BLE Focus

Summer 2002
Volume 109 - No. 2

BLE Focus

Founded in response to the
various woes of the transportation industry in the 1980s, the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO represents the interests of several million aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway and longshore workers before Congress, the Executive Branch and independent government agencies.

The idea for the TTD had been circulating since the 1960s, but the 1980s were a particularly difficult time for transportation labor. The political climate was cold towards unions in Washington. It was an era of union-busting, deregulation and lack of government investment in transportation. Based on the idea that unions needed counter the forces in Washington, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland formed a committee in August 1988 to look at the possibility of forming a department for transportation workers under the umbrella of the AFL-CIO.

The 1989 AFL-CIO Convention voted to form a Department of Transportation Trades, which was later named the Transportation Trades Department. The TTD opened its doors in 1990.

The TTD's mission has been clear since that time:

"To speak as one voice in the halls of Congress, and in the corridors of the executive branch and independent agencies - and to inform the American people about the nation's transportation industry and the dedicated, hard-working men and women of transportation labor who keep this country moving forward."

Since its founding, the TTD has been faced with many issues and has had many great victories for transportation labor, but the struggle is on-going. The TTD faces many of the same issues now that it did at the time it was created. Issues such as saving Amtrak, funding for transportation, collective bargaining and hazardous materials shipping were on the agenda then and are still on it now.

Legislative agenda

As it has throughout its history, the TTD has set an ambitious legislative agenda for 2002. Battles have been waged for many years over some items on this agenda, but transportation labor continues to fight on.

Amtrak
The issue of Amtrak is one of the most important facing transportation labor this year. TTD believes that if Amtrak is to survive as a safe, efficient and viable link in our transportation system, it must receive both adequate and reliable federal assistance and existing "self-sufficiency" mandates in the law should be repealed. TTD supports Amtrak's budget request of $1.2 billion for FY 2003.

The TTD feels that it must be recognized that Amtrak employees have made numerous sacrifices in order to keep Amtrak operating and any further attacks on this workforce are not only unfair, but will undermine the passenger carrier's long-term survival. TTD continues to support full funding for Amtrak and opposes any attempts to advance privatization or break-up proposals, such as those embodied in the recommendations of the Amtrak Reform Council, that would destroy Amtrak.

Ergonomic standard
Every year, ergonomics hazards cause more than 600,000 workers to suffer serious workplace injuries. After more than 10 years in development, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued a final rule on ergonomics. The proposal represents a significant step in addressing the widespread problem of ergonomic hazards and will bring about major improvements in workplace safety. Unfortunately, an anti-ergonomic legislative effort is being led by business groups and anti-worker members of Congress that would unnecessarily further delay positive action on this important matter. The TTD is working in support of the standard.

Federal Employers Liability Act
The Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) is a worker safety law covering the railroad industry. The railroads are attempting to repeal the system because they claim that it is too costly. TTD is strongly opposed to the repeal or weakening of FELA and will aggressively defend the program if any legislative attacks surface during this session of Congress.

Hazardous materials transportation
TTD blocked hazardous materials reauthorization in the last two Congresses due to industry-led attacks on occupational safety and health protections for hazmat employees and attempts to obtain exemptions from important safety regulations. During this Congress transportation labor will seek to mandate proper training for all transportation workers including truck drivers, maintenance of way and signal employees, fire fighters and other emergency responders who deal with the growing volume of hazardous materials and nuclear waste shipped throughout our transport system. TTD will also pursue additional federal support for highly-regarded training programs administered by several transportation and building trades unions and the International Association of Fire Fighters. In addition, TTD will seek compliance with existing hazardous materials regulations and will fight industry attempts to obtain exemptions from these regulations. TTD and affiliates have worked with Congress to increase in the number of qualified inspectors that oversee programs and monitor compliance with U.S. federal regulations, including hazmat, at our Mexican border and across the board in the transportation sector. We will work with the new Federal Motor Carrier Administration to see that compliance and programs are successful.

NAFTA transportation issues
For almost a decade, transportation labor has opposed the phase-in of the land transportation provisions of The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which call for opening the U.S. border to free-flowing Mexican truck and bus traffic. The agreement was supposed to allow these foreign carriers to enter the border states beginning in December 1995 and eventually the entire U.S. in 2000. But the federal government, supported by a bipartisan Congress, has kept the border closed to NAFTA transportation traffic due to myriad highway safety concerns that remain unresolved to this day. Mexican trucks and buses remain ill-equipped to travel on U.S. highways and border facilities lack adequate inspection capabilities, as reported by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General (IG) and the General Accounting Office (GAO). Despite these findings, in November a NAFTA dispute panel issued a preliminary report against the U.S. for not permitting Mexican truck operators to service points beyond the border zone. Should the panel's final rule concur with its preliminary findings, this issue could result in the imposition of trade sanctions by Mexico against the U.S. Should this occur, we will oppose any proposed border opening and aggressively speak out to protect public safety at our borders and on American highways.

Paycheck Deception Act
Recently, the labor movement has been successful both on Capitol Hill and in the States in beating back often cleverly disguised efforts to silence the voices of working Americans by severely limiting their right to participate in the legislative and political process. The so-called Paycheck "Protection" Act, unlike the suggestion of its title, is not designed to protect the rights of workers; rather, it is a blatant attempt to retaliate against working families and their unions for recent successes in the political arena. Transportation labor played a key role in exposing these schemes as blatant anti-worker initiatives, and we are prepared to once again defeat these measures as anti-union forces call on the Bush Administration to push this issue as part of the campaign finance reform legislation.

Privatization of Transportation
Transportation labor continues to believe that public transportation services, from air traffic control to mass transit to school bus systems and airports, must continue to be operated by the public sector. The TTD believes that the federal government should not impose its will on state and local governments by forcing privatization on local operations. In addition, TTD will closely monitor the airport privatization pilot program currently in place and oppose future efforts to expand this policy experiment in order to ensure that safety and employee interests are not discarded in the name of corporate profits.

Protecting transportation workers from violence
As our nation increases its mobility "road rage" and "air rage" are, unfortunately, no longer isolated and rare instances. This is becoming a growing concern as transportation workers cannot be expected to meet their safety obligations if they themselves are subjected to physical violence from those they are seeking to protect. At transportation labor's insistence, Congress last year included a provision in AIR-21 to increase penalties against passengers who interfere with the duties of an air crew member. However, the TTD believes more can and must be done in both the air and on the ground. Similar protections must be extended to transit workers, and the TTD supports legislation to make violent acts against transit facilities and transportation workers a federal crime. Additionally, studying the risks of terrorist attacks against transportation facilities and developing strategies for improving our ability to prepare, prevent and respond to potential attacks is necessary. TTD will work strenuously with its member unions for enactment of these measures. Also, with the hope of better understanding transit safety issues, TTD will push for research on examining the correlation between transit industry labor practices and accident rates.

Rail safety
Since 1998, when the Federal Railroad Administration's safety programs were up for reauthorization, sensible legislation has been blocked by rich rail carriers unwilling to accept any bill that imposed new safety mandates on them. In the 107th Congress, TTD will continue to pursue a unified agenda that stops the harassment and intimidation of employees; addresses worker fatigue; mandates certification for conductors, trainmen, dispatchers, and carmen; and implements other safety priorities identified by the rail unions. For transportation labor, action on rail safety is long overdue - the dangerous nature of this occupation has long been recognized and labor has witnessed an unprecedented consolidation of the industry that has further undermined safety.

STB reauthorization and "cram down"
For years, Congress has been unable and unwilling to reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that protects rail employees interests. Transportation labor's concern in any STB reauthorization is to stop the STB from using a merger or another large transaction to break or "cram down" employee contracts at the mere claim of necessity by a rail carrier. The TTD's position is, that if a carrier wants to change aspects of a contract in order to take advantage of a merger, then it should negotiate with its employees. The STB should be barred from giving rail carriers the right to unilaterally abrogate contracts that were previously agreed to by both parties. Unfortunately, the STB has adopted and implemented policies that ignore these concerns and the effect they have on railroad employees and the overall public interest. TTD will oppose STB reauthorization legislation until the policy of "cram down" is eliminated.

Worker safety and health
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created by an act of Congress in 1970, guaranteeing every American worker a safer working environment. It is well documented that declines in workplace fatalities and injuries have been much greater in those industries where OSHA has targeted its enforcement activities. Under the guise of "reform," there are many who wish to roll back OSHA standards by gutting the agency's authority and enforcement capability through statutory changes and funding cuts. The Mine Safety and Health Administration has faced similar attacks. TTD will continue to fight alongside the entire labor movement to stop damaging reform bills and other efforts to reduce appropriations that strangle these agencies to the point where they will no longer be able to function.

BLE-UTU
Among its many other battles, the TTD has continued its many years of support of the BLE in its efforts to fend off the advances of the UTU.

The TTD's support has been on-going since the UTU's attacks began in the late 1990s. The TTD, along with the AFL-CIO and individual affiliates, has stood behind the BLE whenever support was needed.

In its efforts to support the BLE, the TTD has, among other things, written amicus briefs and letters to the National Mediation Board. The organization also supported the BLE at its rally during the original NMB hearing on the Union Pacific case. The TTD has also taken action behind the scenes to support the BLE.

In February, the TTD passed a resolution condemning the continuing actions of the UTU. The resolution called on the UTU to withdraw its raid, urged the National Mediation Board to dismiss the UTU's petition, urged the UTU to rejoin the AFL-CIO and vowed to defend the BLE from the UTU's raid. The resolution was then passed by the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

The TTD and AFL-CIO also sent a letter to the NMB in May urging the board to hold a hearing on the BLE-UTU issue.

The TTD has pledged to support the BLE's fight until the issue with the UTU is resolved.

Continued on Page 6

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