TTD in the news

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After years of advocacy, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced today that she successfully pushed the Biden administration to implement stronger Buy America standards for federally funded highway projects to support domestic manufacturing and create good-paying jobs. Senator Baldwin had long called for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to end the 40-year waiver […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04), a senior member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, re-introduced the Stronger Communities Through Better Transit Act, which would authorize $20 billion annually for four years ($80B total) to transit systems for their operating budgets. More than 60 of his colleagues are original cosponsors.  The bill would […]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Bob Casey, D-Penn., introduced the Energizing American Shipbuilding Act. This legislation would increase the United States’ exports of liquified natural gas (LNG) and crude oil on American built, flagged, and crewed vessels, and, subsequently, it would expand our domestic shipbuilding […]

Reported by John Oliver for HBO.

John Oliver discusses freight trains and railroads, how they’ve put profits over safety, and, crucially, what shows he watched as a child that explain…everything.

Reported by David Lassen for Trains.

President Joe Biden and passenger rail advocates on Friday hailed announcement of two major Federal Railroad Administration programs — one providing $8.2 billion in grants for construction of passenger-focused projects [see “FRA announces $8.2 billion in Federal-State Partnership passenger grants,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 8, 2023] and the other announcing routes selected for further passenger development, either as new or extended routes, or with increased frequencies [see “Full list of passenger routes …,” News Wire, Dec. 8, 2023].

Biden highlighted the $6.1 billion for the Brightline West and California high speed projects included in the Federal-State Partnership funding during an appearance Friday in Las Vegas, Nev., saying “world-class high speed rail” had been one of his commitments as a presidential candidate. “Today I’m here to deliver on that vision,” he said. “You have no idea how much this pleases me.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Zach Nunn (IA-03) and Don Davis (NC-01) today introduced legislation to protect Iowa’s jobs in the face of increasing automation in the workforce. The bipartisan Workforce DATA Act requires the U.S. Department of Labor to develop a plan to ensure that automation is a tool to make work easier, not an excuse to eliminate jobs. […]

Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves.

Prospects for rail safety legislation in Congress to move forward in the waning weeks of 2023 appear dim, given other pressing national issues and even “mental exhaustion” among politicians, according to a former U.S. Department of Transportation official who now heads a consulting firm.

“I think the bottom line is that it’s probably unlikely at this point that we’re gonna see any legislation this year. And next year — being an election year — is also looking pretty grim as far as prospects for the bill,” said Loren A. Smith Jr., president of Skyline Policy Risk Group, a research and consulting firm focused on the supply chain. Smith previously served as deputy assistant secretary for policy at DOT.

President of the Transportation Trades Department, Greg Regan, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ongoing battle for rail safety improvements, safety legislation and a high-speed rail system working with unions in California.

Rail safety is still a major concern for the TTD. Despite the best efforts of the administration and Railroad Safety Administration, until there can be actual legislation passed, Regan doesn’t believe changes will be made. The Rail Safety Act, is currently in the U.S. Senate, and is about two or three members shy of having the support needed to pass. Until the industry can put safety ahead of profits, the needed changes to make railroads safer won’t happen, he said.

Reported by Mark Gruenberg for People’s World.

A major investigation by the news site ProPublica has—by sifting through thousands of documents, poring over 111 court cases over 15 years about safety issues, and interviewing hundreds of rail workers willing to talk—revealed in detail how the nation’s major freight railroads have put profits before safety, putting workers and communities at risk.

The findings track what the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department has said for years. Its president, Greg Regan, has raised the rail safety issue and lobbied and testified often before federal officials and Congress about the safety hazards on the nation’s Class I big freight railroads.

Reported by Mark Gruenberg for People’s World.

Labor’s renewed activism and unionizing nationally not only wins battles for workers but also combats corporate greed and increasing income inequality, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson told senators in mid-November.

Fain summed up the progress by declaring, “In the past six months, we have begun to turn the tide in that class war—for the American worker.”