In comments to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), SMART TD’s National Legislative Director John Risch wrote in support of allowing train crews to sound train horns at their discretion when traveling through rural America. The comments were written in response to [...]
It happens every three hours in the United States: a person or vehicle is struck by a train. When this tragedy occurs, lives are changed forever: for the people involved in the crash, their family, friends and community, and the train crewmembers. To raise awareness of the da [...]
Earlier this year, Union Pacific instituted a revised attendance policy for transportation employees. This new policy contained the following provision which allowed them to discipline employees who utilized their collectively bargained compensated leave days (personal leave [...]
A majority of commercial builders and contractors in the United States plan to employ more workers in the coming months – assuming they can find them. In fact, 61 percent of contractors maintain they are having a difficult time finding workers to man projects with skill [...]
General Chairperson Stephen Burkert reports that New Jersey Transit is actively looking to hire locomotive engineers. Members who have questions can contact Burkert at sburkert@utulocal60.com. Click here for instructions on how to apply. Click here for the job posting on Mons [...]
Canada is formally demanding, in talks on a new NAFTA agreement, that any such pact force the U.S. to eliminate so-called right-to-work laws. During the 2016 U.S. campaign, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump labeled NAFTA “the worst trade pact ever signed” and vowed to dum [...]
Updated: September 13, 2017 Dear Members of the SMART Transportation Division: The catastrophic storm damage and flood waters caused by Hurricane Harvey and Irma have devastated Texas and Florida with loss of life and immeasurable destruction of property. Some of those affect [...]
NJ.com reports that despite legislation requiring strengthened security procedures for railroads having passed a decade ago, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has yet to put any new security measures in place. Both the House Homeland Security Committee and the [...]
Your Track to Health today released important health and wellness information for members who have been impacted by Hurricane Irma. Click here to view this important information. Click here for a pdf document of the available resources.
A Gallup Poll released on Labor Day weekend found that 61% of American adults approve of organized labor — the highest percentage since 2003, when approval was at 65%. The 2017 approval rate is up 5 percentage points from last year and 13 points above the all-time low of 48% [...]