National strikes on the US railway planned for 30 January have been suspended after Amtrak and nine labour unions signed a tentative agreement following an eight-year contract dispute.
A Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) was set up by George W. Bush last December to investigate the extraordinarily long-running stalemate and its recommendations ” largely in favour of the workers” demands - have been initially accepted by both sides. Now it must be ratified by union members.
Amtrak president and CEO, Alex Kummant, said: ”By reaching these tentative agreements, we have averted a possible strike that could have had a crippling effect on the lives of millions of Americans.”
More than 10,000 Amtrak workers ” represented by the nine unions - have been without a contract since 2000. They will now receive wage increases that average 35.2% for the duration of the agreement ” dating from 1 January 2000 until 31 December 2009 - plus back pay in two instalments averaging $12,800 (”6,540).
The PEB said that ”Amtrak appeared content to continue to work its employees at 1999 wage levels” and said ”nothing short of full retroactivity is fair and equitable and appropriate to restore to employees lost wages that resulted from their inability to obtain a successor agreement over the unprecedented eight-year period.”
Another sticking point had been Amtrak”s proposed work-rule changes, which will be scrapped. The PEB said the company”s reasons for them were ”weak, at best, and with respect to many of the proposals bordered on nonexistent.” An Amtrak spokesman told ABTN the changes it was seeking would have made more efficient use of its labour pool.
”This new year brings a potential close to an eight-year struggle for our Brothers and Sisters of Amtrak,” said president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, W. Dan Pickett. ”Our nation”s passenger rail service is an important part of our economy and so are the dedicated workers of Amtrak. This agreement provides long-overdue compensation for these workers.”
”It was a surprise to us that a board appointed by President Bush, one of the most anti-labour presidents in history, decided upon a resolution to the Amtrak contract that awarded most of what we in rail labour had been fighting for,” said parent union Teamsters Rail Conference general president, Jim Hoffa, on behalf of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division.
A coalition of four of the unions involved is still unhappy on some points ” namely, that back pay excludes workers who retired after 1 December 2007 but before the agreement was signed - raising the possibility of a strike going ahead. One of them - the Transportation Communications Union - said in a statement that it is preparing for three scenarios if it can”t reach agreement on this by 12:01 on 30 January: ”A negotiated settlement, Congressional intervention or a strike.”