Category: News
SMART TD members ratify National Rail Agreement
By a margin of nearly four to one, SMART Transportation Division members have voted to APPROVE the new National Rail Contract. The voting was conducted by BallotPoint Election Services, who certified the following results for each craft eligible to vote: CRAFT ACCEPT REJECT C [...]
SMART TD’s Risch and others tell Congress not to forget carbon-capture tech
SMART Transportation Division National Legislative Director John Risch, pictured, along with Bob Perciasepe, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and D. Michael Langford, national president of the Utility Workers Union of America, in an op-ed piece publis [...]
Future member recovering after UTV accident
A ride on a UTV in September nearly turned fatal for Shane Leach when he severed an artery in his arm and nearly bled to death in the desert. While out with a friend, Leach’s vehicle tipped on a turn. It rolled onto his arm, pinning it between the UTV and the ground. About a [...]
Happy Thanksgiving 2017
It’s that time of year again. Americans across the country will get ready for the time-honored tradition of gathering with family and friends to give thanks. But first, they will agonize – possibly panic – over how to get where they’re going on the busiest travel day of the y [...]
ERMA maximum benefit increase announced for 2018
The lifetime maximum benefit for the Railroad Employees National Early Retirement Major Medical Benefit (ERMA or GA-46000) Plan will increase from $157,800 to $162,500 beginning Jan. 1, 2018. At the end of 2001, Labor and Management had agreed on various procedures to adminis [...]
Read the SMART TD Special Edition on the 2017 National Rail Agreement
Click here or the image below to read the special edition of SMART TD News about the proposed National Rail Agreement. SaveSave SaveSave SaveSaveSaveSave
NTSB: Ignored safety procedures, fractured safety program led to fatal Amtrak derailment
WASHINGTON (Nov. 14, 2017) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the April 3, 2016, derailment of Amtrak train 89 near Chester, Pennsylvania, was caused by deficient safety management across many levels of Amtrak and the resultant lack of a clear, consi [...]
DOT final rule: Workplace drug and alcohol testing procedures
On Nov. 13, 2017, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule that, among other items, expands DOT’s current drug testing panel to include certain semi-synthetic opioids (i.e., hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone). Testing for methylened [...]