Another state is making a two-person freight crew the law of their land. On July 27, the Kansas State Department of Transportation proposed a regulation that requires railroads that operate in the state to maintain a two-person crew in the lead locomotive. “Kansas now joins a [...]
G. Thomas DuBose, International President of the United Transportation Union (UTU) from 1991 to 1995, is recovering in a medical facility after a recent surgery. To send well wishes to him, address cards to G. Thomas DuBose, 5243 Riverside Dr., Apt. 2211, Macon GA 31210-0890. [...]
A letter issued from the Labor Member of the Railroad Retirement Board, John Bragg, addressed criticism by White House staff leveled toward RRB regarding investments in Chinese enterprises. Bragg’s response is reproduced below and links to supporting documentation are a [...]
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) administers the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA), which provides two kinds of benefits for qualified railroaders: unemployment benefits for those who become unemployed but are ready, willing, and able to work; and sickness benefit [...]
H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, a massive $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that contains provisions important to members of all crafts in the SMART Transportation Division and to sheet metal workers, passed through the U.S. House of Representatives by a 233-188 vote on July [...]
General Chairperson Adren Crawford of GO-433 (Canadian National — Illinois Central) had the following op-ed column published in the Tennessean on June 26. To anyone who thinks America’s labor unions aren’t relevant, think again. In what has become both a sad and challenging t [...]
Statement from SMART General President Joseph Sellers, Jr. July 1, 2020 The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) is pleased to endorse Vice President Joe Biden for President of the United States, following a unanimous vote of [...]
The Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act passed through the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure Committee late June 18 by a party-line vote of 35-25. The legislation, which contains provi [...]
Joseph F. Szabo, of Munster, Ind., and formerly of Riverdale, Ill., a retired member of Local 1299 (Chicago, Ill.) passed away Friday, June 12, 2020. An Army Air Corps veteran, Brother Szabo was a loving husband, father and grandfather and retired with 39 years of service as [...]
U.S. rail unions have united in an effort to overturn the sequestration of Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) benefits that was enacted by a GOP-held Congress during the Obama administration and continues to reduce the unemployment and sickness benefits of railroaders [...]