CLEVELAND, June 22 — In a June 20 letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives, BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce expressed the organization’s complete opposition to a Republican plan to privatize and dismantle Amtrak.
Introduced by Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), the Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail in America Act would dismantle Amtrak and privatize the Northeast Corridor. President Pierce warned that the bill would jeopardize the jobs of 20,000 Amtrak employees and would undermine the stability of the Railroad Retirement system, thereby hurting all railroad workers — not just those at Amtrak.
“Contrary to Representative Mica’s assertions, the proposal does not have the support of labor and would be an unmitigated disaster for both railroad workers and the traveling public,” National President Dennis Pierce wrote. “It would jeopardize the jobs of 20,000 working men and women currently employed by Amtrak, undermine the Railroad Retirement system that provides pensions for over 525,000 adult annuitants, and imperil rail passenger service nationwide.”
The Mica proposal would also seek to eliminate labor protections under the privatized Northeast Corridor.
“The bill states that private entities providing rail service are considered rail carriers ‘only for purposes of title 49, United States Code.’ Thus, these pseudo-carriers would be exempt from important Title 45 requirements, including the Railway Labor Act and the Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts,” Pierce wrote.
He also said the traveling public would suffer serious reductions in service, and that long distance lines would “shrivel up and disappear.”
President Pierce concluded by pointing to Amtrak’s recent ridership increases as a sign of the national passenger railroad’s growing success. He also called upon all members of the House to stand together in support of Amtrak and its workers.
“Instead of this job killing, ridership devastating plan, we ought to be looking at ways to help Amtrak achieve the goal of high-speed rail; not looking for ways to dismantle it. Please stand up for workers, communities and riders and oppose this legislation,” Pierce wrote.
A PDF of his letter is on the BLET website:
www.ble-t.org/pr/pdf/Mica_Proposal.pdf