Transportation News

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

We stand in solidarity with public employees

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. By UTU International President Mike Futhey The right of workers to join a labor union and bargain collectively with employers over wages, benefits and working conditions is the foundation of workplace dem [...]

Riverside. Calif., school drivers return to UTU

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. RIVERSIDE, Calif. — School bus-driver members employed by First Student here have voted to return to the UTU, and an agreement negotiated prior to their departure has been implemented. First Student [...]

Help preserve collective bargaining in Ohio

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Collective bargaining rights of Ohio state employees is under attack, and a state senate committee is considering legislation to halt this cornerstone of American and union workplace democracy. UTU Ohio S [...]

UTU, MBCR in tentative conductor agreement

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. BOSTON — Some 450 UTU-represented conductors and assistant conductors on Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) have a tentative new agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions.A r [...]

Florida is third state to reject high-speed rail funding

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Florida has become the third state to reject federal stimulus funds to help create a high-speed rail system. Florida Gov. Rick Scott Feb. 16 joined Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio in saying  [...]

February is Black History Month

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. As we celebrate Black History Month in February, here are some inventions by African-Americans of interest to rail and bus members: * Andrew Jackson Beard, born a slave in Alabama, became a railroad emplo [...]

Preserving Amtrak: A perennial effort

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. WASHINGTON — Since its creation four decades ago, Amtrak has perennially teetered on the edge of financial extinction, annually fighting down to the wire for minimal funds to keep it operating.This [...]

UTU N.Y. school bus local ratifies agreement

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — Members of UTU Local 153 here, employed as school bus drivers by Chestnut Ridge Transportation, have ratified a three-year wage, benefits and work rules agreement. The agreemen [...]

Getting heart healthy

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Heart AttackWarning Signs Cardiac ArrestWarning Signs StrokeWarning Signs    Chest discomfort/chest pain    Sudden Loss of Responsiveness    Trouble seeing in one or both eyes    Discomfort in other areas [...]

‘Tis the season – for deadly yard accidents

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. It’s winter — the three months of the year during which a significant number of yard fatalities and career-ending injuries occur. The FRA says risk is concentrated in cold-weather states, but [...]