Amtrak Workers Plan Strike to Protest Lack of Financing
September 17, 2003 By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 - Six Amtrak unions are to announce on Wednesday that they will stop work on Oct. 3, shutting the railroad for the day, to protest Congress's failure to pass a $1.8 billion appropriation for the railroad for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
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Good for them. Of course, bad, if it doesn't raise a stink...but a little quasi-suicidal "see how you'll miss me when I'm gone" tactics may be in order.
Are we prepared for the event of a backfire and they strike and no one notices?
Posts: 42 | From: Akron, Ohio USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I'll be one of the first to know as I'll be in the middle of a coast-to-coast on the Sunset. If they do carry out the strike I sure hope they continue into New Orleans for the day!
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
The strike is an interesting idea, but I'm still weighing the implications and don't know if it will help or hurt or what. It might draw attention to the issue in a dramatic way. It will probably upset the passengers who are affected and thus may have a negative result. A lot may depend on how the press covers it.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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Well, according to on board personnel on the City of New Orleans and the Sunset Limited over the past 2 days, the strike is a definite possibility. The problem is that at one minute after midnight, they will apparently just stop the train wherever they can and walk. I don't know if it will happen that way, but I'm forced to cancel my 3 night Sunset Limited trip. Too bad...
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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Amtrak has already stated they will get an injunction to stop the strike. Whether that will in fact stop it remains 2/b seen.
Posts: 249 | From: Downey CA USA | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
This is unwise. Just what the AMTK opponents need is something like this. I can see it now:"The train already loses money, nobody I know rides the trains - why are we subsidizing them, they don't make money . . .etc, etc, and now they're on strike - did anyone notice? Didn't think so. Time for them to go . . . ." and so on. What Amtrak must do and must continue to do is to show how it fills a need or a niche in the transport marketplace. It filled the need for me (well, kind of) this past weekend when I traveled to a relatives wedding and read from the Bible.
If anything, the strike just might give passenger rail detractors the example they want in order to prove passenger rail "irrelevancy" in the North American transport market. This strike can be used against the workers in such a fashion that they will shoot themselves in the foot. > Bad move, Amtrak employees.
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This kind of stuff really demonstrates how the power of unions has been undermined in this country. (Did you know that the NYCTA labor force is actually forbidden by law to go on strike, by comparison…??)
Just goes to show that the power of Washington is far greater than anyone suspects. Forget about being scared of "1984"—we're living it.
posted
All absolutely correct. If even the threat of this kind of action can force an Amtrak supporter like myself to cancel (costing them $323) imagine what it does to those sitting on the fence.
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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Bad move, Amtrak employees.
