(Reuters circulated the following story by John Crawley on September 17.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 8,000 engineers and mechanics at Amtrak, fed up with what they call inadequate government rail funding, threatened on Wednesday to walk off the job on Oct. 3 in a one-day strike.
“The idea is to try and give the public a snapshot of what the country would look like without a national rail system,” said Charles Moneypenny, a director of the AFL-CIO’s Transport Workers Union.
“We believe we have the legal right to politically protest the persistent underfunding of Amtrak. Our members are fed up with trying to duct tape the railroad together so it can run,” Moneypenny said.
Amtrak employs roughly 20,000 unionized workers. Moneypenny said labor groups representing 8,000 key workers have agreed to the walkout. “If you don’t have engineers or mechanics the trains are not going to run,” he said.
A railroad industry source said Amtrak would likely seek a court injunction to block the threatened walkout on Oct. 3, a Friday, but a spokesman for the railroad would not confirm that.
Amtrak President David Gunn said the railroad needs to be adequately funded but opposed labor’s approach to putting pressure on Congress and the Bush administration.
“Amtrak has a legal and public service obligation to provide inter-city passenger rail service each and every day. We anticipate all of our employees will abide by existing contracts and the law,” Gunn said in a statement.
Amtrak serves roughly 65,000 passengers daily on 265 trains nationwide.
Moneypenny said the union was passing out leaflets to passengers urging them to call their representatives in Congress to urge full funding.
Amtrak has requested $1.8 billion in subsidies for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, citing the need for urgent repairs to its Northeast Corridor infrastructure.
In an advisory sent to employees last week, Gunn said on “any given day” something could fail and large parts of the system could be shut down.”
The Senate is considering $1.34 billion in subsidies, while the House of Representatives has approved $900 million. Senior administration and congressional officials have said Amtrak will do no better than what the Senate is proposing.
Amtrak has never made money in its 32-year-long history and is mired in debt. The Bush administration has imposed operating and other reforms on the rail system and proposed that it eventually be dismantled and some of its routes be opened to private competition.