Teamsters Rail Conference affiliates BLET and BMWED have signed on to a labor-led letter asking Congress to swiftly correct a technical error in the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBA) that caused rail workers to be excluded from the bill’s overtime tax credit provision.
The bill’s “no tax on overtime” benefit (Section 70202) only provides overtime exemptions for workers governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which excludes nearly all transportation workers (for example, railroad workers, airline workers, maritime workers, truckers, fire fighters, and other first responders).
The July 21 letter to Congress is the latest effort to correct this oversight. The Teamsters Rail Conference has been lobbying Congress and the White House for weeks to change the law to include workers covered by the Railway Labor Act.
The Rail Conference is in the process of identifying Republican and Democratic members in the Senate and House to introduce stand-alone legislation to correct this oversight. The conference will keep Members updated when that legislation is introduced, hopefully in the near future.
The joint letter signed by 21 labor unions was sent to the House majority and minority leaders as well as the Senate minority and majority leaders. It reads in part: “As constructed, the overtime tax exemption unintentionally prevents millions of hourly workers from benefitting from this new provision. Our unions have supported legislation proposed by both Republicans and Democrats to correct this oversight and honor the long hours our members put into the essential jobs that keep our economy running. We urge you to swiftly pass legislation that ensures all hourly workers are eligible for this important tax benefit.”
A PDF of the letter is available on the BLET National Division website.