Press Releases and Statements

WASHINGTON – Today, 13 rail union leaders gathered for a virtual media briefing to warn of ongoing safety threats within the freight rail industry ahead of the one-year anniversary of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on the evening of February 3rd. Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the […]

LAS VEGAS — Today, the AFL-CIO, the AFL-CIO Technology Institute and SAG-AFTRA co-hosted their fifth annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit. Across two days, the Summit convenes movement leaders and working people to discuss and develop strategies to ensure ethical technology adoption and center workers at the heart of emerging technologies. The Summit coincided with […]

WASHINGTON– Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement regarding the closure of two freight rail crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border: “As the nation’s largest transportation federation, we are proud to represent thousands of workers who move critical freight into and around the country, […]

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following response to Overseas Shipping Group CEO Sam Norton’s remarks, in which he called for replacing U.S. mariners with low-wage foreign workers to solve the maritime industry worker shortage: “As the nation’s largest transportation labor federation, […]

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement applauding the Department of Transportation’s decision to award $3 billion each to California High-Speed Rail and Brightline West through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program, , as part of $8.2 billion in […]

WASHINGTON– Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement applauding the inclusion of language that would strengthen domestic content preferences for major defense programs in the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): “As the nation’s largest transportation labor federation, we represent thousands […]

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 Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) proposed rule to require drug and alcohol testing for safety-sensitive workers at foreign air repair stations: “For more than 20 years, we have called for greater federal […]

CALIFORNIA – Today, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA), which oversees the largest high-speed rail project under construction in North America, announced a ground-breaking agreement with 13 rail unions to utilize rail workers covered by federal railroad labor laws in critical jobs once trains begin to operate. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ensures that highly […]

WASHINGTON – Today, 27 labor organizations representing transportation workers urged federal transportation safety officials to immediately open investigations into Waymo, Zoox, and similar companies that operate robotaxis and other for-hire driverless vehicles. While Cruise issued a voluntary software recall yesterday for its 950 driverless vehicle fleet and has temporarily halted its driverless vehicle operations, other […]

A broad coalition of American maritime and transportation unions has registered its strong opposition to a proposal that would promote the operation of United States-flag vessels with foreign crews.  The proposal, part of a report issued by the Hudson Institute, would create a second United States-flag ship registry to allow vessel owners to bypass the […]