MOW Workers To Stage One Day Protest

[AlanB]

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees ("BMWE") announced today that its members would withdraw their services from Amtrak nationwide on October 3, 2003 to protest Congress' and the White House's failure to appropriate sufficient funds to maintain Amtrak services.

The full story from Yahoo Finance.

This story was also noted on the local NBC TV news last night here in NYC, placed right before they listed Amtrak's service changes for Isabel.

My only question is, why are they waiting until after the start of the new budget to protest? They should be doing this now, while the debate is still on in Congress. Not after the battle has already been won or lost.

 

[Amfleet]

I think it is one of those pre-warning type protests. Airline employees will say they are going to strike if they don't get what they want within a certain period of time. Same here, if Congress doesn't provide full funding, Amtrak emplyees will strike. This would also be on top of Gunn shutting down Amtrak. The message is, if Amtrak does not get $1.8 billion by Oct. 1 then this country will not have a fully operating and functional passenger railroad!

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak prepares to halt one-day work stoppage
Amtrak officials may seek an injunction to prevent a planned one-day work stoppage by employees demanding the Bush administration and Congress grant more money for the beleaguered rail service, a railroad union official said yesterday.

The possible legal wrangling comes as union officials make preparations for an Oct. 3 walkout, which they term a ``political protest'' not subject to no-strike laws governing the nation's railroads.

``It's not a strike,'' said Charles Moneypenny of the Transport Workers of America.

Full article here.

 

[tp49]

This could hurt the MOW workers case more than help it. First off under the law it is not the union who would make the determination as to whether the work stoppage is in fact a "Political Protest" or a strike, it is the entity being affected by said work stoppage. In most cases the law actually would consider any type of work stoppage as being in violation especially in a case where the job function of those involved has a direct impact on public saftey and a good argument could be made that this does.

Second, from a public relations standpoint something of this nature is a media worthy event and as such the story would be supn in such a way as to hurt the workers and not Amtrak or the federal government. Therefore while they have a valid argument their chosen course of action proves only to hurt them more than other types of action would (i.e. informational picket in stations or something along those lines) and as such will probably prove in the long run to hurt their case more than help it.

 

[jccollins]

Sounds like a perfect plan to alienate and anger more Amtrak passengers. Is Bush behind this walkout/strike? :angry:

 

[P40Power]

Well Bush is behind it sort of, his policies toward Amtrak are what causing the workers to go on the strike or "Political Protest" for the day.

 

[jccollins]

Yes, I completely understand that, but he wins either way. :angry:

A strike of any sort and shutdown of services will only anger passengers. I still think its best to run all the trains and services and for OFF-duty Amtrak employees to show their resentment for the Bush policy toward Amtrak. It would still be very effective if all off-duty Amtrak employees NATIONWIDE show their support for the rail service, and Amtrak will get good publicity by running a not-so-traditional strike in that the employees care enough about the passengers not to disrupt their transportation but still show their strong support for Amtrak.

 

[AlanB]

A strike of any sort and shutdown of services will only anger passengers. I still think its best to run all the trains and services and for OFF-duty Amtrak employees to show their resentment for the Bush policy toward Amtrak. It would still be very effective if all off-duty Amtrak employees NATIONWIDE show their support for the rail service, and Amtrak will get good publicity by running a not-so-traditional strike in that the employees care enough about the passengers not to disrupt their transportation but still show their strong support for Amtrak.

JC,

Just to clarify things, at present it's only the Maintenance Of Way (MOW) workers who are threating this job action. These are the guys who fix the tracks and signals.

So unless a track broke or a signal failed during the job action, regular Amtrak service would not be affected. Additionally any impact would largely be felt only here in the NE, which outside of a small amount of track near Chicago, are the only places that Amtrak actually owns the tracks.

 

[battalion51]

And I think that in cases like the Chicago and Midwest area tracks that Amtrak does own is maintained and dispatched by another company. I know in michigan CSX runs those tracks.

 

[jccollins]

Ahhhh, got it. Thanks for clarifying it for me guys. B)

 

[P40Power]

Amtrak owns and operates the "High Speed" segment of the Detriot Corridor, the former NYC passenger route. I think its about 75 miles or so.

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak owns and operates the "High Speed" segment of the Detriot Corridor, the former NYC passenger route. I think its about 75 miles or so.

That's sounds about right P40. I think it might be a little longer than 75, but not by much. I do know that Amtrak does indeed operate it.

 

[tp49]

I still feel the underlying issue here is a potential illegal work stoppage as no matter what the MOW workers and their union consider it to be in the grand scheme of things a court will be very likely to grant Amtrak injunctive relief to keep the workers from going off the job. Now you're getting into dangerous territory and risking a contempt citation for ignoring the judge's order, which begs the question would the MOW workers be willing to risk this or if ordered by a court to go back to work would they?

Just to clarify things, at present it's only the Maintenance Of Way (MOW) workers who are threating this job action. These are the guys who fix the tracks and signals.
So unless a track broke or a signal failed during the job action, regular Amtrak service would not be affected. Additionally any impact would largely be felt only here in the NE, which outside of a small amount of track near Chicago, are the only places that Amtrak actually owns the tracks.

As mentioned previously a court would look to see if the job function performed by these workers has a direct effect on public saftey and in this case again signal and track maintenance would have a direct effect on public saftey especially in an emergency situation. Not to say that a problem would be imminent; however, in the event something did happen they would need to get that issue fixed as quickly as possible.

Working for government or a quasi-governmental entity is not the same as working for a private sector employer especially relating to the ability of their employees to strike as their right to do so is extremely limited. I still believe that this stoppage is a bad idea and would hope more constructive ways of showing their displeasure with current funding could be found.

 

[AlanB]

I still believe that this stoppage is a bad idea and would hope more constructive ways of showing their displeasure with current funding could be found.

Agreed, I think that if this job action happens it's not going to be good for anyone. The workers or Amtrak. Worse it may just anger some of those in Congress who do support Amtrak, as they may now think that Amtrak's employee's really are part of the problem and not the solution.

 

[steve_relei]

I have said before: when the trains are not running, it creates havoc, inconvenience, disruption. This is true when there is a large blackout, when there is a hurricane, or when there is a strike. People--politicians, the media, the general public--need to realize just how important the trains still are, even if we don't always think of them that way.

After the storm, for example, when the trains are back on track and running again, life has returned to normal (or so it would seem).