Will Employees strike in '08?

[Miami Joe]

As everyone knows, Amtrak is facing a strike by the majority of unions.

Bush signed a PEB to avert a strike during the holidays, but it's obvious a cooling off period is not going to help negotiations.

Amtrak has filed lawsuits to break up the union coalition, trying to force them to negotiate individually as in the past. Usually all unions would follow whatever union came to an agreement first. I think Amtrak is really confused with this new tactic.

8 yrs without a contract is shameful and Amtrak refuses to pay backpay. A $4500 "signing bonus vs. $13,000 in backpay is a joke. But Amtrak assumed that the employees would accept this offer as they have in the past! Isn't it funny they always make this offer before the holiday season?? Shameful!!!!

I wonder if this is the 1st time the Amtrak has really had to deal with the employees rejecting its offer so seriously?

The last strike lasted 20 minutes!!!

MJ B)

 

[battalion51]

The simple fact is that contract that Amtrak offered to the crews back in August was complete and absolute garbage. The only pay increases that these guys were getting were their COLA, which they should have been getting all along. I don't think I've ever seen uni-lateral disdain amongst employees for something Amtrak has done like I did with that last contract. It was a national vote down. One engineer on his ballot as to whether to accept the contract wrote, "Not only no but (explitive) no."

 

[daveyb99]

I would support them either way. However, given the political landscape until JAN 2009, I think it might be foolish to say YES.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

As everyone knows, Amtrak is facing a strike by the majority of unions.
Bush signed a PEB to avert a strike during the holidays, but it's obvious a cooling off period is not going to help negotiations.

Amtrak has filed lawsuits to break up the union coalition, trying to force them to negotiate individually as in the past. Usually all unions would follow whatever union came to an agreement first. I think Amtrak is really confused with this new tactic.

8 yrs without a contract is shameful and Amtrak refuses to pay backpay. A $4500 "signing bonus vs. $13,000 in backpay is a joke. But Amtrak assumed that the employees would accept this offer as they have in the past! Isn't it funny they always make this offer before the holiday season?? Shameful!!!!

I wonder if this is the 1st time the Amtrak has really had to deal with the employees rejecting its offer so seriously?

The last strike lasted 20 minutes!!!

MJ B)

Well I am no longer at Amtrak, but I will say chances are there will be a strike this time. It will happen sometime in February unless an acceptable agreement is reached before then! It was getting pretty ugly during my tenure, too as bat51 has already stated. OBS gone freight...

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

I would support them either way. However, given the political landscape until JAN 2009, I think it might be foolish to say YES.

Well Amtrak is in a rock and a hard place. There is no money budgeted now for what needs to be done, and things have boiled briskly to a point that is too close to the last hour! The rest I will leave alone as it doesn't need to be here.... OBS gone freight...

 

[In the know]

There is alot of money being spent on repairs on all of the equipment in Amtraks inventory.

Cars are being inspected in detail for undercar and interior defects. Many trains have been detained from departure until all defects were corrected.

Rumor has it that the Miami Maintenance facilitiy will be overhauled soon, costing millions of dollars and will start to overhaul cars!

 

[sechs]

My feeling is that a law will be passed preventing a strike.

While it seems as if both sides have made mistakes in this situation, I don't think that this strike threat is helping the unions' cases.

 

[dan72]

While I can certainly understand the situation at hand, I personally hope that one is prevented as the political fallout could be devastating to Amtrak. On a personal and selfish level, I have a trip out to Arizona again planned for early March, so from that standpoint, I'm hoping it doesn't reach the strike stage.

Dan

 

[battalion51]

In all likelihood, if there was a strike it would be very short lived. Not only because of the vital services Amtrak provides on the NEC, but also because of the large commuter contracts their employees fill including MARC, VRE, and Sounder.

 

[KCM]

Although I have booked nine trips on Amtrak this December and January, I support the strike of Amtrak staffs. Suppressions and exploitation from the capitalist cannot be tolerated anytime.

 

[Steve M]

I take one long-distance round trip every year, and of course, it's in February. Would anyone care to speculate on percent chances I won't get to this year due to a strike?

 

[Guest]

Although I have booked nine trips on Amtrak this December and January, I support the strike of Amtrak staffs. Suppressions and exploitation from the capitalist cannot be tolerated anytime.

Thank You Mr. Marx!

 

[wayman]

Although I have booked nine trips on Amtrak this December and January, I support the strike of Amtrak staffs. Suppressions and exploitation from the capitalist cannot be tolerated anytime.

Thank You Mr. Marx!

Oh, don't be such a groucho... can we stop harpoing on this? :lol:

But seriously, I don't know what my stance is on this one. I don't want to see the Amtrak employees continue to be disrespected by management, but I don't want to see the Amtrak employees shoot themselves in the foot, either. The BLE strike against SEPTA in 1983 did win some (but not all) of the desired concessions from management... but the 108-day strike had the effect of cutting regional rail ridership by 28% (comparing 1982 and 1984; 1983's ridership is of course an irrelevant statistic since 1/3 of the year had zero riders). Car sales skyrocketed in the Philadelphia area, and Regional Rail ridership took years to recover. (Ridership had already plummeted between 1979 and 1982 due to service cutbacks; twenty-eight years later, it still hasn't recovered to 1979 levels.) Even though the strike won the BLE some very important benefits, n the long run, reduced ridership probably resulted in fewer raises, more service cutbacks, fewer new jobs, declining benefits, encouraged retirement, and other negatives.

Was it a net positive for anyone (the BLE, SEPTA, or the greater Philadelphia area), in the end? Hard to say... but I think the area car dealerships were the big winners.

I'd really like to see the union make their case to the public--strongly--so that the public is already on their side if/when they strike. I know next to nothing about union history and strike negotiations, but I can't help but think that such a move would create a less irate public. It might also reduce advanced ticket sales from potential vacationers during the potential strike's initial week or two, which could put pressure on management to negotiate more.

 

[Guest]

It's irritating enough to have to ride airplanes. And as we know Amtrak has some customer service issues. I hope that the traveling public doesn't get the aggravation of a rail strike added to the things you have to deal with when you want to get from point A to point B, pleasantly. I believe that Amtrak should not strike because it seems to be getting a head of steam at a critical point in its history and to lose it now could be disastrous in the long term.

That being said, I believe in the power of good Unions and theirs seems to stink (word edited). Perhaps, management can come to their senses and recognize the little PR advantage that Amtrak has at the moment and not lose it.

 

[In the Know]

I too, would like to see the srike possiblity go public with the media!!

Amtrak is putting out weekly bulletins trying to change employee's opinions and false info!

 

[Marion]

When a chief executive hires a labor relations consultant to battle a union, he gives the consultant run of the company and closes his eyes. The consultant, backed by attorneys, installs himself in the corporate offices and goes to work creating a climate of terror that inevitably is blamed on the union. h34r: