(The Associated Press distributed the following article on September 23.)
WASHINGTON — The union representing half of Amtrak’s unionized employees said Tuesday it won’t participate in a work stoppage planned for next week to draw attention to the railroad’s funding problems.
The Transportation Communications Union called the proposed one-day walkout, announced last week by other unions, counterproductive to efforts to get Congress to boost funding.
The union, which represents 10,000 Amtrak employees, said some lawmakers “will not give in to what they perceive as strong-arm tactics by labor.” In addition, some supporters are concerned “that they might lose swing votes that are necessary to keep Amtrak alive,” the union said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Six other Amtrak unions representing more than 5,000 of Amtrak’s 18,500 unionized workers announced that their members would stay off the jobs Oct. 3 to protest efforts by the Bush administration and House Republicans to block additional funding.
Amtrak officials are considering seeking a court injunction to block the work stoppage, which they termed an illegal strike, spokesman Clifford Black said.
“The TCU confirms our feeling at Amtrak that most of our employees have no interest in walking off the job and fully intend to come to work,” Black said. “A walkout of this nature would be ill-advised and illegal.”
Amtrak, which has never turned a profit, has asked for $1.8 billion in federal subsidies in 2004. President Bush proposed half that amount as a way to force the railroad to restructure itself and the House went along with that request. The Senate is proposing about $1.4 billion.