Press Releases and Statements

Washington, DC – Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement on the President’s budget released yesterday: “President Trump contradicted his own calls for a $1 trillion investment in our infrastructure by releasing a budget yesterday that proposes significant cuts to critical transportation programs. “Plain and simple, this budget would […]

Washington, DC – Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement in support of the Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act: “We applaud Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) for introducing legislation that gives our nation’s hardworking Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) the workplace rights […]

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017: “We applaud Congress for coming together to complete an omnibus appropriations bill that funds critical transportation investments, rejects anti-worker riders, and avoids a needless government shutdown. We urge lawmakers to swiftly pass […]

Washington, DC — The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), is urging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to follow established protocol and put science first by denying a petition by several trucking companies to use hair specimen in lieu of federally mandated urine in pre-employment drug tests.

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in response to President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order, signed today: “Today’s Executive Order represents a positive first step to improve the flaws in current Buy America policies. However, for today’s action to result in expanded […]

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to ban inflight voice calls: “Yesterday’s announcement by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is an important recognition of what we have been saying all along: voice cell phone calls do not […]

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in response to President Trump’s budget proposal: “The austerity measures offered for transportation in the President’s budget blueprint go in the wrong direction and must be rejected. We cannot cut our way to a better and more modern transportation […]

  Release Primer on Transportation Automation   San Antonio, TX – Transportation labor leaders laid out an aggressive strategy yesterday focused on shaping the President’s $1 trillion transportation infrastructure package and tackling unprecedented challenges faced by frontline transportation workers. Some of those challenges include the looming transportation automation wave, risks to jobs and safety, and reckless […]

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement on the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Elaine Chao as Secretary of Transportation: “I congratulate Elaine Chao on her confirmation by the Senate as our new Secretary of Transportation. The challenges Secretary Chao inherits are monumental. Decades of wrongheaded austerity […]

Washington, DC — Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in response to the “Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure,” a trillion dollar, federally funded infrastructure plan announced yesterday by several U.S. Senators: “We applaud Senator Chuck Schumer and several of his colleagues for advancing the critical debate about the […]