Amtrak Strike Averted

NJ Transit, LIRR, and Metro North commuters can breath a sigh of relief and it's good news for hundreds of thousands of commuters around the nation who would have been adversely affected by an Amtrak strike that would have begun January 30. The union and the railroad have apparently come to terms on a new contract.

People familiar with the agreement, speaking on condition of anonymity because it had not been formally announced, said the labor agreement adopts the recommendations of a presidential emergency board report issued Dec. 30.

A public signing ceremony for the deal was tentatively scheduled for Friday morning.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said Friday morning that he did not have any information to release.

The unions had been negotiating with the railroad over a new contract since the terms of the last one ended in 1999. The PEB had recommended that wage increases be made retroactive and under the Railway Labor Act, most disputes are usually resolved with a contract based on the emergency board's report.

It isn't entirely clear how Amtrak will actually pay for the retroactive wage increases, and I'm sure that details will have to be worked out.