Vol. 80/No. 16 April 25, 2016
Union: Amtrak rail worker deaths ‘totally unacceptable’
“There have been three track worker fatalities in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor since March 1, 2016,” said Freddie Simpson, international president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, in a statement issued the next day. “This is totally unacceptable and points to systemic deficiencies in the safety culture at Amtrak.”
Joe Carter Jr., 61, the backhoe operator who was killed, was a member of the BMWE. The other fatality was maintenance supervisor Peter John Adamovich, 59. About three dozen passengers were injured.
The crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. According to initial statements by the NTSB, the train was traveling under the speed limit and the engineer applied the emergency brakes five seconds before impact. The train skidded another mile before derailing.
The very day of the crash, Sen. Charles Schumer from New York told the Associated Press, “Clearly this seems very likely to be human error.”
“What he’s really saying is ‘worker’ error,” said John Staggs, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania. “But the real source is the dangerous conditions and pressures created by the capitalist bosses. We say, ‘No worker has to die!’”
“Amtrak has abandoned a close call reporting system that permitted these problems to be identified and resolved without waiting for fatalities,” said BMWE Pennsylvania Federation General Chairman Jed Dodd in the union statement. The company “instituted a draconian discipline program designed to intimidate and silence the rank and file regarding safety. … The blame should lay squarely at the feet of senior management officials responsible for these misguided and regressive policies.”
At the Fair & Square grocery a block from the crash site, some customers raised their concerns with the Militant.
“The railroad companies only fix something after an accident, or after some injustice,” said Clifford Stokes, who worked 28 years in maintenance for the SEPTA commuter system. “They think the workers are beneath them.”
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One-day strike opposes job cuts at Calif. warehouse
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