(Source: Politico.com, February 2, 2012)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee takes up its part of a five-year, $260 billion highway/transit/rail bill today. Lots of interest groups are coming out against certain provisions in the House transportation bill scheduled for a markup today. Ed Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, pointed to several concerns on the labor front: It would force transit systems to privatize their operations and mandate that Amtrak’s food and beverage service be contracted out. The transit privatization language drew a strong rebuke. “This bill is an absolute giveaway to corporate interests and many of them are foreign corporate interests,” Wytkind told MT yesterday. “It’s a grab bag for privatizers who want to collapse our public transportation system.” Foreign operators, like French company Keolis, have been increasingly bidding on commuter rail projects in the U.S. The Amtrak food and beverage privatization, a frequent target of T&I Chairman John Mica and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), “means a pink slip for 2,000 Amtrak workers,” Wytkind said. He said the Senate bill is much better: “We’re not seeing this ideology run amok in that bill.”
Full story: Politico.com