Category: News

NTSB issues urgent call for improved rail tank cars

April 7, 2015 ?The National Transportation Safety Board April 6 issued four urgent recommendations calling for more robust and fire-resistant rail cars to be produced to safely carry flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol. In its recommendations, the Board calls for an aggressive [...]

Tags crude oil and ethanol, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, rail tank cars

Day at the Races: To win or place, you have to show

April 2, 2015 The fifth annual SMART Day at the Races will be held at Fonner Park Race Track in Grand Island, Neb., Friday, April 17, at 3 p.m., Union Pacific General Committee of Adjustment GO 953 reports. In previous years, attendees included members from a number of locals in Kansas, Il [...]

Tags Cliff Gordon, Ed Mueller, GO 953, SMART Day at the Races

Obama vetoes GOP bill on union elections

April 1, 2015 President Obama March 31 vetoed a Republican effort to overturn controversial union voting rules. Congress passed a resolution of disapproval this month on a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that sped up union elections. Read the complete story at The Hill.

Tags National Labor Relations Board, Obama, unions

Colo. Southwest Chief funding in jeopardy

April 1, 2015 Funding to save the Southwest Chief did not make it into the budget proposed by the Colorado legislature this week, Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith reports. “We must now seek support from Gov. Hickenlooper and the Joint Budget Committee, which will review [...]

Tags Amtrak, Carl Smith, colorado, Southwest Chief

Foxx sends six-year transportation bill to Congress

March 31, 2015 WASHINGTON – Over the past year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story – shared by all – about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. Secretary Foxx March 30 sent to Congress his s [...]

Tags Anthony Foxx, crumbling infrastructure, Department of Transportation, Grow America Act, transportation bill

SMART General President Nigro to retire April 30

March 30, 2015 Joseph J. Nigro is retiring as general president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), effective April 30. He is stepping down in order to fully focus on recovering from a series of recent surgeries. The SMART General [...]

Tags Joseph J. Nigro

Former UTUIA Field Supervisor Tom Anziano dies

March 27, 2015 Retired former United Transportation Union Insurance Association Field Supervisor Thomas R. Anziano Jr., 73, of Local 1373 at Philadelphia, died Mar. 26 after an extended battle with cancer. Anziano began his railroad career with CSX Transportation and worked as a conductor a [...]

Tags Local 1373, Thomas R. Anziano, UTUIA

Treat members alike, represent the interests of all

March 27, 2015 By Calvin Studivant, Vice President – Bus – On behalf of the Smart Transportation Division officers, and especially the officers of the Bus Department, I would like to wish all of our members and their loved ones a safe, healthy and prosperous 2015. Now that the electi [...]

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What do we, as a labor organization, want?

March 27, 2015 By John Risch, National Legislative Director – What do we want? What do you want? What does your union want? What does labor want? The most common question I get when working Capitol Hill here in Washington, D.C., is – “What’s the ask?” – meaning, what is it you’re going to [...]

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Passenger rail in Colorado needs your help

March 25, 2015 Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith asks that all members from the state call or email key legislators to pass the bill funding Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. “A bill to save the Southwest Chief will be heading to the Colorado Legislature’s Senate Appr [...]

Tags Amtrak, Carl Smith, colorado, Southwest Chief