All SMART members are invited to participate in annual Labor Day parades. On Monday, Sept. 2, in Galesburg, Ill., Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director-elect Jared Cassity is scheduled to be in attendance to march alongside members of TD Local 195 an [...]
Travis “Bowie” Andrepont, the secretary/treasurer of Local 1947 in Lake Charles, La., was killed before dawn on Tuesday, Aug. 20, in a rail accident in Beaumont, Texas. Andrepont, 39, of DeQuincy, La., had worked for Union Pacific for 16 years, a UP company spokes [...]
The North County Transit District (NCTD) has teamed up with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to add an extra level of safety for its staff, contractors and the public. On August 1, 2019, NCTD entered into a [...]
In May, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) withdrew its proposed rulemaking to require two-person crews on freight trains. The agency then went further and stated that all state laws concerning the subject were preempted by the ruling. In response, SMART TD President J [...]
On Friday, August 9, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 24 – the state’s two-person crew bill – into law. “I want to thank and commend Governor Pritzker for honoring the commitment he made as a candidate to sign legislation requiring a crew of at least two indiv [...]
The SMART Transportation Division is beginning the process of formulating Section 6 notices to be served on rail carriers negotiating under the umbrella of the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC), which will include proposals to increase wages, benefits and improve [...]
The Rail Workers Hazardous Materials Training Program has announced they will be hosting four of their 40-hr Chemical Emergence Response class in October and during the first quarter of next year. The classes are to be held Oct. 20-25; Jan. 12-17; Feb. 2-7 and Mar. 15-20, 202 [...]
Thinking of retiring soon? Designed for railroad employees and spouses planning to retire within five years, the pre-retirement seminars offered by the Railroad Retirement Board are designed to familiarize attendees with the retirement benefits available to them, and also gui [...]
Delegates to the Second SMART General Convention have elected by acclamation Joseph Sellers, Jr. as General President and Joseph Powell as General Secretary-Treasurer on August 14, 2019. Sellers is a second-generation sheet metal worker who began his apprenticeship in 1980 at [...]
On August 8, SMART Transportation Division submitted comments to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regarding the proposal of transporting liquid natural gas (LNG) by rail. In our comments, National Legislative Director John Risch recognizes th [...]
