We realized some real progress
last October with the passage of H.R. 2095, the Federal Railroad Safety
Improvement Act of 2007. The Senate version of the bill, S. 1889 is still
pending. This bill contains many of the same provisions as the House bill, as
well as provisions to eliminate camp cars and reduce dark territory hazards,
but there is one major difference and it’s a big one—the Senate bill mandates
that the total number of hours of limbo time and on-duty time be limited to 276
per month. This provision was orchestrated by the carriers and would be
detrimental to many of our engineers. Because we view this as a deal-breaker,
our Legislative Department is working hard to have that provision struck,
either via an amendment in the Senate or during conference. But, we’ve learned
to expect this when someone is in the White House who is more interested in
helping corporations make money than the employees who risk their lives to make
that happen.
Amtrak
The Bush administration
recommended further cuts for Amtrak in its fiscal year 2009 budget. Amtrak
would see a 40 percent cut, from $1.33 billion in fiscal 2008 to $800 million
in fiscal 2009. Capital grants for the rail service would be sliced by $325
million. Operating subsidy grants, which received $475 million in 2008, would
be eliminated. Instead, Amtrak would have to request the money through the
Efficiency Incentive Grants account and would not receive it unless certain
benchmarks were reached. BLET National Legislative Representative John Tolman
stated, "These cuts are a misguided attempt by President Bush to balance
the budget by 2012 on the backs of Amtrak workers and passengers, and at the
expense of rail safety."
Amtrak
is expected to make a request to Congress for a larger amount, stating that
$1.67 billion is needed. Of that total, Amtrak said $506 million will be needed
to meet operating costs, while $801.4 million will be needed to invest in
capital projects and $345 million would be spent on debt service. The remaining
$19 million would be required to fund Amtrak's office of inspector general.
In
October, the Senate voted 70-22 to approve S. 294, which gave Amtrak nearly $2
billion a year. That bill is pending in the House.
BLET Reaches Tentative Agreement with Amtrak
On March 4, The BLET and Amtrak
reached a tentative agreement on their labor contract
covering 1,300 Passenger Engineers. The new contract is based exclusively on
the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board 242 and is typically
identical to the agreements reached by the nine other labor unions in January.
It also provides for a wage improvement package amounting to a 34.7 percent
increase over the hourly rate in effect at the end of the last agreement, 100%
retroactive pay recovery, and no work rule changes. “There are still numerous
other collective bargaining goals that must be addressed and won in the next
bargaining round,” said Amtrak General Chairman Mark Kenny. “However, this
tentative agreement stands as a monumental step toward equalizing the eight years
of inequity and frustration BLET Members, and all Amtrak employees have been
forced to confront on a daily basis.”
Mexican Trucking
Issue
On
February 12, the Teamsters Union argued in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
that the Bush administration broke the law when it opened the borders to trucks
from
Congress
had set safety requirements to be implemented before the border could be opened
to long-haul trucks, including upgrading inspection facilities, computer
databases, and state enforcement capacity. Although these requirements have not
yet been met, the Transportation Department opened the border as part of a
pilot program on September 6 and a handful of trucking companies are now
participating in the program.
The Teamsters filed for an emergency injunction to prevent the pilot program
from starting in August. That request was denied but the lawsuit was allowed to
proceed.
Section 136 of the omnibus budget signed into law in December included a
provision to ban funding for the pilot program. The Teamsters will argue in
court that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters broke the law when she
announced she would not close the border.
Teamster members held a rally outside the courthouse before the hearing,
carrying signs that read "NAFTA Kills" and "Fire Mary
Peters."