Policy Statements

Since its establishment in 1996, the Maritime Security Program (MSP) has been critically important to our U.S.-flag fleet, its workforce and our nation’s defense readiness.  MSP is a shining example of a federal program that promotes our national security, improves our economic activity, and creates and sustains good-paying middle class jobs, all while saving billions […]

Too many intercity bus accidents are occurring across America due to chronically fatigued drivers who are exempted from federal overtime rules that encourage dangerously excessive hours.  About 50 people and 1,000 innocent passengers die annually in bus accidents.  We must do better by advancing common sense policy reforms that will make bus transportation safer for […]

Just four months ago in Quebec, a runaway train carrying 72 cars of crude oil killed 47 people and demolished the town of Lac-Megantic.  The accident occurred after a crew member, working alone, parked the train uphill from the town for the night.  Unmanned, the train rolled down the track and exploded.  Though the official […]

In the past several months, both the House and the Senate have moved to reform and enhance spending on U.S. ports, harbors and waterways in an effort to reverse decades of neglect and to put thousands of construction workers back on the job.  TTD supports these funding reforms and the broader Water Resources and Development […]

Some in Congress believe that careening from one budget crisis to the next is the ‘new normal’ for the way our government functions.  The reckless sequestration mechanism of automatic budget cuts – agreed to in August 2011 – is a symbol of Washington’s dysfunction and now threatens the economy and vital federal programs and services.  […]

Too often, our nation’s intercity bus drivers face unique health and safety challenges that are not being addressed by employers and policymakers at all levels.  Bus driver assaults are on the rise, causing unacceptably high rates of injury and worker anxiety.  Making this work even more stressful, many bus drivers are not provided enough time […]

Earlier this month the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) general assembly approved a plan that will provide for the development, over the next three years, of a global framework for addressing aviation’s impact on climate change, with the goal of implementing the plan worldwide by 2020.  TTD applauds the adoption of this plan, and looks […]

Too often, front-line federal Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are demonized and scapegoated for simply doing their jobs and implementing policies dictated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  In this environment, calls for turning over more TSA screening responsibility to the private sector become a convenient and all too predictable rallying cry among those who believe […]

As the globalization of aviation accelerates, transportation labor grows weary of the emergence of new operating schemes and alliances around the globe designed to “forum shop” for cheaper labor and evade collective bargaining obligations. Because decades of unfair trade policy have ravaged too many workers in many U.S. industries, we have insisted that any liberalization […]

WASHINGTON, DC—Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) President Edward Wytkind issues this statement on the negative impacts to transportation of yesterday’s passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government running through September 30, 2013: “At a time when our transportation system is suffering from chronic neglect, the House-passed […]