Tentative Amtrak deal heads off Caltrain strike

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 20, 2008 | by Will Oremus

Amtrak reached a tentative deal with its employee union on Friday, heading off a strike that would have shut down Caltrain and dozens of other railroads nationwide.

Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters union must still approve the contract for it to take effect.

Caltrain officials were relieved at the news, spokesman Jonah Weinberg said. The agency had no dispute with its own workers, but the rail line is operated by contract with Amtrak and depends on about 350 Amtrak union employees.

Caltrain had begun discussing plans to alert customers in case of a work stoppage, which could have come as early as Jan. 30. But the agency hadn't yet publicized the possibility of a service interruption.

"We were always hopeful that (a strike) wouldn't happen," Weinberg said. "We've never had any issues with Amtrak."

The strike would have been the first in Amtrak's 36-year history. After years of fruitless negotiations, an emergency board appointed by President Bush entered the fray and issued a report on Dec. 30 that supported many of the union's claims.

"The (union) members have waited and worked for eight very long years without a contract," Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. "It was a surprise to us that a board appointed by President Bush, one of the most anti-labor presidents in history, decided upon a resolution to the Amtrak contract that awarded most of what we in rail labor had been fighting for."

A Caltrain shutdown would have forced more than 35,000 riders per day to take the freeway or find other means of transportation on the Peninsula.

Amtrak's Capitol Corridor service between San Jose and Sacramento also would have been affected. The East Bay's Altamont Commuter Express trains could have been shut out of San Jose due to closure of the Diridon station.

E-mail Will Oremus at woremus@dailynewsgroup.com.