Category: Leadership
SMART-TD statement on DOT Secretary Buttigieg’s letter regarding rail industry safety and accountability
SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson issued the following statement on Feb. 21: “The greatest threat to the American railroad industry and the communities with which it intersects is Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR). The changes PSR has brought s [...]
Alt. NLD Cassity talks safety, Ohio derailment on Rick Smith podcast
SMART Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity was a guest of The Rick Smith Show podcast released on Friday night. In the interview, Smith and Alt. NLD Cassity discussed the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the rol [...]
Butler, Miller named SMART GVPs
In December 2022, SMART appointed Robert L. Butler (SM Local 17) and Tim Miller (SM Local 33) as General Vice Presidents. Butler has dedicated his entire career to SMART, starting with Local 17 in Boston. After entering the apprenticeship program at the Local 17 JATC in Dorch [...]
BNSF asks the FRA for permission to run trains with 120 CFM of flow in the name of safety
It’s difficult to imagine trying to pass off reducing the braking power of a freight train as a safety precaution, but that is exactly what BNSF attempted to do recently in a request to the FRA for a variance to increase the allowable amount of flow from 90 CFM to 120 CFM. In [...]
UP actions prompt departure from safety program
In a letter dated Jan. 25, the general chairperson of SMART Transportation Division’s GO 577 informed Union Pacific’s senior vice president of operations that the union was withdrawing from any participation in the company’s safety program effective Feb. 1, 2023. GC Roy [...]
SMART-TD stands in solidarity with the Air Line Pilots Association, International
In today’s age of economics driven by corporate greed, there are many trade unions in our country at odds with the so-called “captains” of their industries and the profit-obsessed mindset of upper management. Few unions, however, share such similar struggles as the members of [...]
Action needed to support Congressional Workers Union
This is a call to action. The burning wreckage of what used to be the Grand Old Party (GOP) is attempting to attack the labor movement immediately after the holidays while our guard is down and as the transition to the new Congress occurs. SMART is asking you to take action a [...]Holiday message from TD President Jeremy Ferguson
Brothers and sisters — The year is drawing to a close and we have put the nation on notice. We transportation workers are the definition of essential, and as the nation struggles with a major weather event with zero-degree temperatures and face-numbing sub-zero wind-chills, o [...]