While railroad employees with less than 30 years of service may retire at age 62, their railroad retirement benefits are subject to early retirement (“age”) reductions if they retire before attaining their full retirement age. The following questions and answers explain how f [...]
Last fall, SMART General President Joseph Sellers traveled to UBS Arena, then still in progress, to tour and meet members working on the brand-new, $1.5 billion multipurpose home of the New York Islanders, which opened on November 20, 2021. Watch the video of their trip to se [...]
The March 2022 episode of Talking SMART featured a discussion with SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson about the BNSF "Hi-Viz" attendance policy and national rail contract negotiations.
Class I railroad carriers BNSF and NS declared an impasse this week in the mandatory bargaining over crew size under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act (RLA). In declaring an impasse, the two railroads, represented by the National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC), seek federal [...]
The BNSF “Hi-Viz” attendance policy drew the attention of the U.K.-based Guardian media organization March 14. “We feel stabbed in the back, completely demoralized with the work we did through the pandemic, understanding the situation, going the extra mile, and doing what we’ [...]
New Jersey State Legislative Director Ron Sabol received a big honor March 2 after being elected to lead the influential New Jersey Society for Environmental, Economic Development (NJ SEED) coalition by the group’s trustees and members. N.J. Sen. Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., chair [...]
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 Administrat [...]
FRA is seeking a hazardous materials railroad safety inspector to be based out of Baton Rouge, La. The position requires that the candidate: Plans and carries out periodic inspections at rail hazardous materials shipper/consignee locations including oil & gas refineries/f [...]
An NBC News report released March 7 detailed a nonprofit’s analysis that looked into how America’s largest railroads profited during last year’s supply chain crisis in conjunction with the continued enactment of their Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) scheme. Nonprofit gr [...]
SMART Transportation Division New Jersey State Legislative Board Vice Chairperson Joseph Williams in early March presented a proclamation from SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy R. Ferguson, National Legislative Director Gregory Hynes and N.J. State Legislative Di [...]
