Transportation News

Visit the digital archive of the SMART-TD News (PDFs)

Tentative pact for Great Lakes flight attendants

A tentative four-year agreement covering flight attendants employed by Great Lakes Airlines and represented by UTU Local 40 has been negotiated with the carrier. The agreement has been circulated for ratification, with votes to be counted May 17. The UTU represents some 300 f [...]

CSX wreck claims 2; member loses limbs on BNSF

MINERAL SPRINGS, N.C. — CSX conductor Phillip E. Crawford Jr., 33, and locomotive engineer James Gregory Hadden, 36, were killed early May 24 in a rear-end collision here involving two CSX freight trains, according to news reports. Mineral Springs is some 30 miles south [...]

Learn leadership skills at regional meetings

Thinking of election to union office in the future? Want to improve your skills representing members? Or maybe you just want to gain a better understanding of labor law, grievance handling, transportation regulation and transportation safety? UTU regional meetings are crafted [...]

At 97, former UTU president still leads fight

Former UTU International President Al Chesser (1972-1979) is now 97 years old, and the fire in his belly in support of organized labor has never dimmed. The following was written by Chesser in response to creation by President Mike Futhey of the Collective Bargaining Defense [...]

RRB 2010 earnings forms to be mailed in June

The Railroad Retirement Board will mail to railroad workers in June their annual Certificate of Service Months and Compensation (Form BA-6), showing creditable railroad service and compensation for 2010. If you do not receive this Form BA-6 by July 1, or if you find the infor [...]

Safety warning in railcar razor blade incident

A safety warning has been issued by the Association of American Railroads after a razor blade was found “strategically placed in the eye of the airbrake release rod” on a hopper car set out at an industrial plant in Baton Rouge, La. Although the razor blade was fo [...]

UTU member personally aides striking Teamsters

SAN ANTONIO — For the scores of Teamster Union members in their fourth week on the picket line here in a strike against Pioneer Flour Mill, times are tougher than usual. UTU Local 756 (UP, San Antonio) Chairperson John Dunn understands the hardship, and as so often occu [...]

Two nominated to NMB; await confirmation

WASHINGTON — Democrat Harry Hoglander has been nominated by President Obama for a fourth three-year term — this one to expire in June 2014 — on the three-member National Mediation Board, which administers the Railway Labor Act. Earlier this year, Obama nomin [...]

Great Lakes flight attendants ratify pact

Great Lakes Airlines flight attendants represented by UTU Local 40 have unanimously ratified a four-year agreement. The UTU represents some 300 flight attendants and pilots on this regional airline based in Cheyenne, Wyo., and with hubs in Albuquerque, N.M.; Billings, Mont.; [...]

T&E headcount continues slow climb back

Train and engine employment on the nation’s major railroads rose again in April and is more than six percent higher than one year ago, reports the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. The 62,872 train and engine workers employed by Class I railroads in April is still almo [...]