Policy Statements

The freight rail industry’s safety failures garnered national attention last year after the toxic East Palestine derailment, echoing an alarm that rail workers have sounded for years. Despite the calls for reform, Class I railroads continue right now to cut corners on safety and lay off the skilled workers that perform rail car and locomotive…

Read More

Transportation labor unions recognize the serious impacts of climate change and the severe consequences if we fail to reduce our carbon footprint. Discussions about reducing emissions in the rail sector often focus on potential benefits from new technologies, without looking at the entire picture and ensuring that the impacted rail and manufacturing workers and communities…

Read More

The Biden Administration has demonstrated its historic commitment to passenger rail, including high-speed rail, with a record level of investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for passenger rail and billions of dollars of funding for key high-speed rail projects. There has never been a more pro-rail president than Joe Biden. To continue this momentum…

Read More

Since their entry into the economy, transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft have expanded beyond ridesharing and food and package delivery to partnerships with transit and governmental agencies at the expense of taxpayers, all while continuing to invest millions of dollars into fighting efforts to ensure their drivers earn fair wages and benefits.…

Read More

As Congress continues to review and update relevant laws governing commercial aviation programs for the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we oppose any effort to increase the pilot retirement age from age 65 to age 67. Under U.S. law, commercial airline pilots employed by airlines[1] are required to retire at age 65. Despite…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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.…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More