BMWE Lodge 3014

Pennsylvania Federation

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Division
of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters

 

 

 

Amtrak Workers Killed by Safety Failures 

After two major train wrecks, one of which killed 8 passengers, and 4 employee fatalities in 18 months Amtrak senior management has declared that no changes to their deadly policies need to be made. Their arrogance and complete denial of their incompetence will only lead to another fatality. There is dangerous leadership from CEO Joe Boardman on down to Chief Engineer Rodrigo Bitar. These people hide behind closed doors and make life threatening decisions. As workers on Amtrak we have to stand strong and stick together and refuse any unsafe job, refuse to work with out the maximum amount of watchmen required. Never use the minimum or less. Protect yourself and your co-workers and use the maximum. Also, always use SSD's- ALWAYS.

This management is dangerous and we can not allow them to kill one more of our members with their incompetence!

A few managers, and there are more, that have shown that their decisions are dangerous are;

  ~ CEO Joe Boardman
~ V.P.  D.J.Stadtler
~ V.P. & Chief Safety Officer Michael Louge
~ Chief Engineer Rodrigo Bitar
 

All Amtrak workers, that work on the tracks, are advised to pay special attention to their protection against train movements. The decisions of the above named will get you killed if you don't.

If the last 2 train wrecks, 8 passengers and 4 employee deaths haven't convinced you of that, nothing will.

Jed Dodd's letter to Amtrak's Chairman of the Board Anthony Coscia demanding an immediate meeting with him to resolve these issues. Failure by Amtrak to address these issues, and test our resolve, will not end well. The lives our our members, and the riding public, is at stake.
Read the letter here

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BMWE Union Workers Rage Against Amtrak
At Workers' Memorial Day
Amtrak Workers Memorial Day
Full Story
BMWED/IBT Pennsylvania Federation General Chairman, Jed Dodd's, impassioned speech regarding Amtrak's failure to protect their workers.
Read speech

Letter from Jed Dodd, General Chairman of the Pennsylvania Federation, demanding immediate action from Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman. Read letter (pdf)

On Sunday morning, April 3rd, BMWED employee Joe Carter was killed when Amtrak train struck the backhoe he was operating in the area of Chester, PA. Also killed in this train strike was Amtrak Supervisor Pete Adamovich. Both Carter and Adamovich have worked 40-plus years on the railroad, both were set to retire in early summer. They were cribbing in advance of an undercutting and tie replacement project between "Hook" and "Baldwin" on Amtrak's Mid-Atlantic Division.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the men's families, and to their many friends and co-workers on Amtrak. As we struggle to get through this diffucult time we truly realize that "An injury to one is an Injury to All".

The BMWED's statement on this fatal accident can be read here