Category: Transportation
Amtrak furloughs could be avoided with proper action in Congress
Amtrak, despite having been given $1 billion in funding under the CARES Act to prevent furloughs as a result of COVID-19, has announced that more than 500 – 509 to be exact – SMART members are targeted to be furloughed, effective Oct. 1. Carrier leadership announced Sept. 1 t [...]
Palmetto GBA: Medicare telehealth coverage expands
Telehealth is a Medicare-approved healthcare service between a provider and a patient via a telecommunication system (such as by phone or video chat). It’s been a covered service for more than a decade, focusing on rural areas where appropriate care may be hard to come by. Pa [...]
Court vacates FRA approval of KCSM engineer certification
WASHINGTON, D.C., (August 28, 2020) — A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has vacated Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) approval of the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR) certification program under which locomot [...]
Fifth Circuit vacates injunction in crew-consist case
Today, Aug. 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued its decision in BNSF et al v. SMART-TD (Case No. 20-10162) concerning crew consist. This decision is a long-awaited victory for the Union. The appellate court vacated the injunction that forced SMART-TD Gene [...]
Union family in need after fire destroys home
Brother Matt Bryant of Local 1067 (Virginia, Minn.), his wife and their three children lost their house in a fire Aug. 14 and could use some help as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Bryant, 34, a conductor with Canadian National, was furloughed in late May and had returne [...]
Conductor’s quick action saves boy from being struck in Pa.
A boy’s life was saved Aug. 14 and a potential tragedy averted thanks to the fast-thinking actions of Mike Bobrosky III, a member of Local 1006 (Brownsville, Pa). That morning, Reese Pearson, 9, who has autism, ran off from his home in Morgan Township, Pa. His mom immediately [...]Union leadership: Rail bosses are tightening the screws on workers, representatives
CLEVELAND, Ohio, (August 21, 2020) — As freight rail traffic levels rebound strongly from the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, railroad management has unleashed an unprecedented barrage of measures to manipulate recalls from furloughs, make alr [...]
UPDATED: Former President G. Thomas DuBose passes away
G. Thomas DuBose, who served one term as president of the SMART Transportation Division’s immediate predecessor union, passed away on Aug. 20, 2020, after a short illness. DuBose, United Transportation Union (UTU) president from 1991 to 1995, had experienced health complicati [...]