Amtrak, unions settle

Amtrak reached a tentative agreement with nine labor unions yesterday to avert a potentially devastating strike at the end of the month.

The deal would give the unions many of the wage and benefit concessions they had sought since their last contract expired on Dec. 31, 1999.

The agreement adopts recommendations issued Dec. 30 by a presidential emergency board the Bush administration appointed to avoid a strike.

Union leaders said they expect their members to ratify the agreement in the next few weeks.

"This new year brings a potential close to an eight-year struggle for our brothers and sisters of Amtrak," Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen President W. Dan Pickett said.

The presidential emergency board's report, which recommended that Amtrak grant back wages to its workers, triggered a 30-day countdown until a strike would become legal.

"The long overdue compensation for these workers is finally at hand," Mr. Pickett said.

Amtrak officials have said the back pay and wage concessions the unions demanded would burden them with a $150 million funding shortfall if the money is paid in the current fiscal year.

For Washington area commuters, the agreement means they will not need to find alternatives to Maryland's MARC commuter rail service or the Virginia Railway Express to get in and out of the District. Amtrak employees operate and maintain trains for both commuter rail agencies. A strike would have crippled their ability to provide service.

"Relief," said Jawauna Greene, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration, which oversees MARC, to describe her reaction to the tentative labor agreement.

MARC officials were taking bids from the region's bus services to arrange alternative transportation for customers in case of a strike.

"This would have had a profound impact on the community," Ms. Greene said.

Amtrak officials did not comment on terms of the tentative agreement. They merely said they were happy they had reached one.

"We have averted a possible strike that could have had a crippling effect on the lives of millions of Americans," Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant said.

Joel Parker, a spokesman for the Transportation Communications International Union and a lead negotiator, said the tentative contract includes back pay totaling more than three times what Amtrak was offering and none of the concessions on work rules that Amtrak had been seeking.

It includes wage increases that average 35.2 percent over the life of the agreement from January 2000 through Dec. 31, 2009 — or about 3.1 percent per year, according to a union official involved in the deal.

The labor dispute, which had continued despite years of unsuccessful mediation, involved about 10,000 employees. There never has been a strike in Amtrak's 36-year history.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said there appears to be a "pretty universal feeling" that the agreement will be ratified.

If there had been a strike, the 71,000 people who use the service every day would not have been the only ones affected. Hundreds of thousands of people who ride commuter trains also would have suffered because many such services depend on Amtrak employees or infrastructure, particularly in the Northeast.

"A strike is no good," said Omar Eldin, a structural engineer who commutes to New York from Matawan, N.J. "The public pays the price."

"I knew they would settle," said Letti O'Loughlin, a real estate agent who lives in East Orange, N.J., and commutes to Harlem in New York City. "You shut down Penn Station, which is the hub of transportation in New York City, and it would be absolute chaos."

Amtrak, which depends heavily on federal subsidies, was concerned about how it would afford the back wages, which would average nearly $13,000 per employee. The railroad had offered to give each worker a lump signing bonus of $4,500 instead of back pay.

"This is a fair and balanced settlement between Amtrak and its workers," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, who pressed both sides to come to an agreement. c This story is based in part on a wire service report.

Nine labor organizations signed yesterday's tentative agreement with Amtrak:

1. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

2. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

3. International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers

4. Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen

5. Joint Council of Carmen, Helpers, Coach Cleaners and Apprentices

6. American Train Dispatchers Association

7. National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/Service Employees International Union

8. American Railway & Airline Supervisors Association, which includes Maintenance of Equipment and Maintenance of Way union members

Source: Amtrak