SMART UnionTransportation advocates are pushing the House to get moving on passing a new long-term highway funding bill as a deadline for the expiration of the spending looms next month.
Federal infrastructure funding is currently scheduled to expire Oct. 29, although the transportation has said recently that it has enough money to cover expenses until next June as long as Congress passes a reauthorization of its ability to cut checks.
Read more from The Hill.
A pair of House committees is planning to hold a hearing on U.S. rail security after a thwarted attack by a heavily armed gunman on a high-speed train in Europe.
The House Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittees on intelligence and on transportation security and counterterrorism will meet Thursday, September 17, 2015, to discuss protections for U.S. train passengers after three Americans stopped a gunman and saved hundreds of passengers on a train from Amsterdam to Paris.
Read more from The Hill.
Washington – Working people are achieving significant victories through the most expansive period of collective bargaining in modern labor history, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO’s Center for Strategic Research.
“This country is having an important debate about raising wages and tackling income inequality,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “This report provides clear evidence that joining a union and bargaining with your employer is the most effective way to give workers the power to raise their own wages. When working people speak with one voice, our economy is stronger, and all workers do better.”
The AFL-CIO report represents the most comprehensive look at the current state of collective bargaining in a period when an estimated 5 million American workers will bargain for new contracts.
According to the report, working people who bargained for new contracts in the first half of 2015 saw their wages increase by an average of 4.3 percent, an increase of $1,147 a year for an average wage earner in the United States. These increases are up from 2.9 percent in the first half of 2014, with substantial wage wins occurring in sectors from nursing and oil to airline pilots and teachers.
Other notable statistics from the report include:
The full report, complete with bargaining trends and an industry analysis of where workers are bargaining can be found here.
Union membership has its perks: higher wages, better healthcare, more job security. Now, a new study from the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, adds another benefit to that list: richer children, once they’re all grown up.
According to the study, people between the ages of 26 and 37 who are working full time and whose parents did not go to college and were not in a union earn an average of $39,000 today. But a very similar group of people—everything the same except that they had one parent who was in a union—those people are earning $46,000. (The difference all but disappears when comparing people who had a parent who was a college graduate.)
Read more from The Atlantic.
Joanne Mary Johnson, 65, the wife of former Colorado State Legislative Director Rick Johnson, died September 8, 2015. Joanne is survived by her husband, brothers Dan and Bob Badger, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by brother David Badger.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Horan & McConaty funeral home, 3101 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80227.
Rick has been a member of Local 202 (Denver) since June of 1975 and has held many positions within the union until his retirement in September of 2012.
Click here to view Joanne’s obituary and to leave condolences for the family.
Governor Jerry Brown of California September 8, 2015, signed into law bipartisan legislation requiring that all freight trains and light engines are operated by a crew of at least two individuals.
SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director, John Risch, praised the new law: “I am very pleased that California has joined Wisconsin, Arizona and West Virginia in adopting these sensible requirements. This is a matter of public safety, plain and simple. Freight railroad operations are complex and often entail the transport of highly hazardous materials, such as crude oil, chlorine gas and many other chemicals; two crew members are vital to ensuring that these trains are operated safely and our communities are secure.”
Risch also praised those responsible for crafting and passing the legislation: “Many thanks go to Senator Lois Wolk for her sponsorship and to J.P. Jones and Mike Anderson of the SMART Transportation Division California State Legislative Board for their work explaining the importance of this legislation to California lawmakers.”
The law is supported by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which reports that of all the industries subject to its oversight – energy, water, telecommunications and transportation – rail accidents result in the greatest number of fatalities each year. In advocating for the bill, CPUC Deputy Director of the Office of Rail Safety, Paul King, said, “Senator Wolk’s bill would ensure that freight trains continue to have the safety redundancy that a second person provides. Such redundancy is a fundamental safety principle that is evidenced in certain industries, such as using two pilots in an airplane cockpit, or requiring back-up cooling systems for nuclear reactors.”
Congressman Don Young of Alaska has introduced legislation at the federal level – H.R. 1763, the Safe Freight Act – which would similarly require that all freight trains are operated by a minimum of two individuals, a certified conductor and a certified engineer. On April 14, 2015,
H.R. 1763 was referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
Alternate National Legislative Director Greg Hynes testified Thursday, August 28 at the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Risk Reduction public hearing.
The FRA published a notice of proposed rulemaking February 27, 2015 requiring certain railroads to develop a Risk Reduction Program (RRP). The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 already requires the development and implementation of railroad safety risk reduction programs.
Risk reduction is a comprehensive, system-oriented approach to safety that: (1.) Determines an operation’s level of risk by identifying and analyzing applicable hazards; and (2.) involves the development of plans to mitigate that risk.
Each RRP is statutorily required to be supported by a risk analysis and a Risk Reduction Program Plan (RRPP), which must include a technology implementation plan and a fatigue management plan.
Below is Hynes’ testimony.
“On April 28, 2015 SMART and six other labor organizations submitted written views on the proposed rulemaking. My testimony will further explain the concerns of SMART.
“I acknowledge that the rail unions agreed to the draft of the risk reduction proposal. However, the proposed rulemaking takes excessive liberty with that tentative agreement. The technical drafting by FRA is not acceptable and we submit it varies from what was approved in the Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) deliberations.
“I want to reiterate the strong opposition to the Baker Botts study relied upon by FRA to restrict discovery. You should be aware that Baker Botts is a political surrogate for the railroads. The report it submitted reflects this bias. Clearly, the study lacks the objectivity that FRA should have required for an issue so controversial. Its conclusion that the information compiled for the risk reduction plan should be secret is not supported by the statutes it reviewed. FRA needs to recognize that each of the statutes mentioned by Baker Botts limits discovery only in a limited way, and discovery is allowed in every safety statute. The exception is for discovery of governmental documents.
“Our members have voiced great concern that FRA’s proposal here would have a significant negative impact on safety. If a safety hazard exists of which a railroad has knowledge, then the public and railroad employees should not be prevented from knowing such information. Congress has mandated that FRA, in carrying out its duties, shall consider the assignment and maintenance of safety as the highest priority. And it must recognize the clear intent of Congress for the furtherance of the highest degree of safety in railroad transportation. Restricting the public’s access to the railroad’s knowledge of a safety hazard does not comply with the statutory mandate.
“It became clear early in the RSAC working group that FRA was planning to provide the railroads complete protection to keep secret its risk reduction plan. Therefore, it was incumbent upon rail labor to insist that any such information contained therein be compiled “solely” for the risk reduction plan. Any information currently discoverable would continue to be. The problem is that the railroads might attempt to insert many items into the plan and state that they were collected solely for the plan. FRA must clearly specify that such maneuvers would violate the regulation. Also, the labor organizations previously submitted a list of documents that had been discoverable in court proceedings. In order to limit future litigation costs, this list should be restated in the final plan. Otherwise, FRA will be creating a legal nightmare, because the railroads would likely argue in court that almost everything sought was compiled solely for the risk reduction plan.
“Another major concern is that the proposed rulemaking limits the involvement of the collective bargaining representatives in compiling the safety hazards and their mitigation. Unless we are given an equal role, as the railroads to develop the plan many safety hazards likely will be overlooked. The current draft does not comply with the “best efforts and good faith” statutory mandate in development of a railroad’s risk reduction plan. We commend FRA in its explanation of the meaning of best efforts and good faith. However, FRA’s statement in the proposed rulemaking that it will simply “consider” the comments submitted regarding the consultation process requirements when developing the final rule is not acceptable. The workers should be on an equal footing with the railroads in developing the plan. If a railroad does not agree with a union that an issue is a safety hazard, the railroad should be required to show good cause for not including it in the mitigation plan. The railroads must be required to demonstrate substantial grounds not to include an identified safety hazard.
“There are several other points regarding the development of the plan which need to be addressed. FRA has not imposed any time limits upon the industry to consult with the workers or to develop the plan. Rather, the employees are given 60 days notice prior to the consultation. If there are no time limits for completing the plan, then the carriers could drag their feet indefinitely.
“Next, it is not clear why FRA in Appendix B suggests that the railroads should wait one year after publication of the rule to hold substantive consultations. Consultations should begin as soon as possible. Safety delayed is safety denied.
“Another time issue is in section 271.103 (a)(2). The railroads are given 36 months to fully implement the risk–based hazard management plan. If the carriers know the safety problems and how to mitigate them, the plan should be implemented no later than six months after FRA’s approval. There may be minor exceptions only with the approval of the employees.
“In conclusion, in the interests of safety, we strongly encourage FRA to amend the proposed rulemaking in accordance with our suggestions.”
Decades of wrong-headed ideology and public policies backed by the corporate lobby and extremists have dramatically altered America’s economic landscape. Advancements made by generations of workers — including fair wages and decent benefits, safe working conditions and the right to form unions and bargain collectively — have been beaten down in favor of dangerous austerity policies, a tax code that coddles the rich, rigged trade deals that send good jobs overseas and what seems like free rein by employers to break unions.
These backward policies have led to an intolerable wage gap, the lowest union density since the 1930s and 35 years of wage stagnation for working Americans. By removing union representation, arguably, the most reliable way for working people to demand better, from the equation, upward mobility and economic stability — characteristics that define the American Dream — have become increasingly difficult to achieve.
Despite these challenges, there is a smart strategy that can boost our economy and help rebuild the middle class: investing in our failing infrastructure and transportation systems.
Read more from Huffington Post.
Governors from several states are pressing Congress to pass a long-term surface transportation bill before the current legislation expires Oct. 29.
Last week, the Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) sent a letter to leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Ways and Means committees imploring them to pass legislation “expeditiously” that would ensure the continuity and stability of federal funding for highway, rail, transit and safety programs.
Read more from Progressive Railroading.
This Labor Day, we recognize the incredible achievements of North America’s working people and celebrate the men and women whose hard work make our nations prosper.
We recognize there are many who are frustrated because despite all the vital contributions we make, too many of us struggle to support our families. Working families in both the U.S. and Canada have sacrificed tremendously and are more productive than ever, yet many of our friends and neighbors are not seeing the rewards for their work.
At SMART, we are making inroads towards addressing these problems and other challenges members and those working in our industries face each and every day. We are fighting back and organizing the unorganized. We are doing this in places like Bushnell, Florida where we gained over one hundred new members last month during the course of a large scale organizing campaign. We are seeing the fruits of our labor by finding new sources and avenues for work in the deep south, like the new work opportunities throughout the Southwest and Southeast U.S. that will be secured by whoever can be first to fill the work. Your union is working aggressively to ensure those positions are filled by SMART members in order to strengthen a lasting industry relationship to ensure continuous work for all of us in the future.
In the Transportation Division, we are looking forward to a stronger, more united future. We are sharing resources and ideas, like those seen at recent workshops for local Union Leadership at the SMART TD leadership conferences. The more we share and learn from each other, the faster and more efficiently we can grow together to secure the promise of a better future.
And lastly, we are looking to kick off a new union label campaign for those of you working in the Sheet Metal Industry. Those of you who come across the SMART union label at work will be receiving important information in the mail about the campaign in the coming weeks. You will be using new technology, through your mobile phone, to help you perform these functions.
This Labor Day, let’s celebrate working families, speak out for the aggressive change we need to promote a better future, stand together in solidarity and work to ensure our union grows and prospers together, for the benefit of all our members.
Fraternally,
Joseph J. Sellers, Jr.
SMART General President
Richard L. McClees
SMART General Secretary-Treasurer