BY RUTH ROBINETT
NEW YORK - "I don't like it -they're making workers look like bad guys. We are just asking to get paid." This is how Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way (BMWE) member Chris Nickoless, who works in the Building and Bridges Department at New York Penn Station, responded to the effort by Amtrak and the ruling class to turn people against the fight of BMWE members for wage parity.

Amtrak recently rejected wage recommendations from a government-appointed board. The wage recommendations are the same as those that were agreed to last year between the BMWE and other class 1 railroads. The board did not recommend the same benefit, job security, or work rule improvements that are also part of the agreement, but instead proposed these and other local issues be placed into binding arbitration for final resolution.

BMWE members have worked for over two years without a wage increase and had been preparing for a possible strike on October 22. At this time, the strike deadline has been extended from 12:01 a.m. October 22 until 12:01 a.m. October 29. Amtrak had asked the BMWE for a postponement until November 5.

A new development is an agreement, brokered by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, between union officials and Amtrak to try to keep the Long Island Rail Road (L.I.R.R.) running into Manhattan even if a strike occurs.

The agreement lets several dozen workers from other unions cross BMWE picket lines to maintain four miles of Amtrak- owned tracks that connect the L.I.R.R. system with N.Y. Penn Station, the destination of most of the L.I.R.R.'s 260,000 daily passengers. Negotiations are still under way between the BMWE and Amtrak. The BMWE organizes workers who construct and maintain Amtrak's railroad tracks, buildings, bridges, and electrical power systems that power trains.

The concerted effort being led by the ruling class to turn public solidarity away from the Amtrak workers includes Amtrak, other railroads, the news media, and politicians.

"Commuter doomsday is detailed, Fears of Amtrak strike" was the headline of an October 16 Daily News article here in New York. The first line says, "Transit officials have a one- word prediction for next week's threatened Amtrak strike: pain."

New Jersey Transit issued a notice to passengers warning, "If a strike occurs, railroads throughout the country, including NJ TRANSIT will not be able to operate rail service on portions of railroad which are owned and maintained by Amtrak." New Jersey governor Christine Whitman created an Emergency Transportation Council to "oversee statewide contingency plans in case of a strike."

Whitman announced last week that she had sent letters to President William Clinton, Speaker of the House Newton Gingrich, and Amtrak President Thomas Downs, asking them to "take extra steps to resolve this situation."

Warning signs about the strike have also been posted in Penn Station and in the New York subway system.

The anti-working-class propaganda has had an effect. One newly hired conductor described how over a two-day period passengers repeatedly asked if there was going to be a strike, some grabbing her arm to speak to her. One passenger lectured that if she and others walked out, Amtrak would go down and there would be no more jobs.

The hysteria around the strike includes lies about the fight of the track workers. The New York Post reported that BMWE "members earn about $42,000 a year." But BMWE members at Amtrak earn $12.69 an hour -about $507 for a 40-hour week, or $26,400 per year. The "presidential emergency board" recommended a 3.5 percent wage increase for just three of the six years between 1995 and 2000.

Among workers here at New York's Penn Station and Sunnyside Yard in Queens, many are angry about the campaign to slander the track workers, and the BMWE's recent announcement that it will try to keep the L.I.R.R. running.

"Look at the facts," said coach cleaner Juliette Jusino, "give us more money!" Her coworker Betty Key agreed. "I want them to strike because we need the money. We should be equal to the rest of the railroads."

Referring to the L.I.R.R. arrangement, coach cleaner Shirley Quinn said, "They shouldn't strike if they're going to let everyone ride on the rails. The point is to stick together."

Engineer Leonard Robinson said, "Whoever's against it [the strike] is crazy because first it's them and then it's us." Track workers are "the hardest working people out here with the least amount of money."

Ruth Robinett is a member of United Transportation Union Local 1370 at Amtrak.  
 
 
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