WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware News Journal reports that Amtrak is temporarily cutting nearly 200 local jobs as the struggling national passenger rail company struggles to trim costs and reorganize, a local union official said on February 6.
Amtrak officials would not confirm the numbers of local job cuts. “We are still briefing people internally around the country and we are not making public the specifics of those plans at this time,” said Cecilia Cummings, spokeswoman for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in Philadelphia.
The furloughs, which are focused on the back-shop overhaul operations in Wilmington and Bear, represent 16 percent of the company’s Delaware work force, the union official said. They are part of more than 400 cuts affecting Amtrak’s three major machine-shop locations, with most of the cuts – about 228 – coming just outside Indianapolis.
“This is a hard hit for us. We’re going to take the brunt of it right now,” said Mike Hill, general chairman of District 19 of the International Association of Machinists, which represents workers in Delaware and Indiana. Hill said Amtrak President George Warrington broke the news to unions Tuesday at a meeting in Florida. At the moment, the job cuts are not permanent layoffs, he said.
“We are disappointed about the furloughs,” said John Wik, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office. “But it is our understanding that these are business actions necessary to protect Amtrak operations.”
Amtrak, which employs 24,600 nationwide, has 1,129 workers in Delaware. Besides the machine shops, its operations in the state include the training facility on the southern edge of Wilmington, and the Wilmington and Newark train stations.
The temporary layoffs affect employees such as electricians, machinists, laborers, pipe fitters and sheet-metal workers. Electricians in New Castle County earn an average of $45,240 a year, while machinists make $38,170 and sheet-metal workers $37,050.
Amtrak has been struggling financially for years, as pressure mounts from Congress and other critics who contend the rail system created in 1971 is irrevocably broken and needs to be revamped. The company has relied on about $23 billion in government subsidies since its founding – including $834 million in the current budget – but critics argue the system must be self-sustaining and profitable.
An independent Amtrak Reform Council has been studying the system and how to fix it, and will make its recommendations today. It could advise the government to break up Amtrak and open passenger rail to competition.
Last week, Amtrak said it would cut costs by $285 million. The cuts would include about 1,000 jobs – 700 union workers and 300 management positions – but officials did not indicate where the losses would occur. The company also threatened to cut train service to dozens of states if Congress would not give it $1.2 billion.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., a former member of Amtrak’s board and a longtime supporter, has called on Congress to guarantee more federal funding. In
particular, he is urging the adoption of an additional gas tax of a half-penny to 1 cent for rail service.
“We’ll work very hard to reverse [the cuts] for the current fiscal year and we’ll also work very hard to ensure that Amtrak has the support, especially the capital, to enable it to meet its obligations in the next fiscal year,” Carper said.
Hill said Amtrak is facing a $52 million budget shortfall in its back-shop program, which handles overhaul and accident repair work for the entire Amtrak system.