Category: Yardmasters
2-person crews mandated for Boston duck boats – trains next?
BOSTON – 7 News Boston reported that the Massachusetts state legislature recently mandated that all duck boats must be operated by two-person crews. The measure came in response to a growing number of duck boat-related injuries and fatalities. Read the complete story he [...]
Furloughed UP workers rehired in North Platte, Nebraska
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. – The North Platte Telegraph reported that of the 4,600 Union Pacific Railroad (UP) workers that were furloughed in April of 2016, nearly 3,000 of those workers have been rehired. The jobs that were cut last year were mostly train, engine and rail ya [...]
Rail coalition rallies; FRA denies CSX bid to remove track signals
A collective of rail unions and Michigan citizens lobbied the FRA to deny a CSX request that would discontinue use of vital safety signals along a busy freight rail line in Michigan – and won. SMART Transportation Division, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, B [...]
Young woman killed by train during photo shoot
NAVASOTA, Texas – Fredzania Thompson, a mother-to-be and an aspiring model, was tragically killed during a photo shoot on train tracks. Read the complete article here. According to John Risch, SMART TD national legislative director, there is a dangerous and growing tren [...]
Maryland House passes two-person crew bill
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – On March 17, the Maryland House of Representatives voted in favor of HB 381, a measure that would require at least two crew members on all freight trains operating in the state of Maryland. The bi-partisan bill has moved to the Senate finance committee. [...]
Colo. Senate kills Right-to-Work (FOR LESS) bill
DENVER, Colo. – On Wednesday, March 16, the Colorado State Senate shot down SB 55 that called for Colorado to become a Right-to-Work (for less) state. The packed chambers included union members from all crafts. Click here to read the entire article from the Denver Busin [...]Study shows the decline of unions causing rise in economic inequality in Midwest
SMART TD is sharing a recent study released by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which highlights the economic impact of declining unionization over the past decades across states in the Midwest. The study found that as [...]