NEW YORK —Workers on motor coaches, school busses and especially airlines and railroads get paid time-and-a-half for overtime work, just like every other worker who is eligible for overtime pay. But while Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” exempts the first $25,000 of overtime pay for most workers from federal income taxes, it doesn’t exempt those of transportation workers.
Which means three million blue-collar workers—led by rail engineers and conductors, flight attendants, maritime workers, school bus drivers and intercity coach operators—may have to fork over up to $6,000 more each to the IRS next year, says Transport Workers President John Samuelsen.
“This is a serious flaw Congress needs to fix,” Samuelsen adds.
“Tax relief to blue-collar workers is a great idea. They deserve it much more than greedy corporate giants and hedge-fund vultures who never get their hands dirty or have to lift anything heavier than a cocktail. All blue-collar workers, however, must be deemed eligible” for the tax deduction for overtime pay.
So to put the transport workers on a par with everyone else who will get that overtime pay tax break, Samuelson marshalled 20 unions to champion the workers’ cause.
He has good reason. TWU Local 100 represents the tens of thousands of bus, commuter rail and subway operators of the New York City metro area alone. And a lot of them work a lot of overtime. TWU has 180,000 members overall.
The coalition kicked off its efforts with a detailed letter to congressional leaders on July 21, 13 days after party-line votes—Republicans for, Democrats against—jammed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” through Congress on July 4. The leaders followed it up with bi-partisan legislation, at least in the House, on September 19.
“Half of our membership is currently ineligible for this critical tax break and the TWU will not rest until all blue-collar workers are deemed eligible for the overtime earnings tax break,”
In their July 21 letter, Samuelsen and his colleagues explained to the legislative leaders transportation workers would get hit because Trump’s law uses an overtime requirement for them dating back to the original 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. That law established the minimum wage and overtime pay.
But FLSA then required certain groups of workers, in transportation-related industries to work 55 hours a week before they could draw overtime, not 40, the unions explained.
The FLSA “was never intended to be used related to the tax code or taxable treatment of worker’s time,” the union leaders added. “This definition exempts millions of hourly workers and uses arbitrary formulas that begin overtime at 55 hours of work or more each week.
“Wedging this definition into the tax code has left airline, motorcoach, railroad, trucking, delivery, emergency response, and many other workers out in the cold. The FLSA definition of overtime completely excludes nearly all transportation workers, including airline, rail, trucking, maritime and others based off their employer and job duties.
“The current overtime tax provision creates a disincentive for new workers to take these positions where other jobs that qualify for these [overtime] benefits are available,” the union leaders elaborated.
Other unions in the coalition are the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, the Seafarers, the Machinists, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the Steelworkers, the Teamsters, Unite HERE, the Air Line Pilots, the Train Dispatchers, the Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Maintenance of Way Employees, the Railroad Signalmen, the Fire Fighters, the Boilermakers, the Masters, Mates, & Pilots, the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, the Firemen and Oilers, the Smart Union, and two of its divisions, and the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, which is the lineal descendant of the historic Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
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