. Willis, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement on H.R. 3388, the SELF DRIVE Act: “The advancement and introduction of autonomous vehicles into our nation’s transportation system will have a profound impact on jobs and wages. This is particularly true in the commercial driving sector where […]

AS REPORTED BY TED REED IN FORBES Let’s just say upfront that this is not a good time for the labor movement. Membership has declined for decades; high visibility organizing campaigns in the South keep failing; few gains were made during the tenure of a moderately pro-union president and now an anti-union president, leading a virulently […]

As reported by Michaela Ross in Bloomberg Tesla Inc.’s reported plan to operate autonomous semitractor-trailers on U.S. public roads faces an evolving regulatory landscape. A U.S. Senate proposal for autonomous vehicles has stalled, largely due to controversy over its provision to create a national framework for self-driving commercial vehicles. Companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and […]

“We can and must do more to support measures that enhance this industry and its frontline workforce, including strengthening the Maritime Security Program, protecting cargo preference laws, and retaining skilled mariners. I look forward to working with Administrator Buzby to push these and other common-sense policies that will secure our nation’s port and maritime industries as engines for economic growth and job creation.”

As reported by Ryan Beene and Josh Eidelson in Bloomberg Labor unions are urging a slowdown as lawmakers fast track legislation to allow self-driving vehicles on the road, a potential boon to some union jobs and an existential threat to others. The House Energy & Commerce committee Thursday advanced legislation on a 54-0 vote that […]

Executive Committee Honors Departing Longtime President Edward Wytkind   Washington, DC — Larry I. Willis and Greg Regan were elected unanimously today as President and Secretary-Treasurer, respectively, of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), by the organization’s Executive Committee. Outgoing President Edward Wytkind, who gave his full support to Willis and Regan, stepped down after […]