Posts tagged Department of transportation
Labor strikes shut down operations at Canada’s container ports from East to West Coast, with U.S. trade left in limbo
November 5, 2024 // Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert are at a standstill after ILWU Local 514 walked off the job in a strike. The labor action comes on the heels of a strike at the Port of Montreal. In July 2023, 13-day strikes at these two West Coast ports impacted the delivery of U.S.-bound goods for months, from apparel to auto parts and key industrial chemicals.
J. D. Vance’s One-Track Mind for Railroad Regulation
August 17, 2024 // Ohio senator and GOP vice-presidential nominee J. D. Vance has something of a soft spot for unions, as evidenced by his co-sponsorship of the 2023 version of the Railway Safety Act. The legislation would mandate minimum two-member crews on freight trains, a requirement unions have long sought. Such a mandate wouldn’t make trains any safer but would damage the ability of the rail industry to pursue automation.
OPINION: Would Harris Be Better than Biden for Independent Contractors?
July 11, 2024 // It’s imperative for the tens of millions of Americans who earn some or all of their income as independent contractors to understand where she stands when it comes to money that is earned through self-employment. The record shows that Harris poses a real threat to independent contractors’ income, and for many of us, to our entire careers.
Va. governor vetoes bill requiring two crew members on trains, federal guidance pending
March 13, 2024 // In 2016, the railroad administration stated that the “FRA cannot provide reliable or conclusive statistical data to suggest whether one-person crew operations are generally safer or less safe than multiple-person crew operations.” New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman studied accident reporting data spanning a period from 2006 to 2019 for 28 railroads in Europe and concluded in a 2021 report there was “no evidence that railroads operating with two-person crews are statistically safer than railroads operating with one-person crews.”
Vegas-to-LA rail project lands $3B in federal funds
December 6, 2023 // “This historic high-speed rail project will be a game changer for Nevada’s tourism economy and transportation,” Rosen said in a statement. “It’ll bring more visitors to our state, reduce traffic on the I-15, create thousands of good paying jobs, and decrease carbon emissions, all while relying on local union labor.”
Florida’s largest teachers union may face decertification under new state law
December 4, 2023 // AFFT reported that at least 42 Florida teachers unions are below the threshold and could face recertification votes for the first time, including UTD. As of last week, only 58.4% of Miami-Dade teachers are members of the union. “Last year we were at 51%, and last week we were at 58.4% in the third largest school district in the United States,” said union president Karla Hernandez-Mats. “People want to have their rights, people want to have wages, benefits, and a union that fights for them. And unfortunately, we’re seeing anti-worker legislation.” Most union members have never voted for a union to represent them. That’s because once unions are certified, they remain the exclusive representative unless challenged with a decertification vote. For the majority of public unions, that original certification happened decades ago.
Biden Names Veteran Union Official as Labor Policy Adviser
August 22, 2023 // Danaher until last Friday served as labor policy adviser at the Transportation Department, consulting with Secretary Pete Buttigieg on recent labor negotiations critical to supply chains involving freight railroads, West Coast ports and talks between United Parcel Service Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He also served on the administration’s supply-chain task force. “Brendan has been a trusted adviser to me and our entire Department during our ongoing work to help transportation workers secure the wages, benefits, and safe conditions they deserve,” Buttigieg said in a statement. Before joining the Biden administration, Danaher worked for two decades at a number of labor organizations including the AFL-CIO, Transport Workers Union and the American Federation of Government Employees.
California: Offshore wind terminal to be built primarily with union hands
August 17, 2023 // Two of five commissioners (Aaron Newman and Craig Benson) noted their hesitation in voting due to the concerns of non-union construction workers but ultimately voted in support. Harbor district executive director Larry Oetker noted that this type of agreement is necessary — a recent executive order mandates any construction project over $35 million funded with federal dollars must include a labor agreement. The grant for phase 1 of the project involves the district requesting more than $300 million in federal dollars, according to an email from District Development Director Rob Holmlund. The agreement, which was negotiated largely by Jeff Hunerlach, from the Building and Construction Trades Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties and Chris Hannon, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, includes some provisions for non-union workers. It allows for any construction under the amount of $250,000 to be exempted from the agreement, according to a presentation from Oetker, who noted the benefits include no work stoppages in the process of construction. Union members said that labor agreements streamline the project by providing the skilled workers needed and to keep things on budget. Lynette Mullen, who said she was hired about three weeks ago by the Humboldt Builders' Exchange (an association of around 300 businesses in the construction industry) to get to the bottom of the labor agreement, said that the Exchange wants fair and equal opportunity toward the project and have more of a chance to weigh into agreements. She said people are frustrated they're being forced to join a union and pay into the union, adding that the Exchange understands the harbor district needs to do the agreement for federal funding. "This has been the saddest thing I've ever seen," she said. Environmental Protection Information Center, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People,
Commentary: To Unions, Organizing Time Is Fine When It’s on the Taxpayers’ Dime
June 29, 2023 // Despite public sector unions, and particularly teachers’ unions like Weingarten’s American Federation for Teachers, facing mounting scrutiny for their role in school closures and broader left-wing political activism, the practice of release time has garnered little attention.
Federal Employee Union Membership is Up 20%
March 29, 2023 // The task force asked federal agencies to foster collaborative relationships with their union partners, involve labor organizations in predecisional policy discussions, and remove barriers from unions trying to increase their membership or organize new bargaining units. The group recommended that the Office of Personnel Management instruct agencies to provide information on whether job openings are represented by unions and encourage agencies to provide unions more opportunities to communicate with new hires. In a blog post last week, the vice president’s office announced that just a year after agencies began implementing the task force’s recommendations, the initiative is already paying dividends: over the last year, nearly 80,000 federal employees have joined a union, increasing the total number of dues paying union members at federal agencies by 20%. And in the private sector, petitions for union representation increased 53% from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2022, while overall union membership grew by 273,000 last year.