DECEMBER WEBSITE UPDATE
Congress’ target adjournment
for 2007 will be around December 14th. Currently, the battle with Bush over budgets
is taking most of the legislators time.
S. 1889, the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2007
– Companion bill to H.R. 2095, The Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of
2007
There has been no movement
on this bill as of yet, but once the appropriations bills for the fiscal year
that began October 1, 2007, are settled, the Senate should be able to move
forward on other business. We will keep
you advised as to any progress or movement this bill makes.
Appropriations
H.R. 1, Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11
Commission Act of 2007
In August, the President
signed into law H.R. 1, however, the administration now intends to slash
funding for counterterrorism programs, including port and transportation
security, in their upcoming budget proposals for fiscal year 2009. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) was quoted as
saying, “To say, no port security, no transit security, when we know that our
ports and transit lines are targets for terrorists makes no sense if you want
to protect
On November 8, the House and
Senate agreed on the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development funding
for FY ’08. The President has threatened
to veto this bill because it exceeds OMB requests. Amtrak funding is contained in this
measure. The White House Office of
Management and Budget’s recommendation for Amtrak funding would have meant shut
down.
On November 13th,
the President vetoed the Labor-Health and Human Services bill, and Congress
failed to override the veto. The failure
of this bill has forced the National Mediation Board to halt travel for
arbitrators and they have advised their arbitrators not to hear public law
board cases until further notice.
Amtrak
A potential strike of Amtrak
employees scheduled to begin December 1st, was called off following
the appointment by President Bush of a five member Presidential Emergency Board
(PEB 242). The National Mediation Board
released the parties from mediation on November 1, triggering a 30-day cooling
off period. The Board will have 30 days
to hold hearings and report to President Bush with non-binding recommendations
for settlement. After that, the parties
to the dispute have a second 30-day cooling off period to consider its
recommendations. If no agreement can be
reached, the unions would be free to strike.
As reported by the BMWED Pennsylvania
Federation, “in the past Congress has prevented rail strikes by taking the
recommendations of the PEB and imposing them on labor and management as the new
contract. They do this because they
believe our role in the economy is vital and we should not be permitted to
strike.” The report goes on to question say
that if their work is so vital to the economy, then why are they not
appropriately compensated.
Amtrak employees are not
being unreasonable in their requests, especially considering they have been
without a contract for 8 years. They
want the same consideration in their contract as what has been awarded in the
last two national freight contracts.
Just because a railroader is an employee of Amtrak, they should not be
penalized for working for Amtrak.
We should support our Amtrak
Brothers and Sisters and if it comes to Congress implementing a hostile Board’s
recommendation, we need to convince our Congressmen not to impose those
recommendations as their new contract.
We need to give our Amtrak brothers and sisters at least a fair hearing
which will probably not occur with a PEB appointed by this Administration.
Thanks for everything our
members do to support railroaders.
Best Wishes
for a Happy, Safe