(The Cecil Whig posted the following article by Jane Weaver on its website on December 16.)
CECIL, Md. — The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) won’t go on strike against Amtrak until after the holidays.
Don Griffin, director of Strategic Coordination and Research at the union headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the union doesn’t want to send that kind of message.
“It’s safe to say the strike won’t occur during the holiday travel season,” Griffin said. “We want to send a message to Congress, but we don’t want to mess up people’s travel plans.”
BMWE is one of several unions that represent 8,000 of Amtrak’s 21,000 employees.
Congress plans to give the railroad $1.22 billion. That’s less than the $1.8 billion that Amtrak President David Gunn has claimed the railroad needed to operate. Gunn has since backed down on those figures.
Steve Stearn, vice chairman of BMWE Local 3005 in Perryville, said the $1.8 billion is needed to perform “much needed” maintenance along the northeast corridor. Stearn said the money would be used to do such maintenance as rebuild road beds and fix rails.
The union got the green light last week to go on strike against the national passenger railroad in a protest over the lack of funding. A U.S. District judge agreed the strike wasn’t a job action, but rather a statement of protest.
Federal employees are forbidden to strike over employment issues.
Griffin said the $1.2 billion would give $500 million for capital improvements and $700 million for operating expenses.
“Amtrak doesn’t have its meager funding guaranteed,” Griffin warned. “It’s tied up in an omnibus bill.”
Griffin said Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) “has a problem” with the bill.
A date for the strike hasn’t been set. Griffin said plenty of notice will be given commuters who depend on Amtrak and the Amtrak rail lines. Maryland’s MARC system shares the rails with Amtrak from Perryville to the nation’s capital.
“We want to give people plenty of time to make alternate arrangements,” Griffin said.