Press Releases and Statements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Washington, D.C. . . . The following statement was issued today by Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), in response to a 93-6 vote in the U.S. Senate to reauthorize Amtrak. “The growing needs of traveling Americans won today on the floor of the United […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Washington, DC – The lack of comprehensive, mandatory security training for rail workers is, “a disgrace,” an AFL-CIO transportation labor leader told a Senate panel today, decrying that, “beyond vague warnings by the Administration and promises of action by the rail industry, little has actually been done,” in the […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Washington, DC –In advance of an upcoming debate, three transportation labor leaders are calling on the U.S. Senate to increase federal support for transit programs by $400 million in the Fiscal Year 2006 appropriations bill. Warning that, “public transportation services will suffer at a time when more and more […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Washington, D.C. . . . The following statement was issued today by Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD). “A senior Bush Administration official’s claim yesterday that transit security on America’s public transportation systems is “outstanding” is both galling and dangerously divorced from reality. “The statement […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 202/262-3854 MichaelB@ttd.org Widespread Accounts of Law-Breaking Raise Safety Concerns Washington, DC –Citing a rash of safety lapses and widespread accounts of legal, environmental, and civil rights abuses, leaders of AFL-CIO transportation unions today called on government regulators to clean-up or shut down poorly regulated, low-cost “curb-side” intercity buses. “Government […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Aviation Federal Agency Maligns Workers, Threatens Safety Washington, DC –Transportation workers “will stand full force behind FAA employees in stopping the agency’s leadership from creating an environment of hostility and distrust with its own employees and jeopardizing the safety and efficiency of the air traffic control system,” leaders of […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Congress, DOT IG Must Demand Accounting of Tax Dollars Spent on 22-City Press Tour Washington, D.C. . . . The following statement was issued today by Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, in reaction to yesterday’s launch by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of a national […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Inexplicably Rejects Bipartisan Shelby-Sarbanes Amendment Washington, D.C. … The following statement was issued today by Edward Wytkind, President of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department, in response to the U.S. Senate’s rejection of new investment in the nation’s massive transit security needs. “It is shocking that a minority of U.S. […]

The recent decision of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to unilaterally impose contract terms on 1,900 members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association is an egregious assault on collective bargaining rights and a dangerously counter-productive move by an agency that is already failing to meet critical challenges to aviation safety. FAA Administrator Marion C. […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Michael Buckley 202/628-9262 Includes Strong Worker Training, Whistleblower Protections Washington, D.C. B The following statement was issued today by Edward Wytkind, President of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department. “Transportation workers and their unions strongly support the Secure TRAINS Act of 2005 introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Last week’s tragic […]