Union: Romney-Ryan ticket would be a 'disaster' for transportation

A prominent transportation union said this week that Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate means the GOP ticket will be a "disaster" for transportation funding.

AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department President Ed Wytkind said the Romney-Ryan ticket's "vision for our transportation system and its workers is about making all the wrong choices.

"Billions in cuts to transportation investments; forced privatization and outsourcing; a roll-back of safety regulations; repeal of worker protections including collective bargaining rights, and the loss of 500,000 transportation jobs just in the first years under the Romney-endorsed Ryan budget," Wytkind said in a statement.

Wytkind said the new GOP ticket's transportation positions contrasted poorly with President Obama's, whom the AFL-CIO has endorsed in his bid for a second term.

"President Obama has called for the largest investment in our transportation system in modern history and has made rebuilding the middle-class and investing in real job creation the centerpiece of his economic agenda," Wytkind wrote. "Clearly Romney and Ryan fail to understand the vital importance of transportation to job creation and our nation’s competitiveness in the global economy. Their vision that we can cut our way to prosperity is dangerous for America."

Wytkind said the AFL-CIO TTD would make sure its members "understand exactly what is at stake this fall and just how damaging a Romney presidency would be to transportation jobs, the economy and our dwindling middle-class.”

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