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Vol. 80/No. 16 April 25, 2016
Union: Amtrak rail worker deaths ‘totally unacceptable’
BY JANET POST
CHESTER, Pa. — An Amtrak maintenance worker and a supervisor were killed
here April 3 when a southbound train slammed into the backhoe they were
using on the track.
“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.”
Related articles:
Verizon workers strike against concession demands
Solidarity with Verizon strikers!
Australia gov’t presses attack on construction union rights
On the Picket Line
One-day strike opposes job cuts at Calif. warehouse
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