(Reuters distributed the following article on October 1.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak unions on Wednesday called off a one-day strike set for Friday to give a federal judge more time to determine if the walkout would violate the law.
Lawyers for some 8,000 unionized engineers, mechanics and other workers at the national passenger railroad agreed to defer any job action until U.S. District Judge James Robertson sorts out labor law questions later this month.
Robertson brokered the agreement at a hearing on Amtrak’s request to block the strike, which the railroad’s president said this week would have halted its trains nationally and disrupted commuter and freight service.
Amtrak said a strike would have disrupted travel for about 60,000 of its passengers and another 700,000 people who ride commuter trains in several states. Freight traffic along some lines would also have been delayed. The railroad also said a one-day strike would have cost it at least $4.5 million in lost revenue.
Robertson set an Oct. 20 hearing on the railroad’s request for a preliminary injunction.
The trains are going to run on Friday, as they do every day at Amtrak. As I have said before, the best way to gain support for our service is to continue to provide it — not withhold it,” Amtrak President David Gunn said in a statement.
Six unions threatened to strike to put pressure on Congress, which is considering Amtrak’s annual funding level. Lawmakers are considering far less in subsidies for fiscal year 2004, which began on Wednesday, than the $1.8 billion the railroad has requested.
Congressional negotiators must still address a $1.34 billion spending proposal in the Senate and a $900 million package in the U.S. House of Representatives that Amtrak says would force a shutdown.
Gunn said on Tuesday that he needed his full request to make urgent repairs to the 32-year-old railroad’s infrastructure, especially on its flagship Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston.
Labor groups led by the AFL-CIO’s Transport Workers Union say the strike was called only to get the attention of Congress and the public that funding levels being considered are inadequate.
“We’re trying to say, think about what will happen if there is no Amtrak,” said Richard Edelman, the lead attorney for the unions that threatened to strike. “Let’s see how the transportation system operates if there isn’t one.”
There are roughly 20,000 unionized workers at Amtrak.
Robertson said he was not persuaded by Amtrak’s arguments for blocking the strike, but felt the fast-approaching Friday deadline might unfairly hamper the railroad’s ability to appeal any decision. Robertson also wants additional time to weigh other labor issues that may preclude a strike.
A union official was encouraged that Robertson did not block the strike, and said workers would abide by the order until he makes a decision.
Currently, Amtrak’s costs are covered by a temporary spending measure passed by Congress last week but lawmakers are planning to adjourn for the year at the end of the month.
The railroad, which has never made money, received just over $1 billion in subsidies for fiscal 2003.