(The following appeared on the Washington Post website on February 13.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak and the United Transportation Union agreed on a new contract, subject to approval by union members. The union represents 2,300 Amtrak conductors and assistants. The agreement “mirrors the tentative agreements the company reached with nine of its unions last month,” Amtrak told its employees.
The contract would would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2000, and run through Dec. 31, 2009. It would continue the number of assistant conductors, which Amtrak wanted to cut by 400, the union said.
Amtrak settled in January with the other unions, averting a strike that could have disrupted District-based Amtrak’s trains and commuter rail services that use its tracks.