Thursday, December 11, 2003

Judge to Allow Amtrak Employees to Strike washingtonpost.com Judge to Allow Amtrak Employees to Strike in Dec. By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 11, 2003; 11:38 AM Thousands of Amtrak employees are allowed to walk off the job for one day during this bustling holiday month to protest President Bush's and Congress's lack of support for the struggling passenger rail service, a federal judge said in a decision released today. Amtrak had asked the federal court to issue a preliminary injunction to stop four employee unions from conducting a one-day work stoppage during December, the rail line's busiest travel month. Amtrak argued that the union leaders were not trying to alert the public to the railroad company's ailing financial status, but rather their threatened one-day protest was "really union muscle-flexing designed to gain a strategic advantage in ongoing negotiations over new collective bargaining agreements." U.S. District Judge James Robertson said that "it is indeed possible that a measure of the truth lies on both sides." He notes that while a congressional conference committee agreed to give Amtrak an annual subsidy of $1.22 million the day before a hearing in his court on the injunction request, Amtrak's chief executive David L. Gunn had previously insisted that if Amtrak did not receive $1.8 million, critical infrastructure on the line would be in jeopardy and "on any given day something could fail." Robertson said that, although Amtrak had received its annual subsidy, the National Railroad Corporation, also known as Amtrak, failed to show that the unions were not still concerned and motivated by this financial gap. The unions arguing for the one-day work stoppage are the Transport Workers Union of America, Service Employees International Union's National Council of Firemen and Oilers and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. © 2003 The Washington Post Company Advancing the world of work through e-unionism. Paul Plaganis District Chairperson TCU District #861 10:27:32 PM    feedback []  trackback []   Google It!

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