News and Media

WASHINGTON, DC – Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) President Edward Wytkind issues this statement on the European Union (EU) Parliament’s decision against proceeding, at least until 2016, with its plan to charge a climate tax on non-EU airlines flying in and out of Europe: “We’re pleased that the EU Parliament will not implement a heavy-handed, […]

Washington, DC –  TTD President Edward Wytkind hailed the passage of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 today, calling it a victory for the U.S. Merchant Marine, middle class jobs and the broader economy. “The passage of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 is good news for workers, the […]

Washington, DC – Twenty-two unions with the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO weighed in on an ongoing and escalating debate about the future of international air travel today. The unions called on U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx to reject Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) application for a foreign air carrier permit now pending before the U.S. […]

[As published By Kevin Bogardus in The Hill] Labor unions are calling on the Obama administration to reject a Norwegian airline’s request for access to U.S. airports. In a letter obtained by The Hill and sent Tuesday to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, more than 20 unions urged the administration to reject Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement in support of the aviation safety and security reforms advanced today by J. David Cox, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), at a field hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee in Los Angeles, […]

[As publishedBy Keith Laing in The Hill] If not the gas tax, then what? That’s the dilemma facing Congress as it seeks to plug a growing hole in transportation funding that state and local governments say is reaching crisis proportions. While the gas tax has long been the bedrock of the transportation trust fund, the […]

WASHINGTON, DC—The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) today responded to a request for comments from the Department of Transportation (DOT), and urged DOT to ban voice calls on all flights within, to or from the U.S. TTD argued that allowing passengers to make in-flight phone calls would be inherently disruptive to the cabin environment and […]

[As published by David A. Lombardo in Aviation International News] The FAA is accepting comments on an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that would require employees of FAA-certified foreign repair stations and certain other maintenance providers who perform safety-sensitive work on U.S. airliners to be subject to a drug-and-alcohol-testing program. Consistent with the Congressional […]

WASHINGTON, DC—Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) President Edward Wytkind issues this statement regarding the FAA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on drug and alcohol testing at aircraft maintenance facilities outside the U.S.: “Federal aviation regulators took an important step yesterday in an effort to ensure that foreign aircraft repair stations that work on U.S. […]

[As published by Associated Press in The Washington Post] Aviation regulators say they’re considering rules that would require alcohol and drug testing for people who work on U.S. airline planes in foreign maintenance and repair shops. The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that it is seeking public comments. The agency wants to know which countries allow random […]