Policy

Dear Mr. Fulton: On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to DOT’s request for comment on its document entitled “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0 (AV 4.0).”  TTD consists of 33 affiliate unions representing workers in all modes of transportation, including those who will be impacted by the development and deployment of automated vehicles. We therefore have a vested interest in this policy.

Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Leader McCarthy: On behalf of the Rail Labor Division (RLD) of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), the American Short Line and Railroad Association (ASLRRA), Association of American Railroads (AAR), and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED), we applaud the House and Senate for addressing the needs of railroad workers by making much needed changes to Railroad Unemployment Insurance (RUI). As negotiations continue, we jointly call on Congress to ensure these proposals are included in a final agreement.

Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Leader McCarthy: On behalf of America’s public transportation industry and its frontline employees who operate and maintain public transit and commuter rail systems across the country every day, we urge you to provide $16.0 billion in immediate, desperately needed supplemental funding to keep our transit and commuter rail systems safe and operational in the months to come, and to prioritize that funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

As Congress continues to develop its responses to the COVID-19 crisis, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), has called for bold and immediate policy prescriptions that seek to keep our nation’s transportation systems running by supporting the millions of frontline workers employed across all modes of transportation. It is non-negotiable that any aid package must prioritize the livelihoods, health, and safety of these workers, and we will staunchly oppose efforts that fail to do so.

On behalf of the undersigned labor organizations representing aviation employees, we write to you regarding the importance of ensuring that any proposed relief package for the airline industry is centered on the needs of employees.

As government leaders respond to the widespread transmission of COVID-19, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) has laid out a broad agenda urging lawmakers to address the immediate and long-term health and economic effects caused by COVID-19 on our transportation workforce – one of the largest job sectors in the country. TTD is focused on all modes of the transportation industry, and will be reaching out in the coming hours and days to share our individual priorities.

The people who build, operate and maintain our nation’s transportation systems are struggling, as are most Americans, with the scope and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spread of the disease does not appear to be slowing down, and it is clear that this is not only a public health crisis, but also an economic one. As the elected leaders of transportation unions we are calling on federal policymakers to take decisive action to address both the immediate and long-term health and economic effects caused by COVID-19. Critically, any solutions must focus on helping frontline workers who are bearing the brunt of the outbreak from both a health and economic perspective.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to provide comments on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CP) petition for a waiver of compliance from the “hands-on” component of periodic refresher training required by 49 CFR 232.203(b)(8). By way of background, TTD consists of 33 affiliate unions, including unions representing freight rail workers.[1] In responding to this notice, TTD strongly endorses the comments filed by the Transport Workers Union of America and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen Division of the Transportation Communications Union/IAM

America’s ports and harbors are a core driver of domestic and international trade, generating $5.6 trillion dollars in economic activity — approximately a quarter of the entire U.S. economy. The operation of ports and the vessels that call at them directly generate thousands of jobs in the longshore, maritime, dredging, shipbuilding and freight transportation industries, and an untold number of jobs indirectly throughout the supply chain. Despite this, ports and harbors are frequently left out of the infrastructure conversation, and have been historically underserved by federal initiatives.

The technological achievements that enable modern transportation are often stunning in scope and vision. High-speed trains, electric buses, and intricate transit systems give Americans mobility options that would have been unthinkable just a few generations before. Of course, nothing has shrunk the world as dramatically as modern air travel. Yet, even if we stop to marvel at our collective ability to board a metal tube and fly off to the farthest corners of the earth in mere hours, we too often take for granted some of the more basic advancements that allow for commercial air travel.