Today we reflect on and honor the sacrifices made by all the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Without their protection, we would not be the country we are today, nor would we enjoy the freedoms that we do.
SMART-TD members honor the memory of veterans by placing flags on their graves.
As a veteran of the U.S. Army, I view this holiday with great respect and solemnity. As such, this union takes seriously the duty and obligation that we must show appreciation to members of the military — those on active duty, those who have retired and those who are no longer with us. We must remember and show gratitude for all they have done to defend our country, our nation’s constitution and our people as a whole. Their sacrifices must not go unnoticed nor be forgotten.
So as we all celebrate this Memorial Day, please take a moment to reflect on what this holiday really means. Remember to take the time to reflect on the memory of those whom we have lost in defense of our country and for those who currently serve.
As a reminder, our union has many resources for veterans available — please see the links below. As we continue into June, which is PTSD awareness month (National PTSD Awareness Day is June 27), be sure to take care of yourselves and seek out help or support if you need it. More information about PTSD and treatment options are available here.
If you are suffering from PTSD and think you may hurt yourself, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 to reach a trained counselor. Use that same number and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line.
A 1996 graduate of Marlington High School in Alliance, Ohio, Brother O’Brien was a member of the Louisville Baptist Temple, the Civil Air Patrol, the NRA and was a part of his high school wrestling team. He enjoyed skydiving, going to shooting ranges and spending time with his dog and family.
A 23-year member of CSX Local 1374, Brother O’Brien was both a certified conductor and engineer.
“I only knew Erik from some phone calls over the years, and he seemed to be a great person,” said GO 049 General Chairperson Rick Lee. “He was a loyal member of UTU/SMART.”
Brother O’Brien is survived by his parents, Daniel and Denise (Boyce) O’Brien; wife, Catherine (Welton); son, Caiden John O’Brien; brother, Shane (Jodi) O’Brien; as well as several nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. He was preceded in death by his paternal and maternal grandparents.
A visitation is scheduled Friday, May 27 at the Louisville Baptist Temple, 6565 Columbus Road NE, Louisville, OH 44641, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.. A funeral service will be held privately and he will be interred at Fairmount Memorial Park.
A fund has been set up for Erik’s son, Caiden, and checks may be made out and sent to the funeral home with the name Caiden O’Brien in the memo. The funeral home handling the fund is Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral Home, 75 S. Union Ave., Alliance, Ohio 44601. Memorial contributions may also be made to the NRA, 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030 or to Gideons International, P.O. Box 97251, Washington, D.C. 20090.
May 24 marks the rollout of the Membership 101 portion of SMART University, an online video-based educational resource designed for new SMART Transportation Division members to get acquainted with their union.
The first flight of releases includes video primers on local meetings, the roles of local officers, how to approach a carrier investigatory hearing and other important topics for union members.
“This is an exciting project that we’ve been working on for some time,” SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson said. “These videos can be accessed anytime and anywhere. In conjunction with our Regional Training Seminars and other training efforts, we’re hoping that these serve as building blocks to engage one another and to make our union stronger.”
William “Larry” Foster, a SMART Transportation Division Alumni Association member and retiree from Local 226 (Moberly, Mo.) who proudly served our union as Missouri’s state legislative director for the better part of two decades, passed away May 4 at his home. He was 80.
Foster
Foster began as state legislative director in April 1992 and was re-elected to multiple terms leading the state legislative board until his retirement in 2008. He also worked as a conductor for Norfolk Southern.
“Larry was the one early on in my railroad career that got me interested in our legislative department and helped guide me as a new legislative representative and executive board member until his retirement in 2008,” said current Missouri State Legislative Director Jason Hayden (Local 1405, St. Louis, Mo.). “His legacy and imprint on this board will never be forgotten, and he will be dearly missed.”
A U.S. Army veteran, having served from 1959-68, Brother Foster was a member of the Moberly Masonic Lodge and the Sweet Springs Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Linda; daughters Lori Barrier (Ronnie) and Toni Stock, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A visitation is planned 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, May 9, 2022, at the Cater Funeral Home Chapel, 1520 E. Rollins, Moberly, MO 65270. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at Cater Funeral Home Chapel with burial following in Memorial Park Cemetery.
SMART Transportation Division offers its condolences to Brother Foster’s family, friends and the union brothers and sisters in Missouri who mourn his passing.
A number of questions have arisen regarding the union’s ongoing educational efforts, Transportation Division Chief of Staff Jerry Gibson sat down for a Q&A clarifying the purpose of the 2022 SMART Transportation Division Annual Meeting and discussing how these efforts have changed as a result of the pandemic.
President Ferguson has been looking forward to hosting an annual regional meeting since the start of his administration in October 2019. Being that it was to be held in our home office base in Cleveland, it simply added to that excitement. Unfortunately, as we are all well aware, the early stages of COVID took away our initial opportunity in 2020. Last year a meeting was planned to be concurrent with the SMART Business Agents meeting in New York City, but once again, the pandemic had other plans with COVID variants making it unsafe.
The meeting locations are selected years in advance, so we knew when and where it would be held, but other issues presented themselves, so we had to delay providing any in-depth information. We knew we had to make some changes, but it took some time to work this all out. The long two-year interval allowed us the opportunity to pause, review everything that we have done in the past, and determine what changes were needed for the future. We had some challenges presented to us that were pandemic-related, but we also knew that there were some long-standing concerns that had, frankly, been growing for years. We have already reduced the number of “Regional Meetings” from three to two and now down to one due to reduced attendance. The question raised was, are they really “regional” then? The conclusion was that the old training and meeting model where local officers were expected to attend one big meeting in one place once a year had run its course. A change had to be made.
So, after reviewing all of the hurdles, positives and negatives, we knew what we needed to do, so President Ferguson presented the idea to the TD Board of Directors, whose members voted unanimously to make the change.
Well, we knew that the COVID-related safety requirements that the City of San Francisco placed on us would create an issue. We understand that some of our officers and members have elected not to be vaccinated, and you had to provide proof that you were vaccinated and boosted to enter the facility. No exceptions. Add that to the trend of reduced attendance, it made it very difficult to sign contracts for room, food and beverage guarantees. If we think 600 people are going to attend, and only 400 actually do, we still pay for 600. We need to be very aware of how every last dollar of our members’ dues money is being spent and the financial pressures that the organization has been experiencing at all levels — local, state and national, are significant. It takes a considerable investment in time, expense, and personnel to put one of these together. In addition, we heard loud and clear the long-standing concerns from many of our locals that these meetings have become a huge financial burden. No one disagrees that the training is wanted and in demand, it is simply a matter of “Can our local afford it?” It has become a paradox. We can’t afford to go, but we cannot afford not to either.
It’s not. In short, the old format is being replaced with two separate, but needed, training and meeting structures. Starting in 2022 and into the foreseeable future, the single Annual “Regional” Meeting will be reserved for General Committee and State Board executive officers. It will allow our SLB and GC officers to convene, attend training and presentations developed specifically for them, as well as provide a venue to discuss their complex issues in depth. It ensures we are all on the same page, provides an opportunity to freely exchange solutions, and discuss what we need to tighten up. That’s never been done before and long overdue. It will also be a joint meeting with their Sheet Metal counterparts. One of the intentions behind the SMART merger was to share costs and better allocate resources. This accomplishes that goal while allowing us to share our experiences and knowledge with each other.
President Ferguson is adamant that training is the backbone that supports our organization and ensures its success. We have put a lot of resources toward it while taking into consideration the suggested changes and concerns that have been expressed since he has taken office. This includes the aforementioned financial stress it places on a local. We knew that there is a great and constant need for training our local officers, so we created a true “regional” meeting format that should reduce both the travel time and expense of sending an officer to one of these training events. The end result was the implementation of Regional Training Seminars.
In 2021, there were four Regional Training Seminars held, each unique with a true “regional” feel to them. Some were two-day events, and others were three. All were within a reasonable driving distance of a number of locals and offered training for all Local officers: Presidents, Trustees, Secretary/Treasurers, Legislative Representatives and Local Chairpersons. Note that I said “driving distance” as this is by design and saves considerable time and money for the locals instead of flying their officers across the country to a single annual meeting. These RTS’s took place in Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tenn.; Duluth, Minn.; and Michigan City, Ind., The International at the behest of President Ferguson, provided the presenters and some financial assistance with the State Directors and General Chairmen of Jurisdiction chipping in and handling the arrangements. All of these meetings were very successful and allowed us to develop a meeting agenda for future use. The only complaint received from the attendees was that they wish they had more training time. So we’ve adjusted the format this year to allow extra time.
As mentioned previously, the RTS is focused on Local officer training, but more than that, we can be flexible and more specifically target particular concerns by craft, carrier, and geographic locations. We’re able to focus on an issue important to a region and can adjust the length and types of training to be more in tune with what people in that location want. Something that’s happening in Chicago might not be a concern for someone in Laramie, Wyo. The same goes for areas where we have more bus, passenger and transit members. Their concerns are not the same as the places where the vast majority of our members work on freight railroads. Those concerns can differ and will be addressed, while still maintaining our core local officer training provided by experts in each field. Simply put, the RTS model provides cost savings to all involved, while allowing for more intimate and specific training for all local officers. President Ferguson has attended every one of the Regional Training Seminars and plans to continue to do so. It gives everyone accessibility and a chance to make a personal connection and clear up any misconceptions or misinformation straight from the source. President Ferguson enjoys the personal interaction with the local officers and typically closes out the meetings with a “nothing off the table” Q&A session. Another huge advantage is that these RTS’s can be scheduled year-round, so if you cannot make one, there likely will be another.
Well, I think we covered this, but in short, only in travel time and cost. The complaints about the prohibitive financial investment and time going to the single “big” meeting have become louder and it was time to react. With the new format, we come to you. Ideally, we want on average 20 to 30 officers attending each class (President, LR, S&T, LC), so I guess the participants will be less, but that allows for more intimate training, so that should not be viewed as a negative. It is a true collaborative effort with the International, State Boards, and GC offices all sharing in the costs — it is less of a financial burden for all involved, but more so for the locals than anyone.
We encourage people, even those that have attended the old-school Regional Meetings in the past, to attend one of the RTS’s. Instead of a shotgun approach, we are narrowing the focus and with more in-depth, specific training of all local officers, bus, freight, passenger, rail and transit. These are opportunities not to be missed and are not short of anything previously offered.
We encourage locals and their officers to reach out to their General Committee and State Board offices of jurisdiction. They can also reach out to the President’s Department in our office. Last year, it was the GCs and SLDs reaching out to us once the word got out. Going forward, I think the best way to determine where and when to schedule a Regional Training Seminar will be based on how many locals in a geographic location communicate they want to participate or host one. Once host locations are identified and chosen, information will be shared on our website and social-media platforms about how to attend. I can share that this process is already well on its way with several scheduled or in the works. There is one scheduled for late April at LACMTA in Los Angeles. Requests have been made for a bus-oriented one in northern California and one for freight rail in San Antonio, Texas, to name a few.
As I stated previously, the decisions of changing how we train our officers were not made lightly. Then when you add the complex COVID restrictions that remain and essentially forced changes, I certainly hope everyone can see the reasoning behind the delay. Further, we have yet to do a “site visit” and work out all of the details with the hotel. That happens at the end of this week … on Good Friday no less. We are very hopeful to have everything fleshed out so that our General Committee and State Legislative Board executive officers can register for the San Fran meeting within the next few weeks, with a soft goal of May 1. We simply do not want to put information out and then have to retract it. So once the details have all been finalized, we will announce it on all of our media outlets.
Absolutely. As I stated, President Ferguson wants training made available to members and officers alike. Understanding that we work varying schedules and learn different ways, he asked that it be in different formats, times, and places, and it started with the overhaul of our SMART website and the addition of our new Member Portal. This portal allows us to protect member-only information, including training videos and supporting documents, for the very first time. We have been developing SMART University for these very reasons, offering 24/7/365 training options for our members and officers. We have recruited subject experts who have completed an extensive amount of work and are close to launching some of this material in the very near future … I am talking weeks, not months. Many of the topics covered at the meetings will be available online with a robust amount of material available, and it is our plan to continue to add to it as suggestions are made and topics become known. I think each and every member and officer will find something of value at SMART U.
The SMART Transportation Division is pleased to announce the first joint SMART Union Annual Leadership Conference. The event will replace the former TD Regional Meetings, which have had a two-year pandemic disruption. Please pay close attention to the following details as several changes have been made.
The 2022 Annual Leadership Conference is scheduled to take place Aug. 8-11 at the San Francisco Hilton Union Square, 333 O’Farrell St., San Francisco, CA 94102. The conference will be reserved for state board and general committee officers and the event includes the Sheet Metal Business Agents’ meeting.
For SMART-TD local officers, we are excited to continue our training strategy established during the COVID-19 pandemic of true “regional meetings.” The Regional Training Seminar (RTS) model was established to provide training close to the local in efforts to reduce the sometimes-prohibitive financial expense related to sending officers to these educational events. By providing training at multiple geographic locations and dates throughout the year, it will greatly assist in removing some of the logistical obstacles for local officers who want to attend.
During 2021, SMART-TD held four RTS in strategic locations that provided thorough and practical training for local officers. All were very well attended and received. General Chairpersons and SLDs will identify locations where there’s a demand for training and assist with organizing the event. We encourage locals and their officers to reach out if they would like an RTS. Once host locations are identified and chosen, information will be shared on our website and social media platforms about how to attend.
In addition, online SMART University training for members and officers will be made available in the very near future. In-person local secretary & treasurer workshops also will continue to be offered by SMART-TD and promoted on the TD Local Toolbox page when details are finalized.
Training is the backbone of our organization and SMART Transportation Division leadership is committed to bringing access to educational materials to all members and officers.
A more detailed article with additional information about the new structure of SMART-TD’s educational efforts will be released very soon.
CLEVELAND (April 6) — Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure are asking the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to take action on a 2008 Congressional mandate to address rail worker fatigue at Class I carriers, with a specific reference to attendance policies such as those imposed at CSX, Union Pacific, and BNSF.
In an April 6 joint letter to FRA Administrator Amit Bose, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, along with Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, remind the FRA Administrator of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), which established a law requiring railroads to implement fatigue management and reduction plans.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
“The Congressional mandate to mitigate fatigue among crewmembers and other safety-related workers is now a decade late,” Rep. DeFazio and Rep. Payne wrote. “Crewmembers and other craft workers have raised their concerns about being excessively exhausted at work, which is worsened by PSR. These workers cannot wait any longer, and neither can the communities through which trains travel. To mitigate attendance policies that contribute to fatigue and help ensure all safety-related workers are rested and prepared to do the job safely, we respectfully urge your agency to issue the fatigue risk management program final rule without delay, require its swift implementation, and meaningfully enforce it to ensure that the 2008 bipartisan Congressional mandate is met.”
U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr.
In the letter, Rep. DeFazio and Rep. Payne lay the cause of fatigue at the feet of the nation’s Class I railroads. The industry’s self-inflicted problems, such as inaccurate train lineups and the implementation of harsh attendance policies, contribute greatly to rail worker fatigue.
“We believe that attendance policies that not only contribute to fatigue but also penalize workers for taking off when fatigued or ill simply cannot co-exist with any serious fatigue risk management program,” the Representatives wrote. “Rather, these policies could incentivize employees to show up to work fatigued in order to avoid reprimand or termination. They also ignore the unfortunate reality that crewmembers already have unpredictable and unreliable schedules, which makes this line of work difficult for many, even before policies that further restrict their lives and abilities to obtain proper rest.”
Rep. DeFazio and Rep. Payne are also highly critical of the industry’s implementation of the so-called precision scheduled railroading (PSR) business operating model.
“Class I carriers have substantially reduced the size of their workforces since implementing precision scheduled railroading (PSR) at the behest of Wall Street investors. Unions representing railroad workers and individual workers have sounded the alarm on rail worker fatigue, which they believe is worsened by the deployment of PSR and the resulting push to do more work with nearly one-third fewer people on the job.”
Leaders of the nation’s two largest railroad unions, which represent the nation’s train operating crews, applauded the April 6 letter.
“We want to make it clear that we are fighting attendance policies at all Class I carriers. Fatigue has long been a problem at CSX, UP, BNSF, NS and other rail carriers, but it has been made much worse because of extreme job cuts resulting from the implementation of PSR coupled with the industry’s determination to force harsh attendance policies upon the remaining workforce,” said SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson and BLET National President Dennis Pierce. “SMART-TD and the BLET have also put the issue on the table in our national negotiations, currently in mediation, demanding that all imposed attendance policies be rescinded with negotiated attendance contract rules to take their place. On behalf of our members, we thank Representative DeFazio and Representative Payne for shining a light on this pressing issue in our industry and being vocal leaders for rail worker safety.”
The SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members of the former United Transportation Union, who work in a variety of crafts in the transportation industry.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen represents nearly 57,000 professional locomotive engineers and trainmen throughout the United States. The BLET is the founding member of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
FTA has not yet implemented worker safety provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
WASHINGTON – Today, 20 labor organizations representing transit drivers and other transportation workers urged Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrator Nuria Fernandez to immediately implement the safety provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to protect transit workers from assault.
Four months after the passage of the BIL, the FTA has yet to implement these safety provisions. Meanwhile, transit workers continue to face danger on the job.
Assaults against transit workers have long been a concern but dramatically increased during the last three years of the pandemic, as did assaults on other frontline transportation workers like airline and airport workers.
Labor unions representing frontline transit employees have responded to this crisis over the years through legislative and regulatory measures, most recently securing several provisions in the BIL to protect transit workers.
Because of the BIL, the FTA is now statutorily required to collect accurate data on transit workforce assaults, to reform its Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) process to include worker voices and incorporate measures to reduce the risk of assault in every transit system, and to update its national safety plan to address the risk of assault and public health concerns.
The unions wrote: “Our members include bus and rail transit operators, station agents, car cleaners, mechanics and other frontline workers, all of whom are at risk of assault and worse each day they arrive at work. President Biden committed to protecting these workers and that promise was enshrined into law as part of the BIL. Before, and particularly during the COVID19 pandemic, these workers have laid their lives on the line every day to ensure Americans have access to safe, reliable transportation, and we must not turn our backs on them another day.”
Signers of the letter include the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO (TTD) and the nation’s largest transit unions, including the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division (SMART-TD), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), and Transportation Communications Union/IAM (TCU).
The letter was also signed by the following unions: Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA), Association of Flight Attendants–CWA (AFA), Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes–IBT (BMWED), Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (IOMM&P), International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), National Conference of Firemen & Oilers, SEIU (NCFO), Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), and Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS).
Attention all SMART-TD and BLET members! Tonight at 7:00 p.m. central standard time (8:00 p.m. EST), SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson and BLET President Dennis Pierce will be airing a joint interview on the Rails Tails & Trails YouTube channel, which can be viewed at the following link: https://youtu.be/6N9r6QIGqA8.
Presidents Ferguson and Pierce will be providing updates on recent developments with BNSF’s HiViz attendance policy, commentary on our national rail contract negotiations, and discussion of other important issues affecting members of both Unions.
As additional information, beginning at 6:00 p.m. CST (7:00 p.m. EST), Rails Tails & Trails host Jon Chaffin will be doing a giveaway for supporters of his channel. All members are encouraged to tune in, subscribe to the channel, and leave your feedback in the comments section. We are looking forward to finding out if you think the interview is informational, and if you would like the presidents to join a future episode on the Rails Tails & Trails podcast. If so, please comment on which issues you would like to see them discuss.
We thank you for your continued support as we work diligently to keep all members informed!
Local 759 (Paramus, N.J.) President and Legislative Representative Rafael Becerra met with Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. John Carney on Friday, March 4, in Wilmington, Del., as part of an event promoting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), formerly known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Pictured, from left, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, Local 759 (Paramus, N.J.) President/Legislative Representative Rafael Becerra, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Delaware Gov. John Carney pose for a photo during an event at the DART First State facility in Wilmington, Del., on Friday, March 4.
Brother Becerra, a veteran bus operator for Community Coach based out of New Jersey, frequently travels the main thoroughfares between the states and has been a SMART-TD member since November 1984.
“It was a great honor in meeting Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, Gov. Carney and Sen. Carper,” Becerra said. “The infrastructure law will accomplish a big transformation in our nation — not just the conditions of our roads and bridges — but in how people get around via bus and transit.”
Becerra has been a bus driver for nearly four decades and helped to evacuate people in conjunction with the Jan. 7, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and to transport soldiers to defend the area for President Biden’s inauguration. His experience was chronicled in the March/April 2021 SMART-TD News on Page 7.
“All of our bus members here in New Jersey and from coast to coast take extreme pride in doing their job safely day after day,” said New Jersey State Legislative Director Ron Sabol, who also attended the event. “For decades, President Becerra has served as a dependable bus operator, and he’s helping the membership in two roles as an elected officer. I’m very proud of his work and his leadership.”
