(The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes issued the following news release on September 17.)
PHILADELPHIA and WASHINGTON — The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (“BMWE”) announced today that its members would withdraw their services from Amtrak nationwide on October 3, 2003 to protest Congress’ and the White House’s failure to appropriate sufficient funds to maintain Amtrak services.
BMWE Acting President Freddie N. Simpson noted that Amtrak’s President, David Gunn, said Amtrak needs $1.8 billion for Fiscal Year 2004 to maintain its operations, and, without that level of funding, Gunn said he will seek to shut down Amtrak nationwide. Nevertheless, President Bush proposed only $900 million for Amtrak, a death sentence for rail passenger service in the United States.
The US House of Representatives recently agreed to the $900 million figure. “Even though a majority of the House members signed a letter pledging to vote for $1.8 billion for Amtrak, the Republican leadership used procedural gimmicks to prevent a vote on that figure,” Simpson said. The Senate appears likely to provide $1.35 billion to Amtrak, which is better but still inadequate, Simpson added.
General Chairman Jed Dodd of the Pennsylvania Federation, which has jurisdiction over the BMWE track maintenance, building, bridge and electric catenary system workers on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, stated:
“Amtrak is a vital national resource that is being starved to death by politicians who have a variety of different agendas and none of these agendas have a goal of providing efficient, high-speed rail service for the American people. We hope that this action on October 3, 2003 will serve as a wakeup call that rail service is vital to the economy of the Nation. The government must make the proper investments into Amtrak to ensure that this resource is protected for the American people. The funding levels being proposed mean that the railroad cannot be safely maintained. The lives of the traveling public are being gambled with as the politicians continue to play their games with Amtrak.”
Earlier this month in an Amtrak “Employee Advisory,” Mr. Gunn said, “Our infrastructure and equipment is in such dire need of repair and investment that on any given day something could fail – as it already has – and large parts of the system could be shut down or the necessary consists for trains could not be met.”
Jed Dodd stated that, “Amtrak’s catenary system was built prior to World War II and the inability to properly keep the system repaired has led to train delays and outages.” Simpson noted that some of the passenger cars still contain asbestos because Amtrak cannot afford to remove it safely.
“The traveling public must understand that Congress’ failure to appropriate sufficient funds for Amtrak means the end of a rail passenger service in the United States,” said Simpson. “The House Republican leadership and the White House have pursued this misguided course even though rail passenger service is more popular than ever, and every improvement brings additional passengers,” he added.
Simpson declared, “We in the BMWE will not stand by and watch the end of rail passenger service in this country without protest. We will protest the inadequate funding by withdrawing our service to Amtrak nationwide on October 3rd. We regret we must propose such drastic action; however we have been left no alternative in our fight for our members and the interests of the traveling public. I urge the traveling public to join with us and call your Representative and Senator and tell them to give Amtrak the funds it needs to maintain and improve its system.” The toll-free number to Capitol switchboard is 1-877-331-2000.
The BMWE is a nationwide labor union affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the CLC in Canada. BMWE members build and maintain the tracks, bridges, buildings and overhead catenary system on Amtrak’s system. BMWE currently represents approximately 2500 of Amtrak’s employees.