Category: Transportation
RRB Labor Member: Testing underway, enhanced benefit payments expected in a week
From RRB Labor Member John Bragg: In my last update, I explained that Phase 2 of the Railroad Retirement Board’s (RRB) CARES Act implementation plan was targeted for completion by the end of May. Phase 2 of the RRB’s plan provides for the additional $1,200 per registration p [...]
SMART-TD, BLET announce launch of Information and Communications Technology survey
CLEVELAND, Ohio, (May 20) — The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe), in partnership with the SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), is launching a [...]
Three House leaders reject removal of acting DOT inspector general
U.S. Reps Carolyn B. Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, Peter A. DeFazio, chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Gerald E. Connolly, chair of the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, sent a letter to [...]
Minnesota members: SLD issues action alert for state transportation bill support
FROM MINNESOTA STATE LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR PHILLIP QUALY: Please call or email our friends in the Minnesota Republican House and Senate and ask them to vote for the House Capital Bonding Bill, H.F. 2529, with all railroad safety and passenger rail service provisions included. [...]
Retired Local 1532 officer DeBaun passes away
William “Bill” J. DeBaun, a retiree from SMART Transportation Division Local 1532 and a former vice chairperson and legislative representative for the Kansas City, Kan., local, passed away late last month. Brother DeBaun was 73 years old. A yardman out of Argentin [...]
SMART-TD 2020 Regional Meeting Called Off
CLEVELAND, Ohio (April 21, 2020) – Unfortunately, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the state of Ohio’s orders regarding distancing and banning meetings, we have had to cancel the 2020 SMART Transportation Division Regional Meeting. Accordingly, ple [...]
RRB Labor Member: Enhanced benefit payments expected by month’s end
A message from John Bragg, the Railroad Retirement Board’s labor member, released this week stated that the increased $1,200 in unemployment benefits from the CARES Act will begin to be deposited toward the end of the month. “We do not have an implementation date [...]RRB begins payment on extended unemployment benefits
From the RRB’s Public Affairs office: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, recently signed into law by President Trump, authorized extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for railroad workers sidelined during the COVID-19 pandemic. [...]