Investment in transportation was way down the list of priorities for the Bush Administration.  President Obama’s Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), the point person in Congress for transportation related issues, met with transport union leaders recently to assure them that a change for the better is on the way.

LaHood and Oberstart made that pledge at the annual winter meeting of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD) in late February. 

TTD represents 32 member unions, including TWU, in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries on Capitol Hill.  TWU Executive Vice President Harry Lombardo, Railroad Division Director Gary Maslanka, Transit Division Director Susan Resch, Legislative and Political Department Director Portia White and International Vice President Roger Tauss attended for TWU.

LaHood said that he will be looking to transportation labor “as one of our most important partners in rebuilding America’s transportation infrastructure.”

Rep. Oberstar added: “We are on the threshold of a transformational era in transportation.  We must craft a bold new programmatic and financing structure that will strengthen our economy and sustain our quality of life.  Transportation workers will again be where they have always been: on the front lines of this transformation.”

TTD President Ed Wytkind said more investment is critical.  “America’s anemic economy is in need of serious job creation at a time when our transportation infrastructure is failing.  With several key transportation bills to be updated in 2009, the stars are aligning to help break the cycle of underinvestment in America’s transportation system.”

Two important reauthorization bills – for the Federal Aviation Administration, Surface Transportation – were discussed in detail, as well as “Buy America” policies. 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill

TTD leaders called for the following in the FAA Reauthorization bill:

• Fixing the broken collective bargaining system at the FAA;

• Implementing numerous safety provisions, such as OSHA protections for flight attendants, increased inspection and standards for foreign repair stations that service U.S. aircraft, reversing the staffing crisis at the FAA, and reforming flight and duty time to address dangerous fatigue; 

• Clarifying that FedEx mechanics and truck drivers are not aviation workers despite the company’s lobbying battle to preserve the misclassification in order to remain union-free; 

• Codifying rules on foreign control and ownership of U.S. airlines; and

• Funding modernization and airport improvement initiatives. 

Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill

Priority issues that must be resolved by the Surface Transportation bill include:

• Significantly increasing investments in transit, highways, and our intermodal transportation system by raising the federal gas tax and considering other revenue-raising measures; 

• Reforming mass transit funding so it can also be used for operating purposes; 

• Protecting the rights and jobs of workers with regard to Public Private Partnerships and other innovative financing; 

• Ensuring application of 13(c) transit worker protections and Davis-Bacon in all programs;

• Increasing worker training to improve on-the-job safety and job security; and

• Adopting safety measures that protect workers and the public, such as increasing the penalty for assaulting transit operators.

Buy America Policies

TTD leaders said that as the U.S. is embarking on a massive initiative to rebuild and expand our transportation infrastructure and create millions of jobs through the economic recovery legislation, but to use foreign built equipment would be self defeating.  TTD said: “If the goal of this legislation is to create jobs, then we must embrace strong Buy America policies. It makes no sense, for example, to invest billions in transit systems without ensuring the locomotives, rail cars and buses are built in America.”