Chopped liver Amtrak's unionized workforce has become chopped liver to Amtrak President Alexander Kummant and his chief labor negotiator, Joe Bress.
While Amtrak's rank-and-file has not been granted a pay raise in almost eight years, Kummant is showering his managers with pay increases of up to 13.1 percent annually.
While Bress claims at the labor-negotiating table that Amtrak can't afford pay increases, Kummant has been working to deliver the increases of up to 13.1 percent annually to his managers.
As they ask in New York, "What am I? Chopped liver?" Kummant and Bress have given us the answer, complete with a Bronx cheer.
Additionally, Amtrak continues its effort to eliminate all assistant conductor positions, thumbing its nose at the post-9/11 world of terrorism and willing to roll the dice on passenger safety and security.
It is no wonder that rail unions have chosen to be "out to lunch" while Amtrak lobbies Congress for its annual appropriation.
"I told our UTU National Legislative Department to go have some chopped liver at a D.C. deli when Amtrak calls for lobbying help on Capitol Hill," said UTU International President Paul Thompson. "As far as Amtrak is now concerned, we don't go there anymore."
UTU Vice President Tony Iannone said, "Alex Kummant is revealing himself as a manager who does not stand up for his employees; and when managers won't stand up for their employees, those employees won't stand up for management. He has slapped us in the face. We won't turn the other cheek."
Meanwhile, after conferring with Thompson, Transportation Communications Union President Bob Scardelletti sent a letter to Kummant, with copies to members of Congress, figuratively asking what Kummant has been smoking while making management decisions on pay.
"This provocative decision to shower money on management shows utter contempt for the morale of all unionized Amtrak workers," Scardelletti wrote. "I would say that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. But the camel's back has been broken for a long time."
Thompson said he concurred entirely with Scardelletti's assessment that "Amtrak will not reach a fair agreement short of a strike ... We will never accept a double standard where Amtrak management is rewarded and union workers trampled on."
To read the Scardelletti letter to Kummant, click here, or go to
http://www.utu.org/worksite/PDFs/KummantLetter.pdf .
June 8, 2007
