Category: Two-person railroad crews
The largest freight rail union in the United States reinforces the safety and necessity of having two crew members aboard freight trains.
Arbitrator finds that Section 6 bargaining regarding crew consist can begin
On July 28, 2021, a Neutral appointed by the National Mediation Board issued his ruling finding that on certain railroad properties, the current moratoria in those crew consist agreements do not prohibit the railroads from serving a Section 6 Notice regarding crew size. The p [...]
DeFazio on PSR: ‘Wall Street’s goal is to get wealthier — no matter the impact’
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, responded to a recent Fortune Magazine column by a pair of economists who defended the rail industry’s Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) scheme and accused unions o [...]
Timebook suggestions sought
Members have been able to spend half a year now with the 2021 SMART-TD bus and rail timebooks that were revised last year with membersʼ input. Weʼre sure there are things you like about the revisions and things that you would want to have changed about the timebooks so they a [...]
SMART-TD arbitrates crew-consist dispute
On June 15 and 16, 2021, the simmering dispute between the SMART Transportation Division and carriers over crew consist finally reached arbitration before neutral party John LaRocca in Sacramento, Calif. Class I railroads BNSF, UP, NS and KCS initiated a claim in October 2019 [...]
TD leaders praise House passage of INVEST Act
CLEVELAND, Ohio (July 1, 2021) — SMART Transportation Division leaders expressed their appreciation as the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act (H.R. 3684) successfully passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives [...]
Biden-Harris administration offers two paths to the Rule of 2
The paths to the Rule of 2 are open. Path 1: The INVEST ACT (H.R. 3684, the House Infrastructure Bill) and Path 2: a regulatory priority of the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to revisit freight crew size. U.S House Transportat [...]
INVEST Act passes committee with safety measures, including two-person crew, intact
After a session that began the morning of June 9 and carried on overnight into the pre-dawn hours of June 10, the INVEST in America Act passed out of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with two-person crew and other provisions important to SMART Transp [...]
The INVEST in America Act and how it protects TD members
A surface transportation reauthorization bill introduced June 4 by chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has a wide-reaching positive impact for members of the SMART Transportation Division. Mostly mirroring the identically n [...]