This is the monthly edition of the Transport Workers Union’s Transportation Technology Newsletter. We aim to inform and educate our members, the labor movement, the public and policymakers about developments in transportation technology – and what the TWU is doing to ensure that new technology doesn’t undermine safety or harm the livelihoods of hard-working blue-collar workers. For suggestions and questions, please email ewytkind@gmail.com or adaugherty@twu.org.

ITEM OF THE MONTH

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION WIN:  The bipartisan Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill introduced by Representatives Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rick Larsen (D-WA) is a massive win for workers fighting to preserve jobs and increase safety as autonomous vehicle technology develops beyond robotaxis to transit buses, motorcoaches, school buses and other commercial vehicles, TWU International President John Samuelsen said.

This bill would set, for the first time, a national federal standard for such commercial AVs to guarantee they are safe before they are put on our streets. This standard includes human oversight and the ability for humans to intervene, as necessary, to keep these vehicles safe.

“This is a massive win for workers and the riding public,” Samuelsen said. “The bill sets critically important guardrails for the next wave of autonomous vehicles and advances our top priorities: protecting the employment of our members and ensuring the Wild West chaos that has occurred with the roll out of robotaxis is not repeated. We’ve said from the very beginning that technology should assist Bus Operators, not recklessly replace them and throw them into unemployment.”

The bill also directs the DOT to establish a second set of operating rules to address safety-related duties performed by Bus Operators other than operating the vehicle. The bill directly requires qualified drivers to operate yellow school buses and hazmat vehicles.

TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate said, “The human component of public transportation cannot be replaced by a robot or algorithm. They do a hell of a lot more than operate buses. They are another set of eyes and ears for law enforcement and medical first responders, assist the disabled boarding and exiting, give directions and much more, including on occasion comforting and aiding pregnant mothers going into labor before reaching the hospital. They are invaluable.”

WHAT ELSE IS COOKING 

FLOODING THE ZONE: The New York Times reports that Waymo is recalling software in thousands of robotaxis because they could be allowed to drive into flooded roads, according to concerns raised by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

On April 20, an unoccupied Waymo vehicle entered a flooded road in San Antonio and continued to drive on despite the road being “untraversible” according to NHTSA. A Waymo spokesperson characterized the serious safety threat as an “identified area of improvement,” seriously downplaying the issue.

“It is absurd that Waymo and other robotaxis think that software updates and referring to vehicles driving into floods is an ‘area of improvement,’” Tate said. “The traveling public should not be used as lab rats while these tech companies put their riders and everyone around them at risk.”

DRIVING IN CIRCLES: A neighborhood in suburban Atlanta saw dozens of unoccupied Waymos circling their cul de sacs, WSBTV reports, the latest example of public nuisances caused by the robotaxis, which have previously honked their horns overnight in a San Francisco parking lot. Residents complained that over 50 Waymos at a time have entered cul de sacs early in the morning and in one instance blocked roads after a resident put up a sign to try to get them to alter their route.

“It might look humorous to see dozens of Waymos driving on a residential street, but it is a public nuisance and a safety issue,” Samuelsen said. “These companies are never held accountable for behavior that would get human drivers a ticket and public roads should not be free storage for these billion dollar companies waiting for their next tech bro passenger.”

AIR TAXIS COMING TO NYC? Joby Aviation plans to launch air taxi service in New York City between Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport. The company says it plans to inaugurate service by the end of the year, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. Joby will deploy all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVOTL) that take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. Joby claims its aircraft, which carry four passengers and a pilot, will shorten trips from Manhattan to JFK International Airport to a few minutes. Joby is utilizing existing Manhattan heliports for the flights.

Consistent with TWU’s push for aggressive federal regulation of autonomous vehicles, TWU has argued to federal transportation and aviation regulators that eVOTL air taxis and any emerging advanced air mobility technologies must face “rigorous scrutiny and regulation” and that a “laissez-faire approach to safety regulation” would put the flying public at risk.

MORE DRIVERLESS BUSES: Norway is unleashing a full size driverless buses on its roads operated by Vy, a national state-owned transit company, and Kolumbus, a regional transit authority. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is lifting the requirement in limited areas that human operators be onboard the 52-passenger capacity Turkish-built Karsan buses. The next phase of approval would greenlight widespread deployment on public roads.

“Forcing passengers to fend for themselves in a bus without a human operator onboard is irresponsible and dangerous,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “In the US we are seeing autonomous vehicles drive into crime scenes and emergencies and speed by school buses in violation of road safety laws. And remotely supervised robotaxis including those operated by Tesla are crashing – regulators around the world should reject this flawed and menacing attempt to replace licensed onboard drivers.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

Driverless Cars Get Green Light from NJ Senate Panel. New Jersey Monitor. 

Uber pouring $10 billion into robotaxis? Electrek. 

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary deploying driverless rigs across US Sun Belt. CNBC. 

Amazon’s Zoox testing robotaxis in 10 cities. Smart Cities Dive. 

The bipartisan Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill introduced by Representatives Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rick Larsen (D-WA) is a massive win for workers fighting to preserve jobs and increase safety as autonomous vehicle technology develops beyond robotaxis to transit buses, motorcoaches, school buses and other commercial vehicles, TWU International President John Samuelsen said today.

This bill would set, for the first time, a national federal standard for such commercial AVs to guarantee they are safe before they are put on our streets. This standard includes human oversight and the ability for humans to intervene, as necessary, to keep these vehicles safe.

“This is a massive win for workers and the riding public,” Samuelsen said. “The bill sets critically important guardrails for the next wave of autonomous vehicles and advances our top priorities: protecting the employment of our members and ensuring the Wild West chaos that has occurred with the roll out of robotaxis is not repeated. We’ve said from the very beginning that technology should assist Bus Operators, not recklessly replace them and throw them into unemployment. This bill is a big step forward in ensuring that people, working men and women, remain central figures in providing public transit and school transportation.”

The bill also directs the DOT to establish a second set of operating rules to address safety-related duties performed by Bus Operators other than operating the vehicle. The bill directly requires qualified drivers to operate yellow school buses and hazmat vehicles.

TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate said, “The human component of public transportation cannot be replaced by a robot or algorithm. They do a hell of a lot more than operate buses. They are another set of eyes and ears for law enforcement and medical first responders, assist the disabled boarding and exiting, give directions and much more, including on occasion comforting and aiding pregnant mothers going into labor before reaching the hospital. They are invaluable.”

In stark contrast to the great work done to address AV safety, this bill ignores the plummeting safety standards on freight railroads. More than 3 years after the derailment in East Palestine, OH showcased the incredible safety failures in the industry, this bill would do nothing to address the key causes of that accident and thousands of others since.

“Qualified car inspectors, mechanics, engineers, and conductors could prevent deaths on the railroad every day if they had the right safety rules in place,” said TWU Rail Division Director John Feltz. “It is shameful that Congress hasn’t yet banned maximum inspection times for car inspectors to conduct their work or taken any action to even acknowledge the horrific derailments and accidents happening every day across the country.”

As this bill moves through the committee’s review process, the TWU will be seeking significant improvements in the rail title to improve rail safety and protect workers on the job.

]]> https://www.twu.org/scholarship-winners-announced/ Thu, 07 May 2026 17:37:24 +0000 https://www.twu.org/?p=11301 The Transport Workers Union has conducted its annual scholarship drawing, and 32 winners have been randomly selected for a monetary award, International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia announced today, May 7, 2026.

The Transport Workers Union has conducted its annual scholarship drawing, and 32 winners have been randomly selected for a monetary award, International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia announced today, May 7, 2026.

The winners will receive a combined $112,000 to help pay for college. Recipients of the TWU’s Michael J. Quill scholarship will each get $4,800 over four years of their continuing education, totaling $72,000. Another $40,000 in scholarships is being provided by four sponsors: Acrisure, M3 Technology, Pitta LLP, and Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC.

“Special thanks to our scholarship sponsors and best wishes to all the winners,” Garcia said in the announcement. The drawing was held on Wednesday, May 6, at the TWU of America headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The list of winners is here: scholarship info

 

]]>

More than 150 TWU activists and officers lobbied on Capitol Hill on May 5 to build support for federal legislation that would benefit union members and their families – including a bill that would allow all overtime earners to pay less in federal income taxes.

Teams of TWU members and officers from locals across the country swarmed through the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate office buildings for scheduled meetings as part of this year’s three-day Legislative & Committee on Political Education Conference. They were armed with talking points highlighting the merits of the “No Tax on Overtime for All Workers Act.”  The legislation would extend eligibility for a new federal tax exemption pertaining to overtime income to an additional 3 million workers, including more than 100,000 TWU members.

“This is a top priority for us,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “We are laser-focused on the economic security of our members, and this legislation would save working families thousands of dollars a year.”

TWU International President John Samuelsen, (photo above, left) kicked off the conference by addressing participants. International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia, Secretary-Treasurer Jerome Lafragola, and Administrative Vice President Mike Mayes (photo above, right) joined TWU’s member lobbyists on Capitol Hill. (Conference photos can be found on the TWU’s Flickr page.

The One Big Beautiful Bill that Congress passed last year included a provision exempting hourly workers from paying federal income taxes on a portion of their overtime earnings: up to $12,500 for single filers and up to $25,000 for married couples filing jointly. This could mean up to $6,000 in savings. The portion of overtime earnings exempt from taxes is the premium: the “extra” half that is added to the base hourly rate. For someone with a base hourly rate of $30, the premium for one hour OT would be $15.

But the bill was poorly drafted. It relied on an outdated federal definition of overtime dating back to 1938. While most hourly workers qualify, the flawed language in the BBB excludes scores of workers in the airline, railroad, trucking, and delivery industries from eligibility for the benefit.

“It’s extremely important that we talk to members of Congress and their staff, here in Washington and in their home districts,” TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia said. “This is why we need a strong COPE program with TWU members contributing and participating – so we can bring about changes that will improve their lives.”

Congress members need to be educated and prodded, International Secretary-Treasurer Jerome Lafragola said.

“The only way you can get anyone to do anything in politics is to advocate on your behalf. Basically, you’re educating elected officials on the issues that affect you and your daily work life and advocating for or against a certain action.”

Before heading to the Hill, activists spend a full day attending workshops and informational presentations on all the TWU’s top legislative priorities, as well as a discussion on labor and politics featuring President Samuelsen and Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania.

Legislative and COPE Conference is a joint event of the TWU Government Affairs Department and COPE.

TWU Government Affairs Director Zack Tatz and COPE Director Andrew Rangolin

(Conference photos can be found on the TWU’s Flickr page)

Read about Amtrak executive bonus payments being redirected to workers, the Transit Division tackling technology, the new Local 578 contract – and more.

Other features: The TWU’s charitable tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the TWU member who responds to calls of stray dogs, trespassing raccoons, coyote pups – and even urban alligators.

Flight nurses and flight paramedics who carry out dramatic high-risk rescues in northern Nevada and California voted overwhelmingly today, April 22, 2026, to join the Transport Workers Union of America.

The air ambulance crews – who respond by helicopter and small plane to medical emergencies in remote, hard-to-reach areas, including alpine ski trails and desert highways – said they decided to unionize to seek better pay, benefits, and respect from their employer, REMSA Health.

“These critical first responders no longer have to fight their callous and dismissive bean-counting bosses alone,” Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen said. “The 165,000-member-strong TWU will fully engage to help them secure a first contract that improves their lives and livelihoods.”

One flight nurse said the emergency responders saw unionizing as the only way to get management to listen to them.

“We have been ignored when it comes to any executive-level decision making on things that directly affect us and the patients that we care for,” the nurse said. “We have had zero say.”

The flight nurses and flight paramedics have grown increasingly frustrated that their compensation and benefits do not reflect the level of responsibility, risk, and experience required for the job. In many cases, their benefits even fall short of what other employees in the same organization receive, despite their roles requiring far more education, experience, training, and certifications. Flight crews operate in one of the highest-acuity environments in healthcare, managing critically ill and injured patients while performing complex procedures in the confined, high-risk setting of an aircraft thousands of feet above the ground.

TWU International Organizing Director Angelo Cucuzza said REMSA Health wasted time and money on a campaign to dissuade workers from joining the TWU.

“REMSA’s union-busting actions failed miserably during this campaign,” Cucuzza said. “I hope, for their sake, the consultants they hired were on a contingency basis. The rehashed garbage they put out brought more workers to the TWU’s side, proving once again the boss is usually the best union organizer.”

The new TWU workgroup operates four helicopter bases, one fixed-wing base, and one critical care transport ambulance in Nevada and California. The pilots are represented by another union.

REMSA provides ground emergency services for Washoe County, Nevada. Care Flight is its air ambulance division

A new, bipartisan Senate bill backed by the Transport Workers Union of America would expand the No Tax on Overtime policy passed in last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to include about three million workers who are currently ineligible for a tax deduction on overtime earnings.  

“Tens of thousands of TWU members are currently ineligible for the overtime earnings tax break and the TWU will keep fighting this disparity until all of our members get what they deserve,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “Pro-worker lawmakers from both parties, and in both chambers, are stepping up to deliver thousands of dollars in savings every year for transport workers and their families.”

The TWU has raised the alarm consistently in recent months that workers employed by airlines, railroads, school bus companies, and motor coach carriers were ineligible for the new overtime tax deduction for up to $25,000 in earnings – a potential savings of up to $6,000 per year. The flaw comes from language in the bill that relies on an outdated definition of overtime dating back to 1938.

Approximately 80,000 TWU workers are ineligible, including airline Maintenance Technicians, commuter train Coach Cleaners, and School Bus Drivers.

The Senate bill, titled the No Tax on Overtime for All Workers Act, is a companion to House legislation that was introduced in September of last year. The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

Dozens of Air Division local presidents and officers convened in Tucson, Arizona, on April 14 for a daylong TWU International conference focused on the broad range of expertise and resources available to help them serve their members.

The Air Division Presidents Meeting featured presentations from International staff and officers on topics including training and education, confronting advancing technology, organizing new workers, using media to advance union goals, improving workplace safety, and building political power. Speakers also outlined the benefits of participating in the International’s committees: the Veterans Committee, the Future Leaders Organizing Committee, the Committee on Political Education (COPE), and the Working Women’s Committee.

“You are part of a very big family,” Air Division Director Andre Sutton said. “We’re here to lend you a helping hand and provide you with the support you need.”

This is the monthly edition of the Transport Workers Union’s Transportation Technology Newsletter. We aim to inform and educate our members, the labor movement, the public and policymakers about developments in transportation technology – and what the TWU is doing to ensure that new technology doesn’t undermine safety or harm the livelihoods of hard-working blue-collar workers. For suggestions and questions, please email ewytkind@gmail.com or adaugherty@twu.org.

ITEM OF THE MONTH

WAYMO PAUSED: New York City’s Department of Transportation declined to renew permits issued last year to Waymo for autonomous vehicle testing after they expired at the end of March, according to The City. The TWU called for NYC officials to stop autonomous testing in recent months. 

“The Waymo-ization of NYC would be dangerous on many levels,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “Automated Waymos across the country have blocked first responders, endangered children entering and exiting school buses, and completely stopped functioning during a recent power outage in San Francisco. All of these problems would be exponentially magnified in New York City. Automated vehicles are not ready for prime time and Mayor Mamdani is standing up for working New Yorkers by denying Waymo’s ability to operate autonomously in NYC.”

Waymo was previously operating eight autonomous vehicles with human safety drivers in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The permit expiration comes a month after Gov. Kathy Hochul walked back her earlier proposal to allow some autonomous vehicles to operate outside of New York City, a move that Samuelsen said is a “last-ditch attempt at saving face” with organized labor.

“The permit expiration is a victory for the TWU and for blue-collar New Yorkers, but Waymo has made it clear from their lobbying dollars and aggressive expansion plans they are not going anywhere,” said TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate. “Unions must remain vigilant and keep fighting the job threats that autonomous vehicles pose.”

HISTORY OF FIGHTING AUTOMATION: TWU Local 100 President John Chiarello was on hand at a recent meeting in Brooklyn to discuss the dangers of automation, part of an effort reported by City and State. In the City and State story, Samuelsen noted that robotaxis are a slippery slope and that the TWU has fought for years against automation attempts on the New York City subway system.

“The 1960s version of Abundance bros was saying, ‘It’s inevitable that there will be fully automated operation of the New York City subway,’” Samuelsen told City and State. “Forward flash 60 freaking years, and there’s still a two-person train crew on the subway cars in New York City. That’s because of the union.”

WHAT ELSE IS COOKING

CABLESS TRUCKS IN TEXAS: The autonomous truck manufacturer Einride is developing a freight corridor on public roads between Austin and San Antonio, Trucking Dive reports, with the company telling Fox 7 Austin they plan to begin testing by the end of the year. Einride’s trucks differ from other autonomous trucks on the road because they are designed without a cab that allows a human to operate the vehicle.

“Autonomous trucking companies are doing everything in their power to cut labor costs and have a track record of cutting corners on safety,” Samuelsen said. “Einride’s trucks are particularly concerning because they do not have space for a human operator in the cab and would require dozens of exemptions from federal safety laws to operate legally. All of the robotrucking companies that currently operate in Texas have the ability for a human to be on board. It is not safe to operate massive trucks on busy highways when the only solution for problems that arise is someone sitting at a computer.”

MASS OPPOSITION: A new poll of Massachusetts voters shows overwhelming opposition to autonomous vehicles in the state and city of Boston, with 73 percent of statewide voters and 67 percent of Bostonians opposing the operation of autonomous vehicles.

The poll, conducted by Workbench Strategy, showed even stronger support for opposing driverless heavy duty trucks, with 86 percent opposing their operation in Massachusetts.

WAYMO PARTNERS WITH LYFT: TechCrunch reports that Waymo is partnering with Lyft in Nashville as it begins to offer public robotaxi rides in the city, a different approach than other partnerships with Uber or in cities like San Francisco where Waymo operates mostly on its own. Lyft will handle fleet services and eventually riders can request a robotaxi through the Lyft app.

CHAOS IN CHINA: In the wake of a similar Waymo robotaxi outage late last year in San Francisco, at least 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis operating in the Chinese city of Wuhan experienced a mass outage, stranding passengers and causing traffic chaos. A passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi just stopped and flashed, “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” Apparently help never arrived so the passenger exited the car on their own.

“No surprise that this flawed driverless technology failed on China’s roads – almost daily a robotaxi in the US malfunctions,” said TWU Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate. “One day it hits a child near a school and the next day it drives into an emergency response scene or disrupts transit bus traffic on city streets. These services should be shut down – they aren’t ready to serve passengers safely.”

This isn’t an isolated incident involving Baidu robotaxis. Last year one of its cars fell into a construction pit.

TESLA PROBE ESCALATES: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is escalating its investigation into Tesla’s so-called ‘full self-driving’ (FSD) technology included in 3.2 million cars including Model S, X, 3, Y, and Cybertruck EVs. Federal safety regulators are investigating the FSD system’s reported failure to “detect and/or warn the driver appropriately under degraded visibility conditions” such as bad weather, glare and fog.

“The probe,” CNBC reports, “has been elevated to an “engineering analysis,” after a string of complaints about collisions in which FSD was in use within 30 seconds of a crash, including one in which a Tesla driver who was using FSD struck and killed a pedestrian.” The Verge reports that this elevated federal probe means FSD is “on the cusp of a recall,” a move by regulators that would validate early safety warnings about this technology in 2021 by National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Pressed by Sen. Markey, Robotaxi Companies Refuse to Say How Often Their AVs Need Remote Help. TechCrunch

A Self-Driving Car in Texas Hit and Killed a Mother Duck, Sparking Neighborhood Outrage. TechCrunch.

“With Waymo Testing Halted, We Have A Rare Chance To Get Ahead of the ‘Driverless Revolution.’” Streetsblog.