Amtrak Strike Averted
Whew! That was a close one! Amtrak workers are not going on strike!
Just about everyone who commutes into, out of, and within Boston on weekdays had one thing on their mind recently—the rapidly increasing likelihood that Amtrak employees would go on a nationwide strike come 12:01am on January 30.
If such a catastrophe occurred, the heavily used commuter rail system that lugs suburbanites in and out of metropolitan Boston via South Station—the main hub for Amtrak in the area—would become unavailable. Travelers forced to use the city’s public transportation routes as an alternative would then inevitably contribute to bus and train lines so overcrowded that earlier commutes from hell would seem like nirvana in comparison.
It was also roundly acknowledged that the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) would probably not even have sufficient resources to handle all of the rush-hour overflow traffic that South Station and the commuter rail system customarily service. Moreover, those people who chose to drive their own cars instead of relying on public transportation would only contribute to massive gridlock on Boston roads and surrounding highways.
At dispute were the terms of a new contract. Since Amtrak employees had been working without any formal agreement in place for the past eight years, certain details were very contentious, including the degree of back wages that Amtrak must pay for agreed-upon raises, in addition to the amounts required to make up for unpaid cost-of-living increases.
As anxious commuters braced for the first Amtrak strike in history, the company mercifully struck a deal with its employees’ unions on Friday, and not a moment too soon. Now Bostonians and suburbanites alike who toil downtown and in the outer regions of the city can rest assured that their trip to work won’t reach unendurable lengths in a couple of weeks.
Take it from someone who used to travel anywhere from four to six hours, six days a week, between home in New York and a job in New Jersey—there are few blessings greater for working stiffs than a speedy commute. This development is definitely reason to celebrate or at least be very, very thankful.
Tags: amtrak, boston, commuter-rail, massachusetts, mbta, new england, public-transportation, south-station, strike, work-commuteRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Getting Around - Local Transportation
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