By Joe Nigro, SMART General President – Recent news reports have been bleak when it comes to the status of working families in the United States. While much of the news focuses on unemployment, and rightly so, there’s a relatively unknown, legal way that corporations are goin [...]
Representatives from Class 1s, shortlines, suppliers, as well as other railroad supporters joined forces on Thursday, March 13, to take part in Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, the industry’s annual event to advocate for freight rail-related issues. The event’s partn [...]
Employers and employees covered by the Railroad Retirement Act pay higher retirement taxes than those covered by the Social Security Act, so that railroad retirement benefits remain higher than social security benefits, especially for “career” employees who have 30 or more ye [...]
In 2012, 50 workers at Greenbrier Rail Services in Tucson, AZ filed for a representational election to join the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association Local Union No. 359, now the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). [...]
As a Union member, you already have some of the best health care coverage on the market, however, your friends and family members may not. The deadline to apply for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act is fast approaching. They have until March 31st to apply for a [...]
Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway plans to hire 5,000 workers this year as part of a $5 billion investment in the railroad, Carl Ice, the company’s new president and CEO, said this morning during an interview on CNBC. Ice, who recently took over the CEO post from Matt Rose, [...]
This is about a highway homicide – and we know who dunnit. The perp long ago was identified by state and federal authorities. Yet Congress refuses to order the collar, closing its eyes to a mayhem playing out at every hour, on every federal-aid roadway and adversely affecting [...]
McCOOK, Neb. – Great Lakes Airlines will suspend its flights to and from McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport in southwestern Nebraska next month. Commercial air service will be suspended effective April 1 through April 27, Great Lakes Airlines announced Wednesday (March 12). T [...]
The Benchmark building information modeling (BIM) training software has become a feather in the cap of unionized sheet metal education. Members can be trained and certified on the system, a three-dimensional collaborative drafting program that allows skilled union workers to [...]