(The following article by Keith Reed was posted on the Boston Globe website on September 30.)
BOSTON — Amtrak yesterday asked a federal court to block a one-day work stoppage planned for Friday that threatens to strand more than 750,000 Amtrak and commuter rail passengers and disrupt mail and freight deliveries.
Six unions representing nearly 8,000 workers plan to protest what they call inadequate funding of Amtrak by Congress and the Bush administration. Amtrak says in its complaint that it would lose up to $10 million in revenue if the walkout happens. The “impact would extend far beyond one day and would result in economic disruption well beyond the revenue that Amtrak will lose,” according to a complaint filed in Washington, D.C.
A work boycott would disrupt Amtrak’s rail service around the country, including in the Boston-Washington corridor, the railroad’s busiest regions. It also has the potential to snarl Friday morning commuter traffic on highways in some areas, Amtrak said.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s commuter trains don’t run on Amtrak’s tracks, though, and they are no longer operated by Amtrak. Last week, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said a walkout could disrupt the MBTA’s Attleboro line because Amtrak workers dispatch all trains between South Station and Providence. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that if Amtrak workers were not available, MBTA supervisors would dispatch the trains.
The six unions mostly represent mechanics and engineers, whose responsibilities include maintaining tracks and power lines and servicing locomotives. Seven other Amtrak unions, including the Transportation Communications Union, Amtrak’s largest, and the United Transportation Union, which represents conductors, have said their members will not walk out. But in its court filing, Amtrak said it was unclear whether members of those unions would cross picket lines. If they did, the financially troubled passenger railroad said, it would be impossible for it to operate.
That would hamper commuter rail systems that run on Amtrak tracks or are dispatched or serviced by Amtrak workers.
Amtrak said that about 52,000 of its own passengers in the Northeast, another 698,000 commuter rail passengers nationally, and 7,125 passengers on long-distance Amtrak trains would be stranded in a work stoppage.
Amtrak also said a walkout would disrupt mail delivery to 35 cities and halt some freight trains.
Amtrak received $1.04 billion from the government last fiscal year; it asked Congress for $1.8 billion for the fiscal year that begins today. Its president, David Gunn, has said that amount is needed to keep trains running and to make overdue repairs and upgrade tracks and other infrastructure, which he has said are in danger of a catastrophic failure.
President Bush proposed $900 million, which the House approved. The Senate is debating a $1.4 billion package. Until a final budget is passed, Congress can pass interim legislation to keep the railroad operating.
Charles F. Moneypenny, director of the railroad division of the Transport Workers Union of America, one of the six unions planning a walkout, said his group does not plan to back down. Moneypenny is named as a codefendant in the complaint, along with the six unions and 16 other individuals.
“We’re not going to defy a court order,” he said. “We’re going to go to court, and we’re going to defend our right to stage a political protest.”
The unions expect a hearing either today or on Wednesday, Moneypenny said.