Message from our National Legislative Director

Late this afternoon, a bipartisan group – consisting of 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats – from the U.S. House of Representatives sent a joint letter to FRA Administrator Ron Batory and FTA Acting Administrator Jane Williams strongly encouraging both to give full and fair consideration to the recommendations of SMART-TD outlined in the petition for worker protection and sanitation standards to protect our members against the coronavirus.

Receiving this joint letter from such a high level of Members of Congress hopefully will encourage Administrators Batory and Williams to look beyond what the carriers tell them. The letter was sent in part due to the agencies not responding to a March 20th request from SMART TD President Jeremy Ferguson asking the agencies to implement sanitation and preventative measures in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. The FRA did grant safety waivers to the carriers on March 25th, only minutes after the carriers asked.

It is often said that getting Members of Congress to agree to even the simplest things, is like herding cats; but at this time of urgent crisis, key members of the House, from both parties quickly came together to assist in our efforts to protect essential workers throughout our transit and rail networks. This joint letter did not happen by accident — it happened because of a combined effort from our D.C. office as well as Mike Ingrao who is a former TTD alumni who represents several Republicans friendly to labor and our State Directors. Special thanks to Ron Sabol from New Jersey, Ty Dragoo from Kansas, Bob Borgeson from Nebraska, Bob Guy from Illinois, Paul Pokrowka from Pennsylvania and others. Working together is key.

To read the rest of the story from SMART-TD click here.

In Solidarity
Greg Hynes
National Legislative Director
SMART Transportation Division

Letter sent to FRA and FTA.