This Week at Amtrak; January 21, 2008

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org



Volume 5, Number 2



Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California, Arizona, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. For more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.


URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from any outside sources.


1) EVERYONE involved in the process should hang their heads in shame. Some people may be smiling on the surface, but that only covers the long-lasting damage which has been done.

Of course, we’re referring to Amtrak’s recent agreement with the 12 unions which represent the majority of its contract workers.

2) The Presidential Emergency Board appointed by the White House should hang its collective head in shame for going along with the demands of the unions without any major concessions on work rules.

Any reasonable person recognizes that any living, breathing industry, such as the railroad industry, is going to be subject to changing conditions due to technology advances and finding better ways of doing things. By freezing employee work rules at decades-old levels based on backwards thinking, no one prospers, because the company remains married to the past, and unable to advance into the future with bright prospects of modernization, a better way of doing things, and a better shot at prosperity based on modern requirements.

3) The collective union leadership should hang it collective head in shame for allowing these contracts to fester since 1999. Clearly, union leadership bought into the “woe-is-me” mentality of Amtrak leadership that conveniently blamed many problems on union workers instead of themselves, who were really the people responsible for making Amtrak a viable concept. Too many Amtrak leaders for too long have completely bought into the emotional and financial crutch that Congress will always bail Amtrak out with free federal money year after year, and, therefore, don’t have to be fiscally responsible for any facet of their work life. This mentality has spilled over into dealing with the unions, “Oops! Congress won’t give us the money, so you union workers have to take the hit,” instead of trying to find better ways of doing things and more paying passengers creating revenue passenger miles.

4) Rank and file union workers should hang their collective head in shame for allowing their union leaders to bamboozle them into thinking there is good reason it’s taken since 1999 to get a new contract. These union workers seemed satisfied year after year to work without a raise or significant change in benefits while their union leadership bought into Amtrak management’s lame excuses. In the real world, where else has it ever taken eight years without a contract for things to come to a final conclusion?

5) Amtrak executives and its board of directors should hang their collective head in shame for allowing their union employees – the very heart of Amtrak’s operations – to work without a contract since 1999. Unhappy employees translate into unhappy passengers. Unhappy passengers translate into the “never again” passengers Amtrak has accumulated so many of these past 36 years. As said above, why couldn’t Amtrak senior management solve this problem before? Obviously, it took the strong leadership of immediate past board chairman David Laney to get the ball rolling, and it took the day-to-day leadership of former Union Pacific Railroad Vice President and now Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant to bring these contracts to a conclusion. Say what you may about the Union Pacific Railroad, but it’s a pretty good guess that ANYONE working at the UP which dragged out labor contracts for this long would be history, and never even invited back to an employee-sponsored picnic. Mr. Kummant’s sense of the real railroad world readily paid off in this instance, and he will receive credit the contracts were finalized during his stewardship of Amtrak.

6) The news media should hang their collective heads in shame for covering the story of an impending strike by Amtrak union employees in near-hysterical terms, and treating the story as an apocalyptical event. By beating the impending-strike horse to death in the first two weeks of the month-long deadline for a contract resolution, the news media managed to continue to fan the flames of a woebegone Amtrak near extinction. One has to wonder where this same news media is with the same amount of concern about Amtrak and rail passengers when other stories are written about peak travel times or storm-ravaged travel times, and passenger rail is given nary a mention. Could the news media be collective opportunists?

7) What do the new contracts mean for Amtrak? Better pay for contract workers (but, still below freight railroads in general for the same work performed), promised raises, and back pay averaging a little less than $13,000 per contract employee to cover the years the contracts were not negotiated. No work rules changes are made. The lack of work rules change is the most damaging part of the contracts. For the life of these contracts, Amtrak will be unable to institute time-saving and money-saving changes, and must cling to what in some cases is an outdated way of doing things.

While the contract employees are receiving back pay (in two lump sums over a two year period), they are really receiving only a Band-Aid for their problems. No work rules change translates into no progress for the company or movement towards Amtrak being a more self-sufficient organization. The contracts do nothing to help guarantee Amtrak’s future, or orderly growth.

8) All in all, it turns out that contract negotiations since 1999 have accomplished nothing that could not have been accomplished at any point in time for the past eight years. It took three Amtrak presidents, and at least three different groups on Amtrak’s board of directors to get something done that could have been done at any given moment during the Clinton administration, an administration that considered Amtrak a labor issue in the political world, yet did nothing to help labor achieve a contract with Amtrak before it left office in January of 2001.

9) Has anyone noticed the irony of Union Pacific’s long, handsome, and much photographed business train? The armor yellow trains, spiffed up in the best traditions of the City of Los Angeles and a number of other famous Union Pacific transcontinental trains, sports sleepers, lounges, diners, domes, and all sorts of other equipment, pulled by revved up F-unit passenger diesels. The train is a sight to behold, and is constantly photographed. Union Pacific proudly shows off its extensive rail system by inviting shippers and other executives on these train trips, and entertains them well.

So, if the UP is so excited about offering such top-notch passenger service to its senior employees and best customers and potential customers, isn’t it ironic that UP is considered by most to be Amtrak’s most contentious host railroad? Apparently, what is good for the UP goose is not good for the Amtrak gander.


If you are reading someone else’s copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can receive your own free copy each week by sending your e-mail address to


freetwa@unitedrail.org


You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state where you live. If you have filters or firewalls placed on your Internet connection, set your e-mail to receive incoming mail from twa@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.


All other correspondence, including requests to unsubscribe, should be addressed to


brucerichardson@unitedrail.org


URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.


J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-7739
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org