Tag: SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson

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Brothers and sisters,

We’ve all heard the saying: The only constant is change. That’s especially true for those of us who work in the transportation industry.

Whether it’s the growing push for increasingly automated operations confronting both our rail and bus members or a corporate culture that continues to prioritize profits at the expense of safety, our union is no stranger to change.

In these times of uncertainty, representation matters.

That’s why no matter what changes the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) push down the pipeline, SMART-TD’s mission will always remain the same: protecting the livelihoods of the members we represent.

We show up to the bargaining table having done our homework

Every labor organization has a duty to defend its members when employers seek fundamental opera­tional changes. That responsibility becomes even more important when those changes threaten long-estab­lished railroad jobs.

For years, our union has dedicated itself to protecting our members against these kinds of changes that pose a direct threat to their livelihoods.

But this isn’t something that happens by chance or because the stars conveniently aligned on a particular day.

Those protections were earned through years of difficult nego­tiations, strategic planning and an understanding that today’s deci­sions must account for tomorrow’s challenges.

Our local and national leaders make it a point to do their home­work ahead of time before they come to the bargaining table, proactively preparing for what’s coming down the road rather than sitting back and waiting for it to find them.

This is a hallmark of our union and clear proof that representation matters.

Other unions may resort to playing the blame game when things get tough, but that’s not SMART-TD. We don’t complain or wallow in self-pity when the deck is stacked against us. That’s never been our approach, and we don’t intend to change course any time soon.

We dig in, we fight for our members, and we let our actions speak louder than our words.

SMART-TD is prepared for the inevitable changes that lie ahead

SMART-TD members have always tackled whatever industry-related challenge lies in front of them head-on, controlling the narrative rather than being defined by it.

At the same time, our leader­ship will continue using every contractual protection, every legal agreement and every bargaining opportunity available to defend the jobs of the members who have entrusted us with that responsibility.

This is exactly what members expect from their union, and a commitment that we take incredibly seriously.

Both the rail and bus industries are entering another period of significant technological change. There will undoubtedly be difficult conversa­tions, spirited debate and important regulatory proceedings ahead.

SMART-TD intends to lead those discussions just as we always have.

We will continue advocating for safety and defending our members’ jobs.

And when our members’ careers and families are on the line, we will never apologize for doing everything within our power to protect them.

That is what responsible union leadership looks like, and it’s why SMART-TD continues to be the gold standard for rail, bus and transit workers across the country.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

For decades, SMART-TD members have sounded the alarm about safety in our industry. Railroaders have warned about longer trains, shrinking crews and inspection shortcuts. Transit operators have voiced concerns about the growing violence they face simply for doing their jobs.

For too long, those voices were ignored.

Now the momentum is on OUR side.

Across Capitol Hill, lawmakers are introducing legislation that directly addresses the safety concerns our members have been raising for years. Bills like the Railway Safety Act and the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act aim to strengthen freight rail safety by addressing crew staffing, inspection standards and the risks posed by increasingly long trains. On the transit side, the RIDER Safety Act would help agencies deploy trained personnel to de-escalate conflicts and reduce assaults on operators, while the Bus Operator Safety and Security Act and the Passenger Rail Crew Protection Act would ensure stronger federal protec­tions for passenger rail crews and bus members that mirror the laws currently protecting airline crews.

These proposals represent pivotal steps forward for transportation safety reform.

But let me be clear about something.

These bills aren’t going to become law just because they make common sense. We owe it to ourselves to finish the job.

For years, railroads and transit agencies have tried to dominate the national conversation about safety. They have lobbyists, think tanks and industry groups working every day to shape the narrative in Washington.

But the true experts on transportation safety are not sitting in corporate boardrooms.

They are the men and women operating the trains and buses of this country every single day.

SMART-TD members have spent decades fighting to get a seat at the table in Washington. Thanks to the work of our National Safety and Legislative Department and our State Safety and Legislative Boards across the country, we finally have it.

But we cannot be so happy about getting our seat that we forget to order our meal.

Right now, unions have strong public support, and transportation worker safety has become a bipartisan issue. Lawmakers are listening.

But if they don’t hear from you, our message loses its power. Make no mistake: The lobbyists are more than happy to fill the void created by our silence.

When lawmakers hear directly from YOU, the workers experiencing this reality every day, it changes the conversation.

If you are tired of being told to do more with less while railroads invest in technology designed to replace you, this is your moment.

If you are tired of being hit, kicked, spit on and assaulted while doing your job as a transit operator, this is your moment.

The table is set in 2026.

Call your senators and representatives. Send emails. Write letters to the editor. Call into radio shows when our safety is being talked about. Speak up when these issues are discussed in your community.

The corporations have their public relations plans.

It’s time we disrupt them with the inconvenience of reality on the ground and the truth as only we know it.

SMART-TD has heard you.

Now Congress needs to hear you.

The moment is here.

Let’s not let it slip away. This fight isn’t coming. It is here. Your union needs you not to blink.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Brothers and sisters,

It’s a simple fact: Unions provide stability for workers in an economic environment where that concept is rare.

That’s true across many different industries but especially in the technology sector, where workers are seen as expendable and burnout (both physical and mental) is the norm. This should sound familiar to all of us!

Also normal are mergers and mass layoffs with little thought given to the actual humans who make these companies run.

One of the most well-known mass layoffs in the technology industry happened in 2002. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) announced that it would cut thousands of jobs as part of its acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp, a merger that promised to “boost efficiencies” — AKA Precision Scheduled Manufacturing.

In total, more than 17,000 workers lost their jobs and their livelihoods in the blink of an eye.

It was a lose-lose situation: Employees were seen as disposable and put on the chopping block while the merger failed to meet its lofty, promised goals.

Without representation or protec­tions like a union contract (or a Jobs For Life agreement) in place to push back against these massive layoffs and safeguard their interests, these workers were ultimately lost to the footnotes of history.

More than 20 years later, this move has seemingly become second nature.

The unmentioned but common denominator? These are almost always nonunion workers who lack the benefits and job protections that are a well-known hallmark of membership.

Jobs that from the outside might be seen as flashy, cushy or status-bearing usually carry little to no insulation from things like mass layoffs and at-will employment, where you can be fired for any (or no) reason.

That’s where a union and a union contract are game changers.

In September, SMART-TD announced a landmark agreement with Union Pacific that puts a promise in writing: Our members working in train and yardmaster service will have job protection for the length of their careers following the carrier’s merger with Norfolk Southern, subject to the usual require­ments for continued employment.

This is an unprecedented guarantee in the history of American railroading.

When the agreement was announced, we didn’t mince words: The biggest railroad and biggest rail union in America were breaking new ground that protects jobs, families and the future of the United States supply chain.

That’s the union difference at work.

Or take our brothers and sisters at the Port Terminal Railroad Association. As SMART News reported in October, a disturbing pattern emerged over the past several years highlighted by ongoing disregard for union agree­ments, safety obligations and basic respect for the workforce.

We fought for our yardmasters who were being mistreated and sent a clear, unmistakable warning to PTRA management: This behavior will not be tolerated and stops now.

What’s been most notable, however, is the solidarity between crafts on the property. Although represented by several different unions, yardmasters, engineers, conductors and maintenance workers have demonstrated that unity and solidarity are the best protections against intimidation and are proof of what solidarity in action looks like.

Union members are much more difficult to treat as disposable. We fight for our fellow brothers and sisters, because we’re a family. Like all families, unions are far from perfect and not without flaws. But when the going gets tough, we get going.

We stand up and fight for our members to ensure they don’t become another set of statistics in an article about the latest layoff.

We ensure they have a voice at work and are afforded the protections that they’ve earned as union members.

We’ve got their backs — from the day they receive their union card until it’s time to retire.

That’s the value of being union, and being in the SMART-TD family.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Brothers and sisters,

It has been a busy and challenging end to the summer for our union and our members.

When Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced their intent to merge, your leader­ship team and I had immediate and significant concerns. We knew what such a change could mean for the men and women we represent. The first question on every member’s mind was the most important one: “Will my job survive this merger?”

We did not stay silent. We went on the offensive, making it clear to the press, to regulators and to both railroads that SMART-TD was opposed to this merger because of what it could mean for our members. Very quickly, our union became the face of the opposition.

And because of that effort, Union Pacific’s CEO and management team came to us. They sat down across the table and heard our concerns directly. Out of those hard conversations, something remarkable happened. On September 22, we announced through a joint press release that Union Pacific signed a written agree­ment with SMART-TD guaranteeing that no UP or NS members represented by our union will face furlough for the entirety of their careers. We secured a binding agree­ment protecting our UP and NS brothers and sisters, ultimately guaranteeing “Jobs For Life!”

This is historic. In an era when corporate profits are prioritized over working people, SMART-TD won a binding guarantee that brings peace of mind to thousands of families. If and when this merger is approved by the Surface Transportation Board, our UP and NS members will know with certainty that their careers are built on steady ground, for as long as they choose to work.

But our work doesn’t end with railroads. In recent months, our Bus Department has also been leading from the front. Several bus locals ratified strong agreements that not only delivered meaningful wage increases but also secured vital protections for the future. Thanks to the aggressive negotiating by our vice presidents and general chairpersons, new agreements have begun to include clauses preventing management from replacing our members with autonomous, self-driving buses. These victories don’t just raise today’s paychecks. They give our brothers and sisters in public transit peace of mind knowing their careers and talents aren’t going to be sacrificed in the name of Silicon Valley “progress.”

While we were making history at the bargaining table, we were also making our voices heard in Washington. In July, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Unfortunately, rail labor was left behind. While the bill granted a tax break on overtime pay for workers across the country, that same break did not apply to railroaders. We had worked tirelessly to amend the bill and close that gap, but the amendment never made it to the Senate floor. On the day of its passage, our National Safety and Legislative Director Jared Cassity vowed: “This is not over.”

He meant it. Less than 50 days later, Brother Cassity and his team delivered on that promise. House Resolution 5475 — the No Tax on Overtime for All Workers Act — was introduced in Congress. Not only did SMART-TD succeed in getting this bill introduced, but before it even saw its first committee hearing, it had already gained bipartisan support. Democrats and Republicans alike are signing on as co-sponsors, and momentum is building fast.

I can’t stand here today and promise that this bill will become law. But I can promise you this: When our members get left behind, SMART-TD does not make excuses. We work until we find solutions.

Brothers and sisters, these are not easy times. But every day, through negotiations, legislation and lead­ership, our members are proving what it means to be SMART-TD. When a fight breaks out, and you see SMART-TD running, you can bet your ass that we’re chasing somebody. We aren’t leaving the scene until our members come out on top.

Together, we will continue to ensure that our members have security in their careers, protections in their contracts and a voice in the decisions that shape their lives.

That’s what it means to be in SMART-TD.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Whether on the rails or on the road, the trend is clear: Workers are continuing to see the value of joining SMART-TD.

As the gold standard in representing rail, bus and transit workers across the country, we remain as committed as ever to fighting for our brothers and sisters under the SMART-TD umbrella.

We’re also focused on the future, including welcoming our newest members and celebrating the more than a half-dozen tentative agreements that have been ratified so far this year.

This impressive list speaks for itself.

Building off last year’s wins, such as the Louisville & Indiana (L&I) Railroad joining our union, we’ve had three short-line railroads choose SMART-TD by unani­mous or overwhelmingly large margins since January.

The first was Wilmington Terminal Railroad, which is a subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming. After being without representation since coming under G&W ownership in 2005, the workers voted unanimously to join SMART-TD in January.

That was followed less than two weeks later by another G&W property, Connecticut Southern Railroad, joining our union in a nearly unanimous vote. Connecticut Southern workers were previously under an umbrella agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), which benefits some (but not necessarily all) prop­erties that it covers. Tired of feeling like they weren’t being heard, our new brothers reached out to SMART-TD. That speaks volumes about our union and our reputation.

The most recent addition to our SMART-TD family came in June, when workers from both the Transportation and Engine crafts and the Maintenance of Way crafts with the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad voted to organize in a landslide.

Our organizers are focused on having meaningful conversations about how union membership improves workers’ quality of life, and what SMART-TD can deliver that other unions just can’t.

This is just a snapshot of what our Organizing Department has accomplished at the halfway point of the year, and we have no plans to slow down.

These organizing victories are important, but our union’s ability to nail down strong agreements for new and established members alike is what makes SMART-TD stand out in the labor community.

Our union is committed to standing with our members every step of the way, ensuring their voices are heard, their needs are met and the bar is raised for both their quality of life and the level of respect they receive on the job.

Whether it’s new hires at Zum Transportation (Local 1706) getting a front-row seat to SMART-TD’s Bus Department’s negotiations with their new employer or ratifying a TA for Local 1732 at TransitAmerica Services Inc. (TASI) in California that sets a precedent for other commuter railroads across the country, our union is committed to fighting like hell for our members.

When it comes to negotiating new agreements, we’re always aiming to set the bar higher than before and ensure that pay and benefits reflect the professionalism, knowledge and dedication that TD members bring to the job.

We saw this firsthand with several tentative agree­ments that were overwhelmingly or unanimously ratified during the first half of the year, including SMART-TD-represented conductors and assistant conductors with Keolis Commuter Services, bus opera­tors in Local 1687 working for Red Apple Transit in New Mexico, and our Local 1887 members who work for Birmingham Terminal Railway putting collective action into practice to secure meaningful change.

The common denominator between all three agree­ments is significant wage increases that redefine what’s possible for rail, bus and transit workers across the country.

We didn’t stop there. Within the last two months, agreements have been reached between SMART-TD Local 598 and the Alabama Port Authority, California Local 1741’s Local Committee of Adjustment (LCA) and San Carlos Schools, and SMART-TD Local 1701 and Montebello Transit.

This isn’t a laundry list of accomplishments. It’s a reflection of the SMART-TD difference. Workers see the value that we bring to the table because we let our actions speak louder than words. We don’t just talk about what we can offer members: We make it happen.

Together, our union is creating a movement, and these victories are proof. As I said before, momentum is with us. We will carry this momentum through the rest of 2025 and into the National Negotiations with the Class I freight railroads.

Workers are stronger, safer and more secure with SMART-TD at their side.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

As we move forward in these changing times, one thing is clear: Standing together is our greatest strength. A hallmark of our union is that our members have always faced challenges head-on. While we continue to address evolving issues in our industry, we are also seeing progress, particularly when it comes to improving safety for our members.

A step forward in bus safety

A shining example of what we can accomplish through collaboration is unfolding in Philadelphia, Pa. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of SMART and BTAPS, a pilot project is underway that equips SEPTA bus operators with bulletproof, glare-resistant full enclosures. These enclosures are designed to enhance the safety of our operators, protecting them from potential threats while maintaining clear visibility for safe driving. This success underscores what we can achieve when our local leaders and the International work in unison to protect our members.

Our goal is to expand this life-saving initiative to all SEPTA buses and beyond, ensuring that bus operators across the country benefit from this enhanced safety. This project is not just a win for Philadelphia; it’s a model of what’s possible when we prioritize safety and work together to bring about real change.

Staying strong through education and unity

Our ability to advance and protect our members’ interests lies in knowledge and preparation. That’s why we are urging all local officers to take full advantage of the Regional Training Seminars being offered this year. These seminars provide valuable tools and information that empower our local officers to navigate the complexities of our industry while staying informed about our members’ rights and how to effectively fight for them.

The first seminar in Dallas, Texas, was a resounding success, with over 180 brothers and sisters in attendance. Three more opportunities remain this year. They are in Denver, Colo.; Anaheim, Calif.; and Atlanta, Ga. These events are more than just training sessions; they are platforms for building stronger lines of communication and fostering the solidarity that makes our union so effective.

Challenges remain, but so does our resolve

While we celebrate our wins, we remain aware of the challenges that persist. Discussions about privatizing Amtrak and the push for autonomous freight trains are ongoing concerns that we are closely monitoring. We also continue to address the impacts of decisions like the closure of critical Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) offices, which affect the services our members rely on.

However, instead of dwelling on these obstacles, we are focused on solutions. Through strategic planning and a unified approach, we can protect the future of our industry and safeguard the dignity and livelihoods of our members.

A call to action: Build on our momentum

We stand at a crossroads where we have a choice — to allow challenges to divide us or to come together and shape a stronger future. The victories we have achieved, like the SEPTA bus operator enclosures, show that collective action works. By building on this momentum, we can continue to secure meaningful wins for our members.

From the local level all the way to SMART General President Michael Coleman, our leadership is committed to this mission. In a world that continues to change, we know where we stand. When we are united in knowledge, strength and purpose, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Brothers and Sisters,

As you all know, 2024 was an eventful year for SMART-TD. Upwards of 90% of our freight rail members now have paid sick leave, and two-person crews are now federally protected across the country. 2024 also saw SMART-TD work with rail carriers and other unions party to the National Agreement to bring down the out-of-pocket Health & Welfare costs for our covered members. As of January 2025, all SMART-TD rail members covered by the National H&W Plans will see a reduction of 10.2% in their monthly employee contributions! That puts an extra $31.67 per month back into the pockets of our members without making any concessions in bargaining.

Our Amtrak members recently ratified a monumental agreement. Amtrak workers have achieved historic gains, including the largest general wage increase in the company’s history and full retroactive pay dating back to July 1, 2022, which will also apply to short crew payments. Key highlights include 10 weeks of paid parental leave, the addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, increased training pay and improved bereavement policies, all while maintaining the healthcare plan for current employees. This agreement not only enhances financial compensation but also improves Amtrak’s dedicated workforce’s overall working conditions.

Thanks to our organizing efforts, including internal organizing and education, we are organizing new properties and welcoming many new members into our union.

2024 was one of the most successful years SMART-TD has experienced with our short-line rail properties. Our Organizing Department has brought many new short-line properties into the SMART-TD family, like the Louisville & Indiana Railroad, among others. We have also dedicated resources to negotiating fair contracts for our members on these smaller properties, such as our Alabama Gulf Coast brothers and sisters, who ratified an agreement with their railroad featuring significantly higher general wage increases and more generous quality-of-life improvements than any agreement they have seen in recent memory. This union is dedicated to fighting just as hard for our members working on a short line with six members as we do for our brothers and sisters working for the Class I railroads, and it shows!

Our bus members have not only ratified agreements from coast to coast with substantial gains in pay, but we also have made significant progress addressing the growing problem of transit violence. In 2024, the Federal Transit Administration embraced our members’ urgency in addressing these issues. We are starting to see tangible steps being made by employers and legislators toward addressing our concerns instead of doing further studies.

SMART-TD continues to be the transportation union with the most to offer with our first-class job insurance (DIPP) and short-term disability insurance (VSTD), both of which are owned by you, the members! No other union has its own plans that allow members’ money to work directly for them and their benefits. With our Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) insurance, 2024 saw benefits increase and out-of-pocket costs to members go down! This is all made possible by the members-helping-members approach DIPP is known for.

As members of this union, we should be proud of our accomplishments in 2024, and we owe it to ourselves and to one another to continue our momentum in this new year. As your president, I want all of our sisters and brothers to know that our organization’s success depends heavily on open lines of communication, from the newest trainee to our International office and everyone in between. We must be a united front. If we accomplish this goal, the rest of our challenges become clear-cut, and our collective goals are much more attainable.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As I reflect on the recent SMART-TD Convention, I am deeply honored and grateful for the overwhelming support you have shown me and my leadership team. It is clear that the hard work and dedication we’ve put in since 2019 have resonated with those who matter most — the members we proudly serve.

First and foremost, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Being entrusted with the role of SMART-TD president for a second term is one of the greatest honors of my life. Your continued confidence in my leadership fuels our commitment to achieving even greater accomplishments in the years ahead.

The past five years have not been without their challenges, but each obstacle has provided us with valuable lessons. These experiences have not only highlighted our individual resilience but have also reinforced the strength of our collective team. They’ve shown us that when we face difficulties, we do so together, learning and growing from each experience.

In both the bus and rail sectors, we have never shied away from addressing any issue brought to us by our members. Our dedication to fighting for every concern, regardless of public perception or win percentages, is what sets us apart. The power of our united force enables us to represent our members with unwavering resolve.

Some of the defining moments of my first term were our engagement in the fights for two-person freight rail crews, the fight for additional protections for our bus and transit members, and obtaining the dignity of paid sick time for our freight rail members. The landscape of our negotiations might look different now, going into 2025’s national negotiations, but the principles guiding our advocacy remain steadfast. We fight for you, and that commitment does not waver.

As I step into this second term, I am reminded of the immense pride I feel in leading such a remarkable union and working alongside a dedicated staff. Together, we’ve achieved significant milestones, and I am excited about the potential that lies ahead. The next five years will bring their own set of challenges, but I firmly believe that, together, we can transform these challenges into opportunities.

Brothers and sisters, I urge you to remain united and stay the course. There is much more work to be done, and with your continued support, we will tackle each task with the same vigor and determination that has brought us this far.

Thank you for your trust and for standing with us. Here’s to the future and to the continued strength of our union.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

As the president of the strongest labor union in the transportation industry, I can honestly tell you that unique and important issues come to my attention daily.

No issues are as pressing to the well-being of this union and its membership as safety, the strength of our contracts/agreements, the education of our local officers to serve you, and the overall health of this union as an organization.

Without a doubt, SMART-TD is at an important crossroads with all these core issues.

I have made no secret about my and this organization’s level of concern regarding the epidemic of violence against our bus and transit members. This disturbing, and frankly disgusting, trend has churned up from coast to coast. There is much to be done, but in 2024, SMART-TD and our Bus and Transit Assault Prevention and Safety (BTAPS) Committee have made significant strides to protect our men and women.

General Chairperson John Ellis and his GCA-875 team have led a charge in Los Angeles with two significant improvements on this front for thousands of members. First, they achieved an agreement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA) to install full-coverage partitions to keep our members shielded from passengers on their bus. GCA-875 also accomplished a major victory when they successfully advocated for LACMTA’s board to create its own in-house security force focused on system safety. These two improvements will keep workers and riders alike significantly safer in years to come!

Building on this momentum, SMART-TD’s National Legislative Department has done an outstanding job of leveraging the union’s talent from across the country and harnessing it to further conversations on our issues in Washington, DC. The department hosted two events that have been tremendously successful. The first, in May, was Railroad Day on the Hill, and the second was this union’s first-ever Bus/Transit Day on the Hill on June 25.

Both brought local leaders from across the country to Capitol Hill to discuss the important legislative concerns held by SMART. The firsthand experiences our brothers and sisters shared with these officials and their staff were invaluable to our cause! Minds definitely changed in our direction as a result of the work we did. I want to thank all of the state legislative directors, general chairs, local officers and our BTAPS Committee for prioritizing these events and showing up with preparation and passion. Your efforts were more effective than you could know, and I appreciate each and every one of you!

As this union looks to the future, we are quickly approaching 2025 and the beginning of the next round of national negotiations for our Class I freight rail members. I would like to remind all our members that our union is dedicated to a bottom-up organizational model.

Our negotiating team and I, as president, aren’t able to advocate for quality-of-life improvements that we are not made aware of. It is my hope that each affected freight rail local throughout our union has distributed my personal request to all members to propose what they would want to see prioritized in our Section 6 notices. We are as strong as our collective members, and silence does no one any favors. We need to hear from you about the contract that you will work under for the next five years. Please participate by offering your proposals in any of the following ways:

Email (preferred): Section6@smart-union.org

Mail: SMART-TD President, 6060 Rockside Woods Blvd. N., Ste. 325, Independence, OH 44131

In addition to our need to keep our members out of harm’s way and push for the best contracts we can get, we also focus on educating our officers at all levels. These efforts, through Regional and National Training Seminars, keep our local chairs/presidents/legislative reps and secretary & treasurers up to date and ready to defend.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank every officer and member who came to Cleveland in early July for our NTS. Your input was pivotal for your brothers and sisters, and the enthusiasm at this training was contagious!

Summer is a busy time for all of us and is always full of distractions. No matter what you have on your plate this summer, please be sure to concentrate on your safety and that of your coworkers.

We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. In the transportation industry, that could not be more true.

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division

Brothers and sisters,

We’re building something great here.

In May 2019, months before I took office, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under Donald Trump appointee Ron Batory tried to toss out more than two decades of our members’ and officers’ work to preserve two-person freight crews.

Just days after my administration took office in October, the big rail carriers sued in an attempt to challenge our crew-consist agreements to further open the gates for railroads to get what they wanted — cutting workers in the cab so they could make more money at the expense of safety and common sense.

When both these challenges emerged, we rose up as one union, and we engaged.

The carriers’ lawsuit was resolved in court, and through on-property contract negotiations, our general chairpersons dug in on crew-consist matters. Since that attack in October 2019, we’ve not only preserved the current state of crew consist in the cab, but we have opened, for the first time, paid sick leave and attendance to negotiations so we can make the lives of our members better.

On April 2, United States Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FRA Administrator Amit Bose announced a rule cementing freight train crew size in the country. As a result, carriers will need to carry a very heavy burden of proof in the future if they want the federal government to permit them to cross the line we have drawn on rail safety and crew size. Predictably, the railroads have gone to court to challenge the rule because they can’t leave well enough alone.

The final piece of our puzzle will be getting federal legislation passed to preserve the current safe level of staffing inside the cabs of the freight locomotives we operate. The Rail Safety Act of 2023 (RSA) has been long stationary in Congress. Together, we can get it moving. We will need to work for it, but we can do it. When the two-person crew rule was up for public comment, this union rallied together and created enough pressure in Washington, DC, that we could not be ignored. SMART-TD can and must do the same for the bipartisan RSA.

We also must work with equal focus to resolve the current state of danger that our bus and transit members have faced for far too long. Employers have made safety a low priority when solutions are staring the bosses right in the face. Things in Washington are moving in the right direction, but not fast enough.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) heard and heeded our comments in April when it ruled on the creation of on-property safety plans and on overall national safety plans for public transportation. Our practical solutions — protective barriers for operators, not making them deal with money matters, adding security on buses and transit, tougher punishments for attacks on the members we represent and all other bus and transit workers — can be done. There’s no rational reason for these public transit agencies not to join forces with us on protecting our members.

Most importantly, FTA’s rule states that our men and women will have seats at the table to make decisions on safety measures being taken at their respective workplaces. They will have a level playing field. Employers or managers will not be able to dominate on matters of safety, and if their bosses don’t follow through on the plans our members help form, FTA will step in and enforce them or take away their federal funding.

We in this union refuse to shy away from challenging injustice. It is an energy that we have worked to reignite and stoke the past five years. The results we’ve achieved on the two-person crew, elsewhere in the halls of power on the national and state levels, in negotiations and all around our union speak for themselves.

The same positive outcomes won’t be long in coming to enhance the safety of our bus and transit members. The FTA rule moves us forward. Together we can face all that is ahead for our organization with confidence.

In solidarity,

Jeremy R. Ferguson
President, Transportation Division