Edward Wytkind
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Edward Wytkind is the President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), a Washington, D.C.-based labor organization representing several million workers in the private and public sectors of the aviation, mass transit, rail, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. TTD is the transportation policy and legislative arm of its parent organization, the National AFL-CIO, which represents 10 million workers in the United States. Immediately prior to his election in the fall of 2003 by the Executive Committee, Wytkind served as TTD Executive Director for 13 years. Wytkind oversees TTD’s daily legislative, public policy, and regulatory programs and initiatives, serving as transportation labor’s chief spokesman. One of Wytkind’s primary duties is to work together with TTD’s 32 member unions representing transportation labor’s collective interests before the United States Congress, the executive branch and independent agencies of the Federal government including the U.S. Department of Transportation and its transit, aviation, railroad, highway, research and special programs, and other modal agencies, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Mediation Board, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Surface Transportation Board and the White House. Wytkind also regularly testifies before Congress and provides a transportation labor perspective to conventions, conferences and other labor, industry and government meetings. Wytkind has also served as a transportation advisor in previous presidential elections and transitions. He has also been a guest lecturer at several universities.

Some of the issues Wytkind has worked on in recent years include the economic and security issues arising from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; transportation security challenges; organizing and collective bargaining rights; U.S.-EU negotiations over a new “Open Skies” aviation agreement; the safety and security risks associated with U.S.-Mexico cross-border transportation; FAA labor-management, staffing and modernization issues; boosting federal investment in mass transit, Amtrak and commuter rail, airports and air traffic control, highways and bridges, ports and maritime; privatization and foreign outsourcing; and raising the needs and concerns of transportation workers in national elections.

Wytkind is currently appointed by the U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Labor to serve on the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy, which consults the President and Congress on trade policy issues including proposed agreements and treaties. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies, as well as the Eno Transportation Foundation's Board of Advisors. Previously, Wytkind served on the Board of Directors for the Transit Development Corporation and worked with public and private transit industry representatives to advance a strong federally supported transit research agenda.

Wytkind, 47, is from Los Angeles, California, and today holds membership in the Office and Professional Employees International Union. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is married to Lorrie McHugh-Wytkind. They reside in suburban Washington, D.C., with their son and daughter.

Blog Entries by Edward Wytkind

Those Scofflaws At American Airlines

(90) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 7:00 AM

Lawbreaker. That is exactly what we need to start calling American Airlines for its blatant refusal to proceed with a union election among its 9,600 passenger service agents that was legally and properly ordered by the National Mediation Board.

The NMB needs to aggressively step in and make sure its...

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Richard Branson Is Quite Busy Not Owning Virgin America

(5) Comments | Posted April 10, 2012 | 11:44 AM

In 2005, British billionaire Richard Branson came to America to launch a new airline for Americans, owned by Americans and controlled by Americans. At least that was the story he was selling.

First, you have to understand that under current U.S. law, foreign interests cannot own more than...

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Get Moving on the Surface Transportation Bill

(2) Comments | Posted March 28, 2012 | 11:12 AM

Once again the House GOP leadership is playing chicken with a major component of our transportation system. Instead of moving a highway and transit bill that will put Americans to work -- a move the Senate was able to pull off by a vote of 74 to 22 -- House...

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House GOP Needs to Stop Pushing 'Message' Bill and Pass a Transportation Jobs Bill

(1) Comments | Posted February 14, 2012 | 3:25 PM

Does the nation need Congress to quickly finish a surface transportation investment bill that funds the operations and infrastructure of our mass transit systems, highways, bridges, railroads and ports? You bet.

Does H.R.7, the pending House version of this legislation, get us there? Not even close.

Take...

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Giving Up My Seat on the Bus

(0) Comments | Posted January 25, 2012 | 11:30 AM

In this time of economic crisis, when more people are trading in their monthly parking garage passes for subway tokens and bus fare, wouldn't it be a good idea to give transit agencies the flexibility to spend money on keeping systems operating and fares low?

We think...

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Transportation Investments: We Need to Think Big

(2) Comments | Posted October 21, 2010 | 5:33 PM

Last week, I was proud to be at a White House that wants to dramatically increase investments in our transportation systems and sees them as a solution to an economy still stuck in neutral. In the meeting he hosted, President Obama articulated his commitment to think big -- to transform...

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Rule Change Brings Fairness to Airline and Rail Union Elections

(1) Comments | Posted May 11, 2010 | 5:15 PM

Today, a longstanding injustice was rectified. After decades of operating within a system that is rigged against them, airline and rail workers have gained a right that most of us take for granted -- the right to vote in elections where the majority of those participating wins.

After lengthy...

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Time to Change the Game for Airline and Railroad Workers

(0) Comments | Posted October 29, 2009 | 4:26 PM

The deck is stacked against airline and railroad workers when it comes to union elections. That's why airline CEOs are working so hard to defend current election procedures that count all workers who sit out elections as "no" votes.

Americans are accustomed to elections where a simple majority of those...

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Surface Transportation: The Need is Now

(0) Comments | Posted July 27, 2009 | 5:45 PM

With too many Americans out of work and a transportation infrastructure that is crumbling beneath us, we can't wait until 2011 for a new federal surface transportation bill.

Transit systems nationwide are hemorrhaging. From Boston to St. Louis, Cleveland to Portland, Atlanta to Miami, and statewide in California, service and...

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