Policy

Proponents of “free trade” have long argued that the lowering of trade barriers between nations sparks economic growth by providing cheaper goods for consumers at home and opening new markets for U.S. products abroad. However, those of us in the labor movement have long understood that the realities of free trade rarely live up to the promise. The decks are too often stacked against U.S. workers, and free trade agreements too often allow multi-national corporations to exploit workers throughout the world—all in search of increased profits. Furthermore, the “protections” built into agreements are so rarely enforced as to render them meaningless. 

Our nation’s early history and sustained economic growth are intertwined with the use of waterborne transportation to move goods and people to both key population centers and rural communities. Yet today, domestic maritime services are significantly underutilized even as our surface transportation network struggles to keep up with demand and as the U.S. maritime and shipbuilding industries seek out new commercial opportunities. By supporting the deployment of a short sea shipping industry—the use of commercial vessels for the carriage of commodities along American’s seacoasts and inland waterways—we can create good U.S. jobs, enhance sound environmental and energy policies and relieve congestion on existing highways. All with minimal cost to the federal taxpayers. 

Since the first U.S. freight trains departed from Baltimore nearly 200 years ago, the freight rail industry has served as the backbone of domestic commerce, providing reliable, safe and responsive service and in the process creating and sustaining good union jobs. The success of the rail industry is premised on the fair treatment and utilization of its frontline workforce, balanced economic regulations and an expectation that railroads will meet their service obligations. Unfortunately, the introduction of an operating model known as Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) threatens to weaken these conditions and undermines our freight rail industry.

After more than ten years and a staggering 36 short-term extensions since the last multi-year surface transportation bill in 2006, then-President Obama signed into law the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act—a five-year reauthorization of our federal surface transportation program—in December 2015.

Whether operating in the dense Northeast Corridor, providing long-distance service that connects rural communities and urban hubs, or partnering with states on regional routes, our intercity passenger rail network is a vital transportation link for millions of people. The service Amtrak provides creates economic growth, reduces congestion on our roadways, and brings the nation closer together.

On February 12, 2009, Colgan Air flight 3407 crashed into a suburban neighborhood in Western NY, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) later revealed that pilot fatigue likely played an important role in inhibiting the pilots’ ability to respond to the adverse conditions that night. By government regulatory standards, the response to this disaster was swift. In 2010, Congress passed the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act, and in 2011, the DOT and the FAA implemented new rules on airline pilot flight- and duty-time limitations and minimum rest requirements. These science-based rules marked a major step forward in making air travel safer by, among other things, increasing the minimum rest hours required for pilots before flights and setting flight duty limits based on time of day, as well as the number of takeoffs and landings performed by a pilot during each duty period. These reforms helped address the chronic fatigue that plagues our nation’s pilots.

As policymakers and stakeholders continue to negotiate the terms of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), we, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division (SMART-TD), and the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), write to bring your attention to a thus unresolved issue concerning freight rail service between the United States and Mexico and the disparate treatment of rail workers under current law. [1]

Dear Chairman Inhofe, Ranking Member Reed, Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry: On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I express my strenuous opposition to language being considered for inclusion in the FY ‘20 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that strips collective bargaining rights from U.S. mariners serving on United States-flag vessels participating in the Maritime Security Program (MSP) operating under an Emergency Preparedness Agreement. As drafted, the proposal would allow an MSP carrier, receiving taxpayer funded stipends, to unilaterally abandon its bargained obligations as it relates to crewing MSP vessels and would allow the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prohibit a labor organization from representing these mariners if the agency decides the union is not adequately acquiescing to the carrier’s demands.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I urge you to support the Full Utilization of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act (H.R. 2440) when it is considered under suspension on Monday, October 28th. This bipartisan legislation has been introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO), Subcommittee Chair Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Subcommittee Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA). TTD has previously endorsed H.R. 2440, and we strongly support its passage by the full House.

On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), I am pleased to respond to FRA’s request for comment on Norfolk Southern’s (NS) petition for a waiver of compliance concerning employee injury/illness forms. TTD consists of 33 affiliate unions representing workers in all modes of transportation, including freight rail employees whose workplace injuries and illness are reported and documented via the regulation NS seeks relief from.