AMTRAK
Funding Cut: On December 17, the House passed the Omnibus
Funding Bill for 2008 appropriations. There were across-the-board cuts for all
programs, including a $100 million cut in Amtrak funding. The funding for
Amtrak now stands at $1.325 billion.
Presidential
Emergency Board: On December 30, the President
received the report and recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board 242
(PEB), appointed to investigate the contract dispute between Amtrak and nine
labor unions. The report recommends adoption of most of labor’s proposals.
The PEB agreed with Labor that the
National Freight Agreement serves as a pattern for resolving this dispute.
Recommendations include that Amtrak workers should receive the wage increases
proposed by the unions, stating that, “In this case, 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 that employees have continued to work
without an agreement.” The PEB did however recommend that that the retroactive
pay be made in two installments, 40% within 60 days of
ratification and the remaining 60% on or before the anniversary date of the
first installment. It also recommends that retroactive pay be restricted only
to employees on the payroll as of
Noting Amtrak workers’ increased
productivity, the Board rejected Amtrak’s proposal for dramatic work rule changes,
stating that the evidence introduced by Amtrak in support of proposed changes
was weak and, in some cases, non-existent.
The President urges the parties to continue to work in good faith to resolve
their dispute, taking into account the Emergency Board's recommendations. If no
agreement is reached by
Amtrak Passengers go
Green: Amtrak has recently joined numerous other organizations and
companies in the fight against global warming by partnering with Carbonfund.org
to create a lower carbon world. Amtrak is now offering passengers carbon
offsets for rail travel. To contribute to the initiative, passengers can log
onto http://www.carbonfund.org/site/pages/land/amtrak
and make either a short-distance contribution of $3.00, which offsets 2500
miles of rail travel, or a long-distance contribution of $6.50, which offsets
5500 miles of rail travel. Just by choosing to travel by train, passengers are
already helping the environment. Because it is more energy efficient, the
carbon footprint created by rail travel is smaller than most other modes of
transportation.
RAILROAD RETIREMENT
The National Association of Retired and Veteran Railroad
Employees (NARVRE) is asking BLET members and their families to contact their
members in the House of Representatives to support legislation which they are
planning to introduce to remedy the inequities in the Railroad Retirement Act
as it relates to widows and widowers with the passage of the Railroad
Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of 2001. Although the 2001
legislation benefitted many, it did not allow for
cost of living increases (COLAs) for some 25 percent of railroad surviving
spouses. Under current law, those widows and widowers will not see a COLA until
at least five to seven years after the death of their railroad retiree spouse.
NARVRE is working to introduce legislation that will remedy this situation. As
of September 2007, the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund has a surplus of $32.7
billion, an increase of $13.3 billion since the enactment of the law in 2001. Another
section of the law known as the “Takeback Provision,”
introduced in 1983 when the Trust Fund was facing financial problem, allows for
Tier II benefits to be reduced by 5 percent, thereby permanently reducing
benefits upon the death of the retiree. The widow or widower then had their
annuity reduced by 5 percent. Please stay tuned as we keep you updated on the
actions taken by NARVRE to correct these inequities in our retirement plan.