Save Our Trains Michigan
Conductor
This was sent to me by my union
To stay informed go to WWW.UTU.ORG
HELP FOR AMTRAK NEEDED NOW
Safeguarding the financial solvency of Railroad Retirement and protecting conductor jobs on Amtrak both are dependent upon preserving a national intercity rail passenger network – the Amtrak as we know it today.
All the power of the UTU PAC and expertise of UTU’s state and federal lobbyists are working toward this objective.
UTU members, retirees, their families, their friends and their neighbors need to be involved in this fight,” said UTU International President Paul Thompson.
“Right now, our objective is to win passage in Congress of Senate bill No. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act – and the UTU team is needed in this battle.”
Telephone calls and e-mails to senators asking them to co-sponsor or support S. 1516 are urgently needed,” said UTU National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer.
“A break-up of Amtrak, as envisioned by many conservatives, would open the door to non-union operations, loss of jobs, exemption of new passenger-rail operators from Railroad Retirement and the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, interference with efficient freight operations and rail safety concerns,” Thompson said.
The concern is immediate as evidenced by recent events.
In aid of the Bush administration and many congressional conservatives to break-up Amtrak – and, in the process, destroy unions – the Bush-loyal Amtrak board of directors on Sept. 22 voted in secret to make Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor a separate subsidiary.
Thompson warned against “those supporting a break-up of Amtrak while promising to preserve union jobs. Talk is cheap and those pretenders have only one interest in mind – their own self-interest in making money off consulting, legal and banking fees,” Thompson said.
“Once Amtrak is split apart, not only are union jobs, Railroad Retirement, FELA, efficient freight operations and rail safety in jeopardy, but political support for our national intercity rail passenger network also starts to evaporate.
“The UTU has one position and one position only: preservation of our national intercity rail passenger network – Amtrak,” Thompson said.
Brunkenhoefer said, “Congress now has before it legislation that would adequately fund the existing Amtrak with $11.4 billion for six years through 2011, maintain its current operations, upgrade its equipment and return Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to a state of good repair. The legislation also includes funds to create a new grant program for states that want to add or improve intercity passenger-rail service.”
It is that bill -- S. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act – that UTU members, retirees, their families, their friends and their neighbors should support,” Brunkenhoefer said.
To find the phone number and e-mail address of your two U.S. senators:
* Go to www.utu.org;
* Look to the left and left-click on “Washington Updates” in the red tile;
* Scroll down and left-click on “Contacting the Congress”;
* Click on your state in the map.
Politely ask them to support a national intercity rail passenger network by co-sponsoring S. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act.
Brunkenhoefer said UTU members and retirees in states represented by the following senators – Democrats and Republicans – should make a special effort to ensure those senators are contacted. They are considered by existing co-sponsors of the bill as leaning toward adding their names as co-sponsors.
They include:
California: Boxer and Feinstein
Illinois: Durbin
Indiana: Lugar
Ohio: Voinovich
Minnesota: Coleman
Missouri: Talent
Montana: Baucus
Nevada: Reid
New York: Clinton and Schumer
North Carolina: Burr and Dole
North Dakota: Dorgan
Oregon: Smith
Pennsylvania: Santorum and Specter
Rhode Island: Chafee
Vermont: Jeffords
Virginia: Warner
West Virginia: Byrd and Rockefeller
To stay informed go to WWW.UTU.ORG
HELP FOR AMTRAK NEEDED NOW
Safeguarding the financial solvency of Railroad Retirement and protecting conductor jobs on Amtrak both are dependent upon preserving a national intercity rail passenger network – the Amtrak as we know it today.
All the power of the UTU PAC and expertise of UTU’s state and federal lobbyists are working toward this objective.
UTU members, retirees, their families, their friends and their neighbors need to be involved in this fight,” said UTU International President Paul Thompson.
“Right now, our objective is to win passage in Congress of Senate bill No. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act – and the UTU team is needed in this battle.”
Telephone calls and e-mails to senators asking them to co-sponsor or support S. 1516 are urgently needed,” said UTU National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer.
“A break-up of Amtrak, as envisioned by many conservatives, would open the door to non-union operations, loss of jobs, exemption of new passenger-rail operators from Railroad Retirement and the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, interference with efficient freight operations and rail safety concerns,” Thompson said.
The concern is immediate as evidenced by recent events.
In aid of the Bush administration and many congressional conservatives to break-up Amtrak – and, in the process, destroy unions – the Bush-loyal Amtrak board of directors on Sept. 22 voted in secret to make Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor a separate subsidiary.
Thompson warned against “those supporting a break-up of Amtrak while promising to preserve union jobs. Talk is cheap and those pretenders have only one interest in mind – their own self-interest in making money off consulting, legal and banking fees,” Thompson said.
“Once Amtrak is split apart, not only are union jobs, Railroad Retirement, FELA, efficient freight operations and rail safety in jeopardy, but political support for our national intercity rail passenger network also starts to evaporate.
“The UTU has one position and one position only: preservation of our national intercity rail passenger network – Amtrak,” Thompson said.
Brunkenhoefer said, “Congress now has before it legislation that would adequately fund the existing Amtrak with $11.4 billion for six years through 2011, maintain its current operations, upgrade its equipment and return Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to a state of good repair. The legislation also includes funds to create a new grant program for states that want to add or improve intercity passenger-rail service.”
It is that bill -- S. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act – that UTU members, retirees, their families, their friends and their neighbors should support,” Brunkenhoefer said.
To find the phone number and e-mail address of your two U.S. senators:
* Go to www.utu.org;
* Look to the left and left-click on “Washington Updates” in the red tile;
* Scroll down and left-click on “Contacting the Congress”;
* Click on your state in the map.
Politely ask them to support a national intercity rail passenger network by co-sponsoring S. 1516, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act.
Brunkenhoefer said UTU members and retirees in states represented by the following senators – Democrats and Republicans – should make a special effort to ensure those senators are contacted. They are considered by existing co-sponsors of the bill as leaning toward adding their names as co-sponsors.
They include:
California: Boxer and Feinstein
Illinois: Durbin
Indiana: Lugar
Ohio: Voinovich
Minnesota: Coleman
Missouri: Talent
Montana: Baucus
Nevada: Reid
New York: Clinton and Schumer
North Carolina: Burr and Dole
North Dakota: Dorgan
Oregon: Smith
Pennsylvania: Santorum and Specter
Rhode Island: Chafee
Vermont: Jeffords
Virginia: Warner
West Virginia: Byrd and Rockefeller
