Press Releases and Statements

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offered the following statement regarding the urgency of passing a funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration: “At this moment, 4,000 aviation workers are not collecting a paycheck and more than 70,000 construction workers’ jobs are at risk because Congress is playing […]

Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offered the following statement regarding the possible shut down of the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday, July 22: “Here we go again. House Republican Leaders are playing political games at the expense of vital services and thousands of good jobs – only this time they […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offered the following statement regarding the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee leadership-proposed outline of a 6-year surface transportation bill: “The outline proposed today describes the worst highway and transit funding bill in modern history. Historically, committee leaders from both sides of the […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), today testified before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the House of Representatives about legislation proposed by Reps. John Mica and Bill Shuster that would privatize Amtrak. Here are some excerpts from Wytkind’s statement before the committee: “The Mica-Shuster bill would decimate […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offers the following statement on the proposal to privatize Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and put the entire system up for bid: “The purpose of running a national passenger rail system isn’t to enrich Wall Street and wealthy investors by handing them one of […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), testified today before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Opening the Northeast Corridor to Private Competition for the Development of High Speed Rail. Below are excerpts from his oral testimony: “Wishful thinking won’t build and sustain a 21st century transportation […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement regarding the critically important role our nation’s air traffic controllers play in keeping the skies above the United States safe every day: “Air traffic controllers are ultimate professionals who are on the front lines of keeping air travel […]

WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), made the following statement following the vote in the House of Representatives on the LaTourette-Costello amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration bill that reversed fair union election standards for aviation and rail workers: “Fair and democratic union elections took a severe blow […]

WASHINGTON, DC – The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) today, in testimony before a key congressional committee, called for full funding of Amtrak as the “centerpiece” of high speed rail and expressed strong opposition to privatizing the national passenger rail carrier. “We are not opposed to private sector participation in passenger rail – in fact, […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attempts to reverse fair election rules for rail and aviation workers, and the mounting crisis at mass transit agencies across the country, are top priorities of transportation labor, as discussed yesterday at the winter meeting of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Basic fairness and fundamentally democratic elections are on the line with […]