TTD in the news

Reported by Progressive Railroading. The California High-Speed Rail Authority and 13 rail labor unions last week announced they’ve entered into an agreement in which the authority will use rail workers covered by federal rail labor laws in critical jobs once the high-speed trains begin to operate. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) ensures that “highly skilled…

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The Surface Transportation Board recently closed the comment period for rail stakeholders to file their thoughts on whether reciprocal switching should be considered as an option to address subpar rail service in the U.S. And among the thousands of pages in filings to the board about the issue were dozens of suggestions and questions. How…

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More than two dozen labor unions are calling on the federal government to rein in autonomous vehicles. In a letter to the Secretary of Transportation, the unions wrote that driverless vehicles are a menace to society. The unions say that federal officials should dig deep into the record and reliability of driverless vehicles. Unions have…

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On Nov. 8, 26 labor organizations asked the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a six-page letter to “take immediate action” to “end the unsafe operation of [automated driving system]-equipped vehicles on our roads.” Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, told Smart Cities Dive…

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Reported by Dan Zukowski for SmartCitiesDive. As Congress stumbles toward a likely government shutdown at midnight on Oct. 1, state and local officials, including those responsible for law enforcement and transportation, are assessing how a shutdown would affect their operations. Depending on the length of any shutdown and the specific federal personnel and agencies it…

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Reported by Irving Mejia-Hilario for the Dallas Morning News. Over 7,000 union workers in Illinois and Michigan joined other striking auto workers Friday as the United Auto Workers widened its work stoppage to win higher wages and benefits from Detroit’s Big Three automakers. UAW President Shawn Fain called on workers at a Ford assembly plant…

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Reported by Joanna Marsh for Freightwaves. On the surface, a government shutdown — which can occur if Congress can’t agree on how to handle the appropriations budgets — would have a limited impact on freight rail operations. Freight railroads will keep running, transporting parts, materials and goods within North America and to and from the…

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The major freight railroads say a disagreement over whether they will be allowed to discipline some workers who use a government hotline to report safety concerns has kept them from following through on the promise they made back in March to join the program after a fiery Ohio derailment prompted calls for reforms. Unions and…

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Reported by Nick Niedzwiadek and Olivia Olander for Politico Pro. President Joe Biden has tapped former union leader Brendan Danaher to serve as a top labor adviser at the White House. Danaher fills the role — deputy director of the National Economic Council for labor and economy — left by Celeste Drake, who stepped down…

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Reported by Benjamin Kail for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman are pressing Norfolk Southern to join a federal rail safety program that the company said it would join more than four months ago, after one of its freight trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in February. The Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential…

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