Policy Statements

In the halls of Congress and the Executive Branch, at the bargaining table, and during international trade negotiations, labor unions have long been the vanguard of the fight for legal and regulatory regimes that promote workplace safety, guarantee dignified employment conditions, and provide fair wages and benefits. For an equal amount of time, unscrupulous corporations and other actors have sought to undermine these core tenets. Today, the airline industry and its workforce faces a pernicious and existential threat from so-called “Flag of Convenience” (FOC) air carriers and other forms of labor arbitrage operating under novel corporate structures designed to skirt these key responsibilities and undermine competition.

Years of underinvestment in our roads, rail lines, transit systems, airports, and seaports have taken their toll, and it’s working families who pay the price—in excruciatingly long lines at airports, inadequate public transit services, and potholed roads and bridges that are no longer safe to travel across. In soul-crushing commutes, ever-tightening pocketbooks, and limited access to good jobs, educational opportunities, and medical care.

For millions of American workers, federal labor rights and federally overseen benefits are supplemented by state-level law and policy. This allows states to provide critical benefits that the federal government is unable or unwilling to provide. As an example, anti-worker factions of Congress have been steadfast in their refusal to join the rest of the industrialized world in providing paid sick leave to employees. In this void, thirteen states and the District of Columbia have stepped in to do so. States have also taken actions to provide lifelines like parental leave, mandatory rest breaks, and a multitude of other policies that seek to help working people and families in areas where the federal government does not. We applaud these efforts.

TTD and our affiliated unions recognize the serious impacts from climate change and the severe consequences we face if we fail to respond with responsible measures that reduce our carbon footprint. Like automation, however, discussions about reducing our carbon footprint often focus on the potential benefits from new technologies, without looking at the entire picture and taking intentional steps to ensure that the impacted industries’ workers and the communities they live in benefit from technological change.

The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), our 33 affiliated unions, and the broader labor movement have fought tirelessly over the past decades to ensure that federal investments made in America’s transportation infrastructure are tied to strong policies that support and create good-paying jobs and safe work places for America’s workers. Those policies include Davis-Bacon, Buy […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the nation, nearly all intercity passenger transportation ceased almost overnight. In 2020, air carriers ferried their fewest passengers in three decades, registering months with as much as 96% fewer boardings compared to the prior year. Amtrak saw its ridership decrease 97% as business travel along the profitable Northeast Corridor evaporated. As many as 800 motorcoach companies shuttered, and cruise lines ceased all operations in compliance with CDC orders. While the federal government has taken important steps to mitigate the devastation caused to transportation services, employees, and communities, in many corners of the nation these effects have been catastrophic. As we emerge from the pandemic, it is imperative that we begin flying, riding, and traveling again—and that we do so safely. Our national economic recovery, and the livelihoods of millions of transportation workers, depends on it.

The 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup attracted almost 3.6 billion viewers—more than half the world’s population—with the final game alone drawing an audience of 1.12 billion viewers worldwide. The Men’s World Cup routinely attracts more than 3 million attendees to stadiums in their host countries, and in total, attracted more than 5 million tourists to host cities across Russia in the most recent 2018 World Cup. If these numbers seem staggering, so too are the profits involved. In 2018, FIFA generated more than $6.4 billion in revenue, with a significant portion of that coming from the World Cup.  

The Executive Committee of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, condemns the efforts by a predatory organization, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AFMA) to raid the American Airlines mechanics the are jointly represented by two TTD affiliates, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

Over the past three weeks, while the country has been engrossed in a national election, the COVID-19 pandemic has been worsening. Just last week the U.S. crested 180,000 daily new infections for the first time, after surpassing 100,000 barely a week prior. Hospitalization rates are spiking as well, rising to over 67,000 in the past few days. These numbers dwarf those from March and April of this year, when the first COVID-19 spike reached its peak. On March 27th, for instance, there were 17,330 new cases reported.

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.