Amtrak finally cares, after PEB, which we paid for, finds in favor of the workers.

Tentative agreement is finally reached. Penn Station most likely to stay open

After 8 years of playing hardball with the 9 unions involved.

After President Bush assigned an Emergency Board which gave a report after a month of investigating which sided 100% in favor of the workers.

Amtrak has finally decided to come to terms with the unions involved. I hope they headed the Presidential Emergency Boards advice. If they did it would be a win for all parties involved and the public. This is definitely a win for all my friends and co-workers who rely on Penn Station.

Heres Amtrak's press release in abridged form, further information can be found at UnionReview (BMWED, Rail Coalition Achieve Tentative Agreement With Amtrak by Richard Negri)

Amtrak and Labor Organizations Sign Tentative Agreement, Averting a Strike

Pact Requires Rank-and-File Ratification

WASHINGTON – Amtrak and representatives of nine labor organizations that were legally free to strike January 30, 2008, today signed a tentative agreement that keeps the national passenger railroad and numerous commuter railroads that are dependent on Amtrak and its facilities in full operation. The National Mediation Board had released the parties from mediation on November 1, 2007, and a Presidential Emergency Board handed down recommended settlement terms December 30.

Details of the tentative pact will be sent to the affected union members for their ratification vote during the next several weeks and will be withheld from public release until the ratification process has begun.

Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant said, "Investing in the railroad comes in many forms, and one of the best ways is to invest in its people, which we've done with this tentative agreement. I want to thank the leadership of the labor organizations. It has not been easy for any of us, and I know they share our sense of relief and resolve to move forward in a productive and cooperative spirit to provide excellent passenger rail service. The Amtrak Board of Directors, management and labor are now united in that single purpose. By reaching these tentative agreements, we have averted a possible strike that could have had a crippling effect on the lives of millions of Americans.": More info

Yeah, good old Amtrak caring about it's workers and the people, finally hacking out an agreement after 8 years and the President assigning the PEB, which we paid for. Thanks Amtrak.

According to the Associated Press (Amtrak, unions reach tentative deal, averting possible strike
By KAREN MAHABIR):

The tentative contract includes back pay totaling more than three times what Amtrak was offering and none of the concessions on work rules that Amtrak had been seeking, said Joel Parker, a spokesman for the Transportation Communications International Union and a lead negotiator...

...Michael Troy, an Amtrak communications and signal maintainer and union representative in Downingtown, Pa., said workers have faced increasing economic hardships.

"Every Christmas got harder and harder for the workers," he said, with some forced to work overtime or take on second jobs to make house and car payments.
"Finally you can feel the morale," Troy said. "There seems to be some hope here."

Remember, when Penn Station is shut down- Blame Amtrak, not the union workers!

*Photo by classictrains at deviantART

At the end of November, President Bush avoided the possible strike by the 9 unions representing Amtrak workers by imposing an Executive Order which established a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to investigate the failed negotiations which started all the way back in January of 2000. While the unions are trying to recoup lost wages for the past eight years and try to maintain good secured union jobs for their members, it seems that Amtrak has never even bothered to attempt to negotiate this contract in good faith. Not at all, in fact according to the Transportation Communications Union

Amtrak has:

1. engaged in bad faith bargaining strategy and is solely responsible for this record-making delay in reaching agreements.In the eight years since Amtrak began stonewalling negotiations, hundreds of contracts have been reached in both the rail and airline industries covered by the Railway Labor Act.
2. purposely manipulated the bargaining process to avoid settlements by putting forward radical, take it or leave it demands and refusing to budge an inch.
3. stated that the Unions would receive no back pay no matter how long negotiations took. This has never happened before on Amtrak or on any major railroad. On every major railroad going back a hundred years, unions that settle later always received contracts that date back to the date the first union signed.
4. Amtrak insisted that any agreement must include a multitude of sweeping work rule concessions from every craft.
   
5. has demanded no limits on contracting out, even if the contracting resulted in furloughs, Amtrak has put forward more than twenty concessionary demands to the shopcraft coalition alone . (The shopcraft coalition is comprised of Carmen, Electricians and Machinists.)
6. For eight years, Amtrak has refused to remove a single work rule demand from its list of must-have concessions. In fact, a few months ago, seven years into bargaining, Amtrak added a new radical, unacceptable demand – that early retirees pay toward health insurance.

It seems that Amtrak has used to it's advantage The Railway Labor Act, which in part states that if a new contract has not been ratified, all work will continue under the existing contract until an agreement is reached. Well the nearly 10,000 workers who are involved in this dispute have gotten good news. The Presidential Emergency Board, who unfortunately cannot avert a strike, has sided squarely on the unions demands. According to the AFL-CIO WebBlog, The PEB’s recommendations include the wage increases proposed by the unions, full retroactive pay and no work rule changes. The PEB said the unions’ wage proposals were:

the most fair and equitable package of compensation after consideration of the relevant factors.

(and) In rejecting Amtrak’s proposal for dramatic work rule changes—including nearly unlimited contracting out rights, schedule changes and combining jobs and crafts—the board pointed to Amtrak workers’ increased productivity.

The evidence introduced by Amtrak in support of its claimed need for these sweeping reforms was weak, at best, and with respect to many of the proposals bordered on nonexistent.

Which led to The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD) stating that the PEB’s report is the basis for agreement. Amtrak should come to the bargaining table and reach a negotiated settlement with its unions based on the recommendations of the PEB. Rail labor has repeatedly stated its desire to settle this dispute voluntarily, without a strike.

So get ready Amtrak riders and those of us who depend on Penn Station and other affected stations, remember what you read today when the bullshit NYPost articles of "Greedy Rail Workers Crippling the City" and "Those little people who are suffering because of them" is in your hand. Because it happened recently with the "Greedy Stagehands crippling Broadway" and I'm sure it will happen again. Also add this fact to your collection, Amtrak workers are the lowest paid in the entire railway industry.

Remember if there is a strike, BLAME AMTRAK, not the union workers !

Note about Unions involved: IAM, IBEW, TCU, Railroad Signalmen, Transport Workers, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees which is an affiliate of the Teamsters, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, and American Train Dispatchers Association.

Sources: AFL-CIO WebBlog, TCUnion.org, Stop Amtrak's Outsourcing Plan(PDF)