Maintenance of Way Members Approve New Amtrak Contract

New Contract Provides Back Pay, Improved Benefits

WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 1,600 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) overwhelmingly have approved a new contract with Amtrak after eight years of negotiations. The contract provides significant increases in wages and benefits, a welcome outcome to the thousands of railroad workers working at sub-par rates for the past several years.

"It has been a hard fought battle for eight years," said Fred Simpson, BMWED President and Teamsters International Vice President. "This once again illustrates the advantage of a coalition bargaining strategy."

BMWED partnered with three other rail unions in the Passenger Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition to end the long-protracted Amtrak negotiations that began in 2000. Last December, a Presidential Emergency Board appointed by President Bush recommended that Amtrak pay its employees the back pay owed them and improve their benefits under a new contract. The contract was ratified yesterday.

"We were very surprised that a board appointed by President Bush would recommend a contract that was favorable to working men and women," Simpson said. "Our members enthusiastically supported the agreement, as evidenced by the ratification vote. In these uncertain economic times, it is gratifying that our members and their families finally have a fair collective bargaining agreement at Amtrak."

BMWED members build and maintain rail track, ties, bridges and rail terminal buildings across the United States. In addition to 1,600 Amtrak workers, the BMWED also represents 34,000 similar employees of freight and commuter railroads across North America. The BMWED is a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents 1.4 million hard working men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.