TTD in the news

[As published by Julian Hattem in The Hill] Transportation unions want new regulations for train crews and bus drivers. The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO on Tuesday endorsed potential federal mandates to require at least two crew members on all U.S. freight trains, protect bus drivers from physical assaults and make sure they are paid overtime […]

[As published by TTD President Edward Wytkind and SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich in the Des Moines Register] While politicians can’t agree on much, Iowans and the majority of Americans surely agree on one thing: They want more Amtrak service, not less. On the heaviest traveled passenger rail corridor in the nation, the Northeast […]

[As published by Keith Laing in The Hill] A poll conducted by a transportation union found that 70 percent of voters in a group of eight moderate congressional districts backed federal funding for Amtrak. The poll, which conducted by the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) union, surveyed voters in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, […]

[As published by Keith Laing in The Hill]  Transportation advocates are encouraged by a proposal this week from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to increase funding for road and infrastructure projects.Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate committee that oversees transportation policy, said this week she is considering eliminating the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax in the next […]

[As posted by editors of the Press Associates Union News Service] WASHINGTON (PAI)—Two AFL-CIO departments, three construction unions and the St. Louis council of one of them, the Carpenters, are part of a bipartisan push urging lawmakers to approve a new waterways projects bill. In doing so, the federation’s Building Trades and Transportation Trades Departments, […]

[As published by Alexander Burns in Politico] Members of the AFL-CIO erupted in applause this week when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told them that their agenda was “America’s agenda.” Less certain, according to a collection of top union officials, is whether labor’s agenda is still the Democratic Party’s agenda. Assembled here for the AFL-CIO’s quadrennial […]

[As published by TTD President Edward Wytkind in Aviation Week Aug. 5, 2013] When you operate the world’s safest, most advanced and most lucrative aviation system—as the U.S. does—others are naturally going to want a piece of that pie. It is up to the U.S. government, therefore, not to slice it up at the expense […]

[By Elahe Izadi of National Journal] It’s not every day that you’ll find the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO agreeing completely on an issue. But in 2011, there they were, chamber President Tom Donohue and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, testifying before a Senate committee in favor of a new surface-transportation bill, and even suggesting […]

[As posted by Nick Calio, Capt. Lee Moak and Edward Wytkind in The Hill] The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to establish a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi is a bad deal for America and will have strong implications for U.S. airlines, workers and passengers. For starters, […]

[As posted by Ed Wytkind in the National Journal] The growing popularity of looking to public-private partnerships (PPPs) to fund our transportation systems cannot allow us to lose sight of the need to both protect the public interest and make the strong federal investments in infrastructure that will rebuild our country, grow our economy, and improve […]