July 01, 2026
July is the last legislative hurrah before the August recess, when Congress heads back to their respective districts for a summer break. The House went into recess during the third week of July, while the Senate stayed until the end of month. During that time, I secured meetings with members from both chambers to advance ATDA member interests. Those had a heavy focus on the Texas delegation to discuss the recent dispatch software failure incident on the BNSF System. Likewise, we met with staff and leadership from the Congressional transportation committees and informed them about this unacceptable error. It was essential to ensure that these meetings were held before the chambers leave for August recess, so that these issues can be seen and heard before members left town.
President Dowell and I also raised member concerns at a Rail Labor Division meeting, a meeting of railroad labor organizations hosted by the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. We received updates at that meeting on the status of the RRB and discussed new legislation that has come out in support of correcting Railroad Retirement funding. We collectively discussed the upcoming legislative and appropriative process we expect towards the end of this Congress, and we received updates from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. These forums provide a crucial opportunity to keep rail labor united on policy issues. Solidarity through working together, understanding our common interests, and taking collective action on behalf of rail union members is key to our success.
Later in the month, I spent a significant amount of time in Omaha, Nebraska helping our team acquire A-Cards from UP Train Dispatchers, as they continue their fight to organize with ATDA. Since that time, ATDA met a huge milestone in filing with the National Mediation Board to represent the dispatchers at the UP. See our recent press release here for more information on that development. A successful organization of the UP Dispatchers will be a massive action, providing them with much-needed representation, and bringing new brothers and sisters into the ATDA family. I was proud to have been on the frontlines with our union leadership in Omaha as we work toward crossing the finish line. We will continue to communicate with and work with these dispatchers to ensure that they are heard and have real representation, just like every other Class I dispatcher does.
This month we also received further updates on the Amtrak company restructuring. We will continue to work with Amtrak leadership to ensure that Amtrak stays reliable and that our Amtrak dispatchers have what they need within these business changes. Our ATDA Amtrak leadership has been stellar at ensuring that dispatcher needs are heard while these massive changes to the company take place, and I am proud to take part in this fight on their behalf.
As always, I remain in your service. Do not hesitate to reach out.
In solidarity,
Jeffrey
