NARP

NARP blog

TRAINS: A travel choice Americans want

» Visit the Official NARP Website

Presidential Emergency Board Recommendations

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Presidential Emergency Board 242, appointed by President Bush, seems at first blush to have delivered almost everything the unions wanted.  This is not something that everyone would have predicted that a group of Bush appointees would do.  The recommendations may reduce the likelihood of a strike at the end of January, since the unions—having the PEB recommendations on their side—are likely to be focused on getting them implemented, and thus on avoiding actions—like a strike—that would antagonize the nation in general and the lawmakers on whom the unions would be counting to fund these recommendations.  But don’t take that prediction to the bank!  Stay tuned for further developments, and see also the report at the bottom of our January 4 Hotline.

--Ross B. Capon

Posted by NARP | (4) Comments

Next entry: Dining with Amtrak's Diner Lite Previous entry: NARP's Ross Capon on the Radio with Arthur Frommer

Comments


It isn’t only NEC commuters who need to worry about this strike. Rail Travel Center has a sold-out winter tour to Yellowstone and Glacier going Chicago-Salt Lake City on the CZ on February 13, returning on the EMPIRE BUILDER Whitefish-Chicago on Feb 22. As we have 41 passengers finding last minute air will be a nightmare and we can’t block reasonably priced seats in advance because the airlines expect virtually immediate payment (and make it non-refundable) for such a large block. We are praying for a settlement!

Carl Fowler

Comment by Carl Fowler  on  01/07  at  02:20 PM

I find the PEB recommendations curious.  Essentially, they’re saying that Amtrak must abide by the Class I freight agreements, and, if they can’t afford it, then tough.  One could interpret this to be part of the Bush Administration’s strategy of general hostility to rail passenger service, and making the Congress responsible for whatever outcome occurs. 

It sure puts Kummant in a tough spot.  While pay clearly needs to be improved among some employee classes, there continues to be a real need for productivity improvements, particularly in the mechanical area. 

Andreas Aeppli

Comment by Andreas Aeppli  on  01/07  at  03:01 PM

You are saying exactly what I was thinking, but couldn’t figure out how to express it without antagonizing unions. So intense is the Bush Administration’s hatred of Amtrak, and they know their time to kill them had basically run out, that they are willing to virtually side with labor (enemy of an enemy is a “friend") in order to make their operating costs as high as possible to make their post-Bush life as miserable as possible. I do not support one-conductor trains, and VIA Rail’s approach to firing all conductors may be too extreme, but they are still productivity improvements that should happen.

Comment by Joe M. Versaggi  on  01/08  at  07:42 AM

My personal sense is that Amtrak employees do not want a strike, however they do have other options.  There has been some flow of labor to some commuter rail operations who pay quite a bit more I understand.  The bottom line is that you cannot just go on ignoring organized employees.  Amtrak does not have to pay them one cent more, the employees don’t have to work for what they deem unfair wages unless ordered back to work.  I’m retired from the rail industry and would not want to go through what I went through again.as regards working hours.  In the DC area freight railroads are having a fit finding and retaining freight service employees even though they pay quite a bit more.  The problem is the life style that goes with the job and being away from your family and loved ones for the operating crafts.  Let us hope that things will be settled in a sane and fair way well before the end of January 2008, if not, both sides could be losers.

Comment by Claude Milton Dixon, Jr.  on  01/12  at  12:10 PM



» Please login or register for an account to post a comment.

©2005 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website

» Recent Entries

» Blogroll

» Terms of Service for Comments

You may register to post comments in response to NARP-generated postings on the Blog. By registering you agree 1) that all comments will be relevant to the respective posting and 2) not to post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or that violate any laws. We reserve the right to permanently block postings from any user who does not abide by the above terms. NARP reserves the right to remove, edit, or move any messages for any reason.

» Monthly Archives


RSS 1.0 | RSS 2.0 | Atom
What is RSS?

Add to Technorati Favorites