Category: Front Page
General Chairs refute CSX ‘blame the worker’ claims
In a letter dated August 3, that was emailed to CSX CEO Hunter Harrison, SMART TD general chairpersons batted down Harrison’s claims that workers are at the root of service disruptions. General Chairpersons Steve Mavity (GO 049), John Whitaker (GO 851), Dale Barnett (GO [...]
After a forty year delay, SMART TD member completes 3,000 mile bicycle trek
BostonGlobe.com reported that John Sweeney, longtime Amtrak conductor and SMART TD Local 1462 member from Boston, Mass., successfully completed a 3,000 mile, coast-to-coast bicycle trek that he was suppose to embark on 41 years ago, and never did. Read the complete story here [...]
EEOC sues CSX for company-wide sex discrimination
Railroad subjected class of female workers to unlawful physical abilities testing, federal agency charges HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – CSX Transportation, Inc., a provider of rail-based transportation services with operations throughout the eastern half of the United States, vio [...]
CSX CEO Hunter Harrison’s ‘profit above all’ plan has customers jumping ship
RailwayAge.com reported that data released from a recent CSX customer survey shows that more than eighty percent of customer participants have experienced problems with CEO Hunter Harrison’s ‘Precision Railroading’ plan. Many CSX customers have already left [...]SMART TD refutes Hunter Harrison claim that CSX service disruptions fault of workers
Reuters posted on August 1, 2017, that in an email last week to his customers, CSX CEO Hunter Harrison addressed service delays and disruptions by placing blame squarely on his employees, stating that they have been “resistant to change.” John Risch, SMART TD nati [...]
NTSB publishes safety alert for MOW
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Monday, July 31, issued a Safety Alert warning rail workers of the risks of working on the tracks using only a watchman/lookout to provide the train approach warning. Safety Alert 066 was prompted in part by the deaths of two ra [...]
James “JR” Cumby, SMART TD Intl. Representative, passes away
James R. “JR” Cumby, age 59, of Salado, Texas, died Friday, July 28, 2017, after a short illness. Mr. Cumby hired out as a yardmaster in 1976, and was an active member of Local 1962. In 2001, Cumby was appointed to the role of Alternate Assistant to the President-Yardmasters [...]
Senate Appropriations Committee passed 2018 transportation funding bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved the FY2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, July 27, which prioritizes funding for critical transportation projects, community development initiatives and [...]