Michael Baldwin Joins ITLC Board of Directors |
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ITLC is proud to announce the addition of Michael S. Baldwin to its Board of Directors. Michael was elected President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on December 1, 2021. Prior to his election as President, Baldwin was the Organization’s Secretary-Treasurer. Since being appointed to Grand Lodge in 2010, he has also served as Grand Lodge Representative, Director of Research, and Vice President West.
President Baldwin began his railroad career in March of 1998 as an Assistant Signalman assigned to a Signal Construction Gang. He was quickly promoted to the position of Signalman then Signal Technician, his position at the time of his appointment to Grand Lodge.
President Baldwin’s roles with the union have entailed a variety of duties, including: handling of grievance claims and dispute resolution; negotiations for the Class I’s national contract; local negotiations on-the-property; regulatory affairs focusing on safety; FRA working groups; training for Local Financial Secretaries; participation in the CRLO Health and Welfare Subcommittee; AFL-CIO Union Veterans’ Council; and as a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Committee.
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Streetsblog – May 31, 2022
Automated vehicle technology could improve labor conditions for bus drivers rather than forcing them out of a job, while simultaneously improving safety and service for transit passengers and city-dwellers alike — but only if regulators act now, a new analysis argues.
Government Technology – May 24, 2022
Merging micromobility and transit can help regions meet some of the larger transportation goals, particularly when thinking about sustainability or equity, said Carlos Cruz-Casas, chief innovation officer of the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works, adding that incentivizing bikes and e-bikes could help riders travel farther than they would on a scooter, and help to bring about other health outcomes. He also noted transit agencies are taking on more modes under their operations.
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Mountain New Voice - May 25, 2022
Carolyn Gonot, VTA CEO and general manager who was appointed just days before the shooting, has been trying to help its 2,000-plus members move forward. Gonot worked for VTA for more than two decades before returning to lead the agency. "This whole week weighs very heavy on our hearts," Gonot said. "We've been able to build partnerships we need and start to heal through this time. It will take time, but we will heal."
Washington Post – May 26, 2022
Metro has recertified about 20 percent of its train operators who were found last week to be missing required testing and refresher training, a lapse that led to a leadership shake-up. Metro board members during a regular meeting Thursday talked of “lessons learned” after recent safety lapses, saying the agency under interim general manager Andy Off already is providing the public with greater transparency and communication.
The Seattle Times – May 31, 2022
Sound Transit boasts about creating the first “100% carbon-free light rail service” in the nation. Yet when the contractors build concrete columns and stations, they burn fossil fuels that reduce the electric trains’ net climate benefit. In an experiment to limit greenhouse gas, crews building the north half of Sound Transit’s 2024 Northgate-to-Lynnwood extension are fueling two forklifts and a dirt loader in Mountlake Terrace with renewable plant-based diesel. It performs as well as petroleum, the crew says.
New York Daily News – May 27, 2022
The trend has rattled the transit agency, which in 2021 formed a task force to seek ways to prevent suicides on the subway — and keep people off the tracks altogether. Suicides and suicide attempts make up 4% of the incidents in which people venture onto subway tracks — but they account for 25% of collisions and 35% of fatalities, says a report released by the task force Wednesday. The report lays out numerous ways the MTA plans to prevent suicides in the subways, including a program to partner with researchers at New York University to display more suicide prevention advertisements in the system.
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Bethesda Magazine – May 26, 2022
Outside the civic building, workers from the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) protested that Maryland Transit Solutions had declined to honor an existing project labor agreement (PLA) that had been reached between the union and the prior contractor.
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The American Prospect – May 31, 2022
Last week, Jobs to Move America won a signal victory when bus manufacturer New Flyer agreed that 45 percent of its new hires would go to minorities, women, and veterans at its Anniston, Alabama, plant, where it manufactures buses under a $500 million contract with Los Angeles’s L.A. Metro transit district. New Flyer has a number of factories across the nation that now may also come to adopt similar standards. And as the largest purchasers of railcars and buses are the transit authorities of major cities, where Democrats dominate politically, it’s likely that those authorities will favor such standards in their contracts going forward, and that Jobs to Move America will take manufacturers to court if they don’t comply. It required the combination of these two strategies to convince New Flyer to come to terms.
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International Transit News |
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That’s Online - May 25, 2022
China’s metro-building boom is tied up with the country’s development following the ushering in of the Reform and Opening Up era. However, socioeconomics aside, there’s also a practical reason which explains China’s ability to build metro systems at a rate unmatched by other nations around the globe. Across the vast majority of metro systems in China, five main standardized trains are used. That means the same trains can be used on metro systems in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Tianjin, Wuhan, etc.
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Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, June 2 - June 3
The conference will explore and amplify the intersection of a fresh wave of global worker activism and new social compacts. The gathering will build on and expand the discussion launched at Constructing a New Social Compact, a major virtual gathering in 2021.
TWC – June 7, 1:30 pm ET
This is the second in the Transit Workforce Center’s webinar series on strategic workforce development planning in transit. The TWC’s first webinar examined workforce development for the incumbent workforce. This webinar focuses on how transit agencies and partner organizations are working to meet the significant recruitment challenges across the country and how to best turn these challenges into opportunities to reach, attract, and retain a diverse workforce. Two transit agencies and their labor partners will discuss their innovative outreach and recruitment programs--including mentoring, pre-apprenticeships, and community college partnerships--followed by a presentation from a national organization leader who has coordinated cross-sectoral recruitment initiatives with agencies across the U.S.
TRB – June 21, 2:30 pm ET
The demand for public transportation investments far exceeds the funds available. While states and communities seek additional revenue sources to maintain current transit assets and serve rapidly changing travel markets, they need methods to help decide where to allocate their limited resources. TRB will host a webinar that will explore practical advice to improve the prioritization process for public transportation projects. Presenters will focus on methods used to prioritize transit capital projects and on cross-modal decision-making, specifically the comparison of public transit and non-transit projects.
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International Transportation Learning Center
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