Policy

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) notice regarding Union Pacific’s (UP) petition to extend its waiver allowing Class I brake tests and other mechanical inspections associated with a train entering the United States at Calexico, California to be performed at alternate locations instead of immediately at the border. TTD consists of 37 affiliated unions representing the totality of rail labor, including rail workers who operate on these lines. For the reasons outlined below, we ask that the FRA deny UP’s petition to extend its waiver.

This requested waiver is similar to ones that UP requested earlier this year covering three other locations on the border: Nogales, Arizona; Laredo, Texas; and Eagle Pass, Texas. TTD filed comments opposing those waiver requests.[1] This waiver request touches on the same concerns regarding cross-border train operations.

We respectfully submit these comments on behalf of the Railroad Labor Organizations identified below, in response to the Notice of Petition for Waiver of Compliance published in the Federal Register on April 7, 2023 by the Federal Railroad Administration concerning the Canadian Pacific Railway Company’s (“CP” or “the Petitioner”) petition to extend its waiver of compliance from certain provisions of the federal railroad safety regulations contained at 49 C.F.R. part 241, United States Locational Requirement for Dispatching of United States Rail Operations. In addition to the policy issues with CP’s request, the unprecedented nature of CP’s request to get a permanent waiver is alarming, would set a dangerous precedent, and undercuts the entire regulatory process. The Notice states that (emphasis ours):

Specifically, CP requests an extension of relief and permanent waiver pursuant to 49 CFR 241.7(c), Fringe border dispatching, to allow the continuation of Canadian dispatching of three locations in the United States: (1) 1.8 miles of the Windsor Subdivision between Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and Detroit, Michigan, United States; and (2) two track segments totaling 23.44 miles on the Newport Subdivision between Richford, Vermont, and East Richford, Vermont, United States and between North Troy, Vermont, and Newport, Vermont, United States.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) request for comment on a petition from BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) for a waiver of compliance from the “hands-on” component of periodic refresher training required by 49 CFR 232.203(b)(8). TTD consists of 37 affiliate unions representing many kinds of transportation workers, including BNSF employees. We therefore have a vested interest in this petition. Because virtual training is not a sufficient substitute for hands-on training, we ask that the FRA deny the petition.

Current regulation requires refresher training every three years for railroad employees that perform brake system inspections, tests, or maintenance. BNSF’s request for relief would allow it to continue to use its Air Brake System Virtual Training Environment (ABSVTE) simulation training for brake inspections instead of hands-on refresher training on mandatory brake inspection and equipment. TTD opposes this waiver extension, which is consistent with TTD’s previous opposition to replacing hands-on training requirements with virtual training.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Request for Information regarding Buy America Requirements for Manufactured Products. TTD consists of 37 affiliate unions representing workers in construction and manufacturing who are directly impacted by Buy America policies.

The general applicability waiver discussed in this docket has survived for 40 years and has outlived its usefulness. Such broad and general waivers should never be used when targeted, time-limited, and transparent waivers can serve instead. In this case, targeted waivers would create market signals to increase U.S. production of needed manufactured products and their upstream components, inputs, and materials.

The United States is experiencing an acute shortage of professional mariners indispensable to U.S. national security, economic security, and humanitarian response efforts as a global peace leader. In 2017, the U.S. Maritime Administration found that the United States is approximately 1,800 mariners short of what is sufficient to mobilize a drawn-out military effort exceeding 4-6 months. Today, that number is much higher. With the war in Ukraine entering its second year and escalating U.S.-China tensions, the shortage of U.S. Merchant Mariners threatens U.S. national security. In a post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery, a whole-of-government approach is necessary to address significant maritime industry workforce concerns in recruitment and retention.

We call on Congress and the Biden Administration to implement aggressive strategies to resolve the mariner workforce gap by increasing enrollment at maritime academies and other maritime training institutions by breaking down financial barriers to entering the industry. Congress and the Biden Administration should increase student incentive payments for mariner education and training; subsidize expenses for academies and schools so costs are not shifted to the pockets of cadets and other entry-level mariners; and allow licensed and unlicensed merchant mariners to receive student loan forgiveness when they enter the workforce.

The U.S. aviation industry is one of the most heavily unionized industries in the United States, supporting close to 11 million jobs. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization will expire at the end of this fiscal year and Congress must pass a multi-year bill that advances policies that address workforce issues and make air transportation safer for passengers and employees. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 2023 travel levels in North America are expected to exceed pre-pandemic traffic levels, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anticipates a record number of travelers to pass through U.S. airports this summer. Congress should pass an FAA Reauthorization bill supporting critical needs for aviation workers as the industry rebounds from the pandemic.

In March, federal lawmakers introduced the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2023 (H.R. 1696) to repeal the limited antitrust immunity afforded to foreign ocean carriers and dissolve the three major foreign shipping company alliances. This would have serious unintended consequences for dockworkers and other maritime workers that service these foreign ocean carriers at U.S. ports.

Therefore, we oppose the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2023, H.R. 1696, and urge lawmakers to consider the adverse impact that this legislation would have on U.S. maritime workers.

In the wake of the pandemic and its devastating impacts on public transportation both on ridership and revenue, transit systems across the country are facing a funding crisis that could have decades-long impacts on workers and the riders who are dependent on public transportation. While ridership has steadily improved since 2020, budget shortfalls coupled with other factors, including inflation and rising transit operating costs, threaten to exacerbate what is referred to in the industry as the “transit death spiral”: transit agencies cut service or increase fares and in turn fewer people use public transport, leading to even greater declines in revenue.

In the short term, this feedback loop of declining service will have disproportionate impacts on those who rely the most on transit to get to work, medical appointments, the supermarket, and other important needs. In the long term, it will devastate recovery forecasts for public transit while worsening street traffic, air quality, and our overall economy.

The labor movement stands united in our support for good, middle-class jobs; policies that address climate change; and safe transportation that brings equitable benefits to communities across the country. Billions in federal investment across the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will help achieve that goal in school bus fleets across the country, but as with any federal investment, these dollars must come with conditions that maintain or create quality union jobs for American workers. As with any rapid technological change, electrification threatens to displace the manufacturing workers, drivers, and mechanics who have committed their livelihoods to supporting the country’s education system. To meet our climate goals while ensuring good union jobs, the student transportation workforce must be front of mind as the federal government funds the deployment of electric school buses in communities across the country.

The horrific Norfolk Southern rail derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on the evening of February 3, 2023, highlighted a truth that rail labor unions have been vocal about for years: the freight rail industry has a fundamental disregard for the safety of workers and the general public. Congress must take decisive and comprehensive action to fix it. Rail workers have sounded the alarm for years about the deteriorating safety conditions in the freight rail industry. Actions taken by the Class I freight railroads both before and after the derailment demonstrate that they still have no interest in correcting their business practices that put lives and communities at risk every single day. Sadly, that is because they are driven by one thing, and one thing only: generating the most profit possible, regardless of anyone’s wellbeing but their own. It does not matter to them who gets hurt in the process.

Unfortunately, the East Palestine derailment is not an anomaly. The wide-reaching breadth of safety failures in the freight rail industry contributes to more than 1,000 freight rail derailments a year– nearly three a day. And contrary to the railroads’ rhetoric, the industry’s safety record is getting worse, not better. In fact, the accident and incident rate has increased over the last decade at four of the biggest Class I railroads: BNSF Railway, Union Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern.