Category: Front Page
Santa Cruz Metro drivers narrowly avoid layoffs
Santa Cruz Metro bus drivers narrowly avoided being laid off, when a new budget was reached Friday, June 24, saving the drivers’ jobs. The budget hinges on a pending sales tax ballot measure to be voted on by taxpayers in the November elections. Metro approved a two-year budg [...]Feds blame Union Pacific for June 3 derailment
Federal investigators are placing the blame squarely on Union Pacific Railroad for their lack of track maintenance that caused the June 3rd fiery derailment that resulted in a mass evacuation as 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the small town of Mosier, Oregon. Read t [...]San Francisco Regional Meeting update
Fairmont San Francisco sold out, overflow rate expires June 17 The Fairmont San Francisco hotel has sold out. Not to worry, the overflow hotel – Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel – still has rooms available. The Mark Hopkins is conveniently located across the st [...]SMART TD, BLET to FRA: Ban one-person freight train crews
SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) President Dennis Pierce, issued a joint statement, following their submission of their comments to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on train crew size. [...]
Local 441 Gives Back to Local Youth In Mobile
A skateboard half-pipe was built and installed by SMART SM Local 441’s fourth- and fifth-year apprentices in Mobile, AL, as a community service project for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. SM Local 441 Business Manager Robert Payne said, “we are proud that our appr [...]
Court Sides With NLRB Election Ruling
On June 10, a federal appeals court sided with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule which speeds up the union election process. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NLRB did not exceed its authority in issuing the rule. The NLRB, in its original ruling, [...]
FRA clarifies “Smartwatch” Rule – Fitbits restricted
The question? May an employee wear a device like a “Garmin Vivofit” or “Fitbit” wristband that acts like a watch, and counts the steps that an individual takes each day? The devices are not searching for the internet, or Wifi, to do this and must be synchronized with Bluetoo [...]
Collective bargaining wins big in Verizon strike
June 7, 2016 The nydailynews.com reported that after a seven-week Verizon strike, collective bargaining and the middle class came out on top. Read the entire story here.