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CLEVELAND — The SMART Transportation Division’s National Training Seminar (NTS) began Tuesday, with TD President Jeremy Ferguson emphasizing that the organization is working hard to fill the needs of its membership.

“Whether it be through educational offerings, such as the week-long NTS running through July 11, or superior representation for the people the union serves and contracts, SMART-TD will stay ahead of the game,” he said.

Intensive officer training prepares the union for the road ahead

Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson addresses the audience at the National Training Seminar on Tuesday.

More than 700 bus and rail officers are attending the first national training seminar since the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2024 NTS follows a series of intensive regional events, each designed to provide key training for union officers from the legislative, chairperson and local levels.  Attendees took part in officer-specific training flights, many for the first time.

“The training is going to be intense,” President Ferguson said of the national training program. “No matter what training you are going through, no matter what craft you are representing, you are going to leave here confident in what you are tasked to do in your position, and you are going to be able to go back and represent your members at the highest quality level.

“Don’t be overwhelmed if you think it’s too much,” he assured newer attendees, reminding them that SMART University, officers at all levels and staff at the Transportation Division office will all be available for assistance when needed. “Everybody is going to be here to support you in the learning process.”

Remembering two fallen members

The attendees also at the request of President Ferguson observed a moment of silence for the recent loss of two active members.

Local Vice President Colin Nichols of Local 486 (Glendive, Mont.) died July 1 as the result of an accident at his home at age 44.

Member Justin Pender of Local 577 (Northlake, Ill.), died July 6 at the Proviso Yard near Chicago in an on-the-job accident. Member Pender, 27, a Union Pacific conductor, is the first on-duty loss for our organization in 2024. The accident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

A drive to provide the best possible representation

The past five years have been one of substantial transformation for SMART-TD and for rail labor, Ferguson noted.

“Over the past five years, it’s not what I did as president. It’s not what we did as an administration. It’s what we all did as a union,” he said. “Whatever the case may be, we did it better than everybody else, and we did it to win.”

SMART-TD’s ability to get results for their members has not gone unnoticed. Recent friction with the new leadership of another labor organization has emerged, as properties ready for strong representation switch to SMART-TD.

Officers from a pair of the new properties that are new to the SMART-TD — the Louisville & Indiana and Montana Rail Link were also recognized. Local Chairperson Zach Cochran and Local 426 members Ryan Burns, Joshua Olson and Bryan Trimbo were all attending their first SMART-TD training session.

 “We have a duty and an obligation to do what’s right for you all, for our members and for this union,” Ferguson said. “We are not desperate for members. We are rebounding. Who’s desperate are the members who are looking for good representation. That’s what the national officers, the general committees, the state boards and you as local officers have been putting out. That’s why members are coming over in droves.”

The effort has led to the creation of engineer-focused “E-committees” in many locals, which provide focus and attention for the rail engineers who prefer to stay with SMART-TD.

Legislation to protect two-person crews develops

National Legislative Director Greg Hynes then updated those in attendance of the Railway Safety Act’s progress in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, the chair of the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, introduced a bill that maintains the two-person crew provision set forth by a version that has already passed through committee in the U.S. Senate. SMART-TD’s legislative department will continue to monitor and support this crucial legislation.

Additional speakers included Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO President Greg Regan, Railroad Retirement Board Labor Member John Bragg and Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose.

Ohio State Legislative Director Clyde Whitaker began the proceedings by taking special note of the long history that both the union and railroad industry have in the city, noting that many of SMART-TD’s predecessor unions had their headquarters in Cleveland and the surrounding area, a tradition that continues today.

SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director Greg Hynes and his department led the charge in our nation’s capital to get bus and transit members’ safety concerns in front of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

This union, our Bus Department and the Bus/Transit Assault Prevention and Safety (BTAPS) committee have been advocating for Congress to act to end the startling growth of violent assaults on the nation’s public transit workforce.

President Biden’s administration and the Federal Transit Administration have begun to make moves to address shortcomings in security. SMART-TD and BTAPS are now taking our issues directly to Congress urging them to act on transit safety, which is a life-and-death issue for our brothers and sisters.

Hynes said he’s “fired up about how his team represented this union and the potential results of their great work.”

TD directly engages U.S. Congress and agency directors

“Our new BTAPS committee had a fantastic showing. All six members from across the country made the trip. Along with Bus Department VPs (Alvy) Hughes and (James) Sandoval, they brought the realities of the roads and rails with them into the halls of Congress today. Their message hit home with these officials because they were undeniably authentic.” Hynes said.

Hynes’ team, along with Christine Ivey, chairperson of BTAPS, and her team of bus and transit rail safety advocates met with the offices of 13 members of the House of Representatives, 2 U.S. senators, and the staff director of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

“I’m proud of the effort this union put forward today, and I have high expectations for the results. I want to thank Christine and the BTAPS members for making an important contribution to this union today and to the safety and well-being of our membership,” Hynes said.

Bus Department Vice Presidents Alvy Hughes, left, and James Sandoval, right, visit Capitol Hill at the Bus/Transit Day on the Hill.

In addition to our BTAPS members, SMART-TD was represented by Bus Department Vice Presidents Hughes and Sandoval, plus New Jersey State Legislative Director Ron Sabol as well as SMART-TD Auxiliary’s Monica Sandoval.

“We took a powerful step forward, but this is just the beginning,” VP Sandoval said. “We will not take our foot off the pedal until every transit worker is safe and secure. Only together will we make sure our voices and stories continue to echo through Capitol Hill.”

On a second day of meetings, Hynes led a team of SMART-TD leaders in a highly successful meeting with acting FTA Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. Administrator Vanterpool was highly receptive to the message and perspective SMART-TD had to share with her.

Administrator Vanterpool, who has a commercial driver’s license and four years of experience as a bus operator on her resume, quickly identified with the realities SMART-TD presented in their meeting. She is hoping FTA can partner with SMART-TD and our BTAPS committee in an effort to collect data on future assaults directly from our membership rather than depending on the transit agencies to self-report the information.

SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity had this to say: “In talking with acting Administrator Vanterpool, it immediately became clear that she is eager to address the same safety issues as this union. She went into detail on the new property-specific safety committees that she and the Biden administration are instituting for our bus members and was engaged in dialogue with our people about how SMART-TD can play an active role in the success of their mission.”

Bus Department Vice President Alvy Hughes added, “I’ve been involved in this union and this Bus Department for a long time now. I can tell you that the meeting we had with Administrator Vanterpool and the work we put in on Capitol Hill the day before has been one of the most-productive projects I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in. This organization is stronger, and our members will be made safer through what we accomplished during this first-of-its-kind Bus/Transit Day on the Hill.”

Companies and public transit authorities are often hesitant to give our members pay raises. This is especially true when they are dealing with men and women who are new to the job. Recently, SMART-TD’s general chairperson of GCA-020, Justin Schrock, found out that sometimes these employers will agree to a pay increase for new hires and then simply not pay it!

This happened to members of SMART-TD Local 1707 working for First Transit in Perris, California.

In 2022, Brother Schrock and the local leadership team for Local 1707 along with SMART-TD Bus Department Vice President Alvy Hughes, negotiated an increase in the pay for newly hired bus operators who were on the first step of compensation with First Transit. Being that they were all new employees, these brothers and sisters had very little track record to compare their paystubs to and were under the assumption that they were all being paid correctly per the new agreement.

They were not.

At left, Bus Department Vice President James Sandoval, Local Chairperson Rickey Davis, TD President Jeremy Ferguson and General Chairperson Justin Schrock, right.

First Transit was more than happy that no one had forced this issue until the local chairperson of LCA-020U for SMART-TD, Rickey Davis, caught the error. Davis was looking into a different dispute surrounding the steps in pay rates when he discovered that his members with the lowest seniority were being shorted in their pay. 

Upon this discovery, Brother Davis got a hold of GC Schrock. Together the two pushed First Transit to do the right thing and make the pay for these men and women whole. Predictably, they did not.

Earlier this month, the combination of Davis, Schrock, and VP Hughes reached a settlement with First Transit. They are now paying our members a combined $30,850.19 in back pay!

As Schrock told SMART News, “This is the largest grievance amount he has recovered for members in my career. The money being recovered goes back to July 1st, 2023. In total, First Transit had shorted 75 of our members. Rickey, Alvy, and I weren’t about to let that happen. It goes to show you that in this organization, we don’t just concentrate on protecting our senior members. We look out for bus members starting at day one!”

The 75 brothers and sisters that are receiving this back pay represent all the different crafts in Local 1707 including customer service representatives, operators, dispatchers, trip edits, and vaulters. All members of Local 1707 will also be receiving their next scheduled pay increase starting in July of this year as well.

SMART-TD wants to thank Brother Davis and all of the hard-working people in our Bus Department.

This $30,850 will help our members and their families and also shows our members’ employers that SMART-TD will always hold to them to the letter of their agreements!

GCA-875 represents workers for both Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority’s bus and train services and stands as the SMART Transportation Division’s largest bus/transit property.

Saying that the thousands of people in those five locals represented by General Chairperson John Ellis and his team have been through things that people should not have to go through while on the job would be an understatement.

In recent months, a LACMTA bus operator has been held at gunpoint by a hijacker, with the incident ending with the bus hitting multiple vehicles and a downtown hotel.

Members have been stabbed while in service. Passengers have been killed aboard LACMTA buses and trains. Neither rider nor worker could deny that getting from here to there was an experience not without apprehension.

Enough was enough.

Union effort brings true security back for our members

SMART-TD officers attend the board meeting June 27 when the LACMTA board approved the creation of a Transit Community Safety Department. From left are: Local 1563 Chairperson Jaime Delgadillo; Local Chairperson 1607/GCA-875 Secretary Julio Mejia; GCA-875 General Chairperson John M. Ellis; Vice General Chairperson and Local 1565 Chairperson Quintin Wormley; Local 1564 Chairperson Andy Carter and Local 1605 Chairperson Juan Gonzalez, who represents rail members. (Not pictured is Edgar Menendez, Local 1608 chairperson.)

The media publicity and outrage surrounding the violent events aboard LACMTA and the outspokenness of our union members and leadership finally helped to turn the tide with the people who could do the most.

On June 27, the Los Angeles County MTA’s board voted unanimously to create an “in-house” police agency called the Transit Community Safety Department to serve and protect SMART-TD members and the people who use LACMTA.

“It’s a victorious day,” GC Ellis said in a letter to members announcing the board’s actions. “Too often incidents aboard Metro vehicles have compromised your lives and dissuaded residents from riding the bus and rail services. Maintaining the status quo was NOT an option.” 

Meetings by union leaders with L.A. County Superintendent Janice Hahn and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spelled out precisely what the union’s stance was — that a dedicated department focused on security was needed to ensure safety for everyone aboard LACMTA, which serves 900,000 passengers daily and is the third-largest transit agency in the U.S.

Change will take time and collaboration between union and LACMTA

To that end, rather than LACMTA being dependent on support from the LAPD and county Sheriff’s Department, the Transit Community Safety Department would fully control safety priorities and better commit resources to where our members, in conjunction with agency leadership, say they are needed the most. More than 400 sworn-in transit safety officers would be in the department and collaborate with LACMTA’s transit ambassadors, as well as with specialists in crisis intervention and homeless outreach.

A unanimous vote by board members present at the meeting created a security force for LACMTA on June 27.

While the action taken by the board June 27, along with the prior approval of barriers to protect operators, is a definitive path toward a safer direction, GC Ellis stressed to members that the change will need time to take effect — at least three to five years, according to agency estimates.

“We look forward to working with CEO Stephanie Wiggins and management to make this proposal a reality,” Ellis said. “We understand that establishing your own police agency will take years to ensure it works effectively and as swiftly as possible.

“Nevertheless, we will continue to campaign to keep our members — Metro’s frontline heroes — as safe as possible. The union wishes to express our sincere appreciation for the forward steps the board took today to create a safer environment for our members and for the riding public.”

An example other agencies and unions can follow

Transportation Division President Jeremy R. Ferguson congratulated GCA-875 on their success. But the need to improve safety in Los Angeles or at the other bus and transit properties the union represents isn’t going to disappear.

“LACMTA is a huge property with a lot going on and a lot to track — there are only two others in the country that are bigger operations,” he said. “The headlines that we’ve seen coming out of Los Angeles have been hard to stomach, and sadly the violent incidents that have happened there aren’t exclusive to there. They happen all around the country on multiple properties we represent. It’s why we’ve had to create an internal Bus and Transit Assault Prevention and Safety committee.

“John Ellis and his team have shown that our union gets things done for our bus and transit members. We all know that it’s not going to get better for our people unless we as a union lead the way and make it better. I congratulate GCA-875 on this accomplishment and being an example of great leadership.”

SMART-TD is pleased to announce that the open enrollment for the Voluntary Long-Term Disability (VLTD) and Voluntary Group Life (VLIFE) insurance plans has begun. This will be the only opportunity this year for members to get protected.

The last date for enrollment is Aug. 23, 2024, to be covered for a Sept. 1, 2024, effective date. This opportunity is open only to members who are not current participants in the SMART-TD VLTD or VLIFE programs.

Coverage highlights

VLTD

  • Protects members’ income if they cannot work due to injury, illness or surgery.
  • Tax-free benefits — no medical exams/questions required to enroll.
  • Up to $5,000 of monthly benefits for up to 5 years.
  • Benefits start paying after the SMART VSTD stops — 238 days for rail members and 365 days for bus members.

VLIFE

  • Members can elect up to $250,000 with no medical exams/questions required.
  • Benefits double in the event of an accidental death.
  • 24-7 on- and off-the-job protection.

Members can explore options such as cancer insurance, accidental death & dismemberment, and hospital indemnity insurance via the UTUIA.

Members can learn more and enroll by visiting www.smart-vltd.com.

Thank you for your dedication.

In solidarity,

SMART Transportation Division

Class I railroad carriers in this country aren’t used to losing their game of government influence and lobbying. Traditionally, they use the cover fire they get from the American Association of Railroads (AAR) to throw money and influence around Capitol Hill until they can dictate all public policy dealing with our rail industry.

Every time one of our men or women reads a new system bulletin that makes their profession less safe or makes the service provided to customers less dependable and wonders why this change could happen, the answer is usually rooted in carriers’ influence on regulation.

In the past four years, SMART-TD has made progress in turning that tide. The Class I railroad companies and AAR have seen a distinct drop in their win percentage. When they are shot down by the Department of Transportation, they often see “In light of comments put forward by SMART-TD” as the lead-in to the bad news. Here’s another of these rude awakenings.

Carriers try to eliminate hard copies

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced in the Federal Register that the AAR and the carriers took yet another loss at the hands of SMART-TD, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) and common sense.

AAR was attempting to take the CT-168 and all hazmat paperwork out of the locomotive, making the tablets and company computer systems the only line of defense when hazmat is involved in a derailment or other rail emergency.

As they did last June in the National Transportation Safety Board’s hearing on the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the industry attempted to sell the idea that their “Ask Rail” cell phone application would make it so local EMS personnel are able to quickly and easily obtain consist information of any train involved in an incident. SMART-TD made your position clear: That is not good enough. Many places where we work are not in WiFi-friendly hotspots of technology!

AAR and the railroads went out of their way to make the argument that the conductor of a train crew was able to use their assigned tablet to upload the consist and hazmat paperwork to emergency workers through Dropbox and other software.

We all know this is a poor excuse for emergency preparedness and is just another attempt to push the idea that technology can easily replace people in our industry.

In light of the announcement from the Department of Transportation and PHMSA, SMART-TD is proud to say that paper copies of hazmat paperwork and the all-important CT-168 will remain onboard locomotive cabs in this country!

PHMSA sides with SMART’s argument

SMART-TD would like to thank PHMSA, and the leadership at the Department of Transportation. Without them valuing common sense and the safety of our crews, AAR could have easily chipped this line of defense away from workers and first responders.

“This might not sound like a big deal, but it absolutely is,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said. “The safety of our members and the community often hinges on access to this hazmat paperwork and the professionalism of our people to know how to apply the information. Anyone willing to tell you a tablet and WiFi is adequate to depend on in a high-stakes crisis involving hazmat doesn’t have the public’s best interest or the physical safety of railroaders in mind. Our crews keep the consist information up to date at all times. When a train works a handful of yards in a day, the computer systems often don’t have the most up to date information on what’s in the train until it goes by the next AEI reader. SMART-TD’s members continue to be the most reliable variable in cases of emergency. The Department of Transportation and PHMSA were able to see our value and in this ruling they have ensured we will continue to have the necessary tools to keep ourselves, each other, and our communities as safe as possible.”

The ruling also increases access to the consist and hazmat information beyond the emergency services of just the community the event took place in.

 Jared Cassity, head of SMART-TD’s National Safety Team, put it like this: “When a derailment or other disaster happens in a small town like we saw in East Palestine, Ohio, emergency workers are coming from every direction and multiple other jurisdictions to help out. If these men and women are fighting against the dangerous materials our trains are hauling, they should have access to all the information we can give them to try to keep themselves safe. We can’t expect them to operate in the dark and assume the information will get to them. It’s not hard to imagine scenarios where this information will get to them too late after it’s been given to one town’s fire chief and filtered through the command center and makes it to the front lines.”

Your input helped!

In their announcement, PHMSA cited that their ruling was heavily influenced by public comments. As they described the logic behind their decision, they consistently cited our union along with the AFL-CIO’s TTD.

“We’re thrilled PHMSA and the Department of Transportation ruled on the side of our union and our years of safe practices in this matter,” National Legislative Director Greg Hynes said. “We will stay engaged in the public comment process to make sure our members continue to have their voice heard in all future matters affecting their safety!”

Follow this link to see the full public comment SMART-TD submitted to PHMSA in this matter.

The Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP), your union’s premier worker assistance program, protects members’ income when facing alleged violations of rules or operating procedures.

Effective July 1, 2024, the monthly assessment for participants will be reduced from 50 to 32 cents per $1 of daily benefit coverage. This reduction and a 90% + approval on all new claims make DIPP the premier option in the industry.

Daily benefit $100$150$200$250
SMART DIPP$32.00/mo.$48.00/mo.$64.00/mo.$80.00/mo.
BRCF$32.50/mo.$48.75/mo.$65.00/mo.$81.25/mo.
LECMPA
(No. 16)		$44.63/mo.$65.63/mo.$87.94/mo.$110.25/mo.
SMART’s Discipline Income Protection Program surpasses the alternatives in member value and protection.

DIPP coverage ranges from $6 to $250 per day, ensuring that a participant covered by the plan will continue to receive income.

SMART-TD is committed to continuing its pursuit of excellence in serving plan participants. In the past year, DIPP trustees have reduced assessments by 33%, eliminated the graduated benefit day structure and reduced the waiting period for benefit increases. Additionally, the program has paid participants over $4 million in benefits when suspended, dismissed, or removed from service by their employer.

2024.07.01_DIPP_Sched_of_BenefitsDownload

Participants can also elect to increase their benefit level or modify their coverage at any time by submitting the appropriate form. New participants can enroll online either on their own or with the assistance of their local Regional Insurance Manager or DIPP representative.

More information about DIPP

Enroll online

As reported in May, SMART-TD’s Michigan State Legislative Board has been working hard to pass legislation to prevent violent assaults on our transit and freight members in the state.

House Bills 4917 and 4918 both received bipartisan support in Lansing’s House of Representatives thanks to the efforts of SMART-TD’s Michigan State Legislative Director Don Roach and the members of his board. However, they need members’ support to get the bills across the finish line in the Senate and to the governor.

Brother Roach’s two bills add the crime of assaulting a bus operator, transit, or freight railroad employee to the state’s Code of Criminal Procedure in an effort to address the growing number of violent assaults that affect SMART-TD members and others in the transportation industry.

These important bills had overwhelming support in Michigan’s House of Representatives.

On June 20, that support hit a speed bump. When both bills hit the Senate’s Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety Committee, they passed, but did so along party lines.

Logically, preventing and punishing aggravated and felonious assault against railroaders and bus operators should transcend partisan politics. It did in Michigan’s House.

But the partisan nature of the Senate’s committee vote has our SLB in Michigan asking for members to spread the word. Please follow this link to SMART-TD’s action center to send your state senator a prewritten message of support for these bills. YOU could be the difference between life and death for your union brothers and sisters!

As the bill is currently being presented to the Michigan Senate, the penalties for assaulting rail workers or bus operators in the state will be increased to maximum sentences ranging from 93 days to eight years’ imprisonment along with maximum fines ranging from $1,000 to $8,000. Criminal history and the involvement of weapons in the assault dictate where the perpetrator would fall on the scale of punishment.

These bills increase penalties for assaults on our transit professionals and also mandate signage on buses and trains to notify the public of the increase in the severity of charges and penalties. The signs are preventive measures aimed at stopping assaults from happening in the first place.

SLD Roach said they’ve been working on these bills for over two years at this point.

“We have been working on these assault bills with our lead sponsor, Representative Samantha Steckloft (D-19th Dist.), for too long to see them get stalled in the Senate now! We have built a coalition of stakeholders, including the American Civil Liberties Union, and others championing this cause. Our members can’t afford to sit on the sidelines and watch when the stakes of this game are as important as they are with these bills.”

SMART News recently released a story regarding organizer Andy Goeckner’s thoughts on how the Louisville & Indiana (L&I) Railroad members became a part of our union. One would expect the lead organizer to paint a positive picture, so in efforts to get a different perspective, we reached out to a few of our new brothers at the L&I and asked them the very same questions.

Brother Steve McBroom is a 32-year veteran of the railroad industry who has seen more than his fair share of territory. McBroom worked for BNSF until 2020 and has worked for a handful of different short line railroads. He has been a member of our predecessor union, the UTU, SMART-TD, and the BLE.

Brother Dustin Dudley is the newly elected Vice Local Chairperson for the L&I’s LCA in Indianapolis’ Local 1518 and has over 20 years of railroad experience working for Norfolk Southern from 2003 through 2023. Last summer, he left the NS and joined the Louisville and Indiana Railroad, looking for a change in quality of life and hoping to avoid a career sleeping in hotels.

In the two decades Dudley was with NS, he was local chairperson of SMART-TD Local 1328. When he came to the L&I in the summer of 2023, there was already plenty of interest in the crew base about joining the SMART railroad union. When his new coworkers approached him about the idea of leaving the BLE in favor of SMART-TD, he tried to stay out of the conversation initially. “I told those guys I’m a trainee. I don’t even have a vote right now.” But the more Dudley learned about his new surroundings, the more difficult it became for him to remain silent.

When asked what some of the issues were that made the members of L&I consider changing representation, McBroom and Dudley had several examples to share.

“It all boiled down to a lack of trust,” McBroom said. “We saw how our previous leadership team handled our last contract negotiation. With our next contract negotiation coming up, we knew how important it was for us to be with an organization that would stand up for us.”

Predecessor’s contracts, communication fell short

McBroom said that, for starters, the contracts being achieved by their former union weren’t to members’ satisfaction.

“In the last round of negotiations, our general chairman from the BLE settled for $4 a day for our guys to work an RCO job. Apparently, that was where the company started, and our GC agreed with it.” he said. “Additionally, our assigned BLE GC signed a side letter with the railroad without consulting any of our members and to make it worse, he never bothered to inform us that he had signed it. We operated for two months without knowing we had a new agreement. It cost our members hundreds of dollars in runaround claims that we had no idea we were owed or should be putting in. When it came to light at a meeting, his response was, “My bad. I forgot to tell you.” Like I said, we lost faith in their organization’s ability and will to properly represent us. That’s the long and short of it.”

Much like Brother McBroom, Dudley also took offense to the BLE’s lack of communication on contract negotiations. He pointed out the same two examples that McBroom provided, stating that the BLE general chairman did not take the time to inform the members that their agreement had changed or ask for their thoughts on the RCO pay issue.

“We’ve always come back on the board first out after a rest day. The GC signed an agreement in October of 2023 that changed that to where we would come off our rest days last out,” he said. “That is a good thing, but he didn’t bother to tell any of us about it until January of 2024! That is not leadership and is simply disrespectful. And it isn’t like we can look back on the computer system and figure out who is owed what claims because our extra board is kept on a chalkboard! There’s no accounting for what our guys lost from that mistake.”

Dudley also reiterated that they were not part of the discussion on how much of an allowance they should receive for operating an RCO box. “Again, that is simply disrespectful.”

Misinformation and baseless threats

On top of the lack of trust in the ability of their prior organization to represent their best interests, the crew base on the L&I said they lost faith that they were being told the truth from BLE leadership. Once the BLE learned they were in jeopardy of losing L&I as members, workers there said they pulled out all the stops with BLE President Eddie Hall making personal calls to members trying to sell them on staying with his union.

Brother McBroom stated that when Hall called him about staying with the BLE, he used scare tactics by saying, “SMART-TD could easily abandon you like they did to the Arizona Eastern Railroad. If they do that, you would all be (at-will) employees when they decide to walk away from you.” Curious, McBroom took the time to investigate that accusation himself.

McBroom said what he found was that “the story Hall told us about the Arizona Eastern Railroad and SMART-TD was a total misrepresentation of what happened. Those guys in Arizona thought they could get a better contract if they dropped the union, and SMART told them they disagreed, but wouldn’t hold them hostage. So, they allowed them to vote and abided by the result. SMART-TD didn’t abandon those guys, they got tricked by their carrier and walked away from the union. I didn’t appreciate his scare tactics or his twisting of the truth, and it didn’t help with the trust issues we already had with him or the organization.”

Dudley stated: “When I got to the L&I, there was already some distrust of the BLE going around. Once they heard we were considering leaving, that’s when they came in trying to scare us with their half-truths. Actually, I don’t even know if I can call them half-truths, they were downright lies.

“First, Hall tried to tell us we would lose our contract and have to start over from scratch, which simply was not true. Then he tried to scare everyone with his fabricated Arizona & Eastern story.”

When Hall attended a town hall meeting with L&I workers to win them back, McBroom and Dudley said that those in attendance called him out on his “misinformation of facts.”

“Eddie Hall, the president of the BLE, came to talk with us and started telling our guys lies about SMART-TD and how it treated the Arizona and Eastern Railroad. I was so mad, I was shaking,” Dudley said. “It was hard to imagine he thought we would actually believe what he was trying to sell us. What he claimed SMART did doesn’t even line up with Department of Labor regulations.”

SMART-TD had the documented proof to prove otherwise (see below), and when it was presented to Eddie Hall, he didn’t have a thing to say and left.

Statement_of_Facts_AZER_RedactedDownload

Unfortunately, President Hall continues to try and sell his Arizona & Eastern story.

“Just more lies,” Dudley said.

Improved accessibility and open lines

Dudley and McBroom were asked if they have seen any changes or improvements in the month since they came on board with SMART-TD. They were quick to point out that the level of communication and access to information have been the biggest immediate changes.

“The difference is night and day with our level of access to information and to officers. Since we joined SMART-TD, any one of us can call Andy Goeckner, Rick Lee, or even President Ferguson. Our questions get answered, or someone calls us back with an answer. The access to the information our guys need has been remarkable. I’m not an officer in this local, just a member, but that doesn’t seem to matter to these guys. They really want us all to have what we need to be successful.”

VLC Dudley agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiments from Brother McBroom.

“The level of communication is a big change. I can call Andy (Goeckner), Rick (GC Lee), or even Tommy (GC Gholson of GCA 898), hell I was just texting back and forth with Jeremy (SMART-TD President Ferguson) the other day,” Dudley said. “They are doing everything they can to get our guys where they need to be. The culture and the attitude are a huge change for us. These guys all go out of their way to be helpful. This is what true union representation is all about.”

In 2022, our union reported that 10 Amtrak executives earned a combined $2.3 million in bonuses.

Amtrak was not happy about that report, but apparently, they were not embarrassed enough to change their practices. This year the railroad paid more than double that amount.

Fourteen executives shared $5 million in 2023, as reported by the New York Times, despite operating deep in the red.

In contrast, Amtrak’s frontline employees received no bonuses at all.

Corporate executives often receive incentive-based bonuses disproportionate to the salaries of their front-line employees, such as the people we represent, who do the heavy lifting. This is not unique to Amtrak.

What is newsworthy is that Amtrak has not turned a profit in its 53 years of operations, is propped up by U.S. taxpayers and still sees its way clear to provide a handful of executives bonuses of over $500,000 each.

All of this occurs, of course, while our conductors, assistant conductors and engineers are left out in the cold.

Amtrak called to account for executive bonuses

SMART-TD and the New York Times are not the only ones taking notice of this behavior. Earlier this month, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) questioned Amtrak’s CEO and president about how they can justify giving out these large performance bonuses in a year when their company was $1.7 billion in the red.

The well-polished answer they received amounted to “We didn’t do as bad as in years past.”

This is true. Amtrak ridership is experiencing a significant increase, which we are pleased about and long-awaited new routes and opportunities to expand service are in the works. The company was “only” in the red by $1.7 billion, compared with its 2021 deficit of $2 billion, which reflects severe losses due to COVID.

Amtrak should invest in their workers

SMART-TD thinks that our men and women who operate the trains, keep the trains on schedule, the cabins clean, and the trains running safely deserve bonuses if the company is inclined to give them.

As Brother Rick Pauli, general chairperson for Amtrak GCA-769, said: “We are currently negotiating with Amtrak on an agreement for our members in the Northeast Corridor. It’s good to know the company has all that bonus money available. Myself and Fran Ariola (General Chairperson of GCA-663) will make sure to keep that in mind when discussing our members’ future wages.”

Amtrak’s 14 executives haven’t been confronted with an epidemic of on-the-job violence, as the crews who work these trains have.

In contrast, Roger Harris, Amtrak’s president, received about a half-million dollars as a bonus with a base salary of $479,000, according to The New York Times. Conservatively speaking, he received a 100% bonus.

The popular job search website Glassdoor.com lists the average Amtrak conductor salary at $74,000 and the median engineer salary at $117,000. If our engineers and conductors were working toward a bonus that potentially doubled their salaries, it’s a good bet that attendance problems would be a thing of the past and morale would be at an all-time high!