Potential Amtrak Strike Delayed

A possible strike by Amtrak maintenance workers over wages and other labor issues was averted Monday until at least Nov. 6 because of progress made in bargaining talks between the passenger railroad and union representatives, a Transportation Department official said.

A walkout that could have begun as early as 9 p.m. today was put off for at least eight days at the request of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who oversaw negotiations between Amtrak and the 2,300-member Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees.

“He was there urging the parties on to reach an agreement,” Transportation Department spokesman Bill Shulz said. “In light of the significant progress that has been made in these talks, the secretary has recommended to the parties an extension of [tonight’s] deadline for self-help, and the parties have accepted that recommendation.”

Cliff Black, an Amtrak spokesman, said the extension means good news for railroad passengers.

“We are concerned, though, that the postponement will return us to the last-minute uncertainty we’re experiencing right now,” he said. “However, it does afford more time for a solution to the problem.”

A union spokesman for the BMWE could not immediately be reached for comment.

It is estimated that a strike would affect 50,000 daily riders on Amtrak’s Boston-Washington Northeast corridor service as well as more than 400,000 riders on commuter lines in the Northeast.

Before Monday’s breakthrough, the two sides were bargaining against a deadline of 9 o’clock tonight, when a seven-day cooling-off period expires. The union had announced no definite plans for a work stoppage as the bargaining continued.

Shulz said there was “significant engagement” from both sides on various issues, including the main sticking point: a call for a 3.5% wage increase for employees. Amtrak said such an increase could lead the government-subsidized railroad into bankruptcy.

The extension of talks came as Republican leaders began discussing hurry-up legislation to prevent a possible Amtrak strike, although Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) linked the measure to controversial labor changes at the railroad.

Under a bill that was introduced in the Senate late last week, no strike or lockout would be permitted in the Amtrak dispute until 90 days after enactment of Amtrak’s operating budget for the next five years. The issue would then be subject to binding arbitration.

At a news conference, Lott told reporters he might bring the anti-strike measure to the Senate floor as early as today and “move to attach Amtrak reform to that.”

Later, Lott told a reporter, “We may not succeed, but we’ll try.”

Passage of the broader Amtrak bill would open the way to $2.3 billion in capital-improvement funds, money that was envisioned in the balanced-budget agreement passed earlier this year.

Any attempt to link the funding to legislation dealing with a strike could threaten passage of the measure in the House, where action on the bill was postponed last week after it became clear it did not have enough support.

Electoral politics is also adding spice to the uncertain legislative environment.

New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, locked in a tight race for reelection, is eager to prevent a strike that could disrupt the lives of commuters and others in her state, and has asked senior GOP leaders to do what they can to prevent a walkout.

Congressional officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Republican governor had spoken personally in recent days with House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and had conveyed her position to Lott’s office through aides. New Jersey holds its gubernatorial election Nov. 4.

While Lott told reporters he may move as early as today to bring the Amtrak bill to the Senate floor, senior House Republican leaders are also expected to discuss the issue at their regularly scheduled weekly meeting today.

The legislation that would block a strike was introduced in the Senate on Friday by Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt.), chairman of the Labor Committee.

The broader Amtrak measure provides changes in existing labor rules that supporters say are needed to avert the passenger railroad’s bankruptcy. “At some point, unless there are labor reforms, Amtrak will never be a profitable enterprise,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Unions and their allies in Congress are opposed to at least some of the proposed changes. On the other hand, conservative Republicans are reluctant to vote for additional money for Amtrak without the labor rule changes.