Reps. Dan Lipinski, Chuy Garcia, and Jan Schakowsky join ASWC rally goers at Chicago’s Union Station.
Yesterday, union members and officials rallied in front of Chicago’s Union Station to show their opposition to Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson’s union-busting activities. The three unions leading the rally comprise the Amtrak Service Workers Council (ASWC), and include TCU/IAM, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Unite-HERE Local 23.
Rally-goers were joined by Chicago-based Representatives Dan Lipinski (Il-3rd), Chuy Garcia (Il-4th) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-9th), all of which gave supportive remarks to the unions and promised to hold Amtrak accountable for their actions.
[Click HERE to watch video of rally]
Rep. Dan Lipinski (Il-3rd): “Amtrak is claiming that in order to make Amtrak better, you have to hurt workers. And that is wrong….Americans deserve to have good public transportation, and we need to hold Amtrak’s feet to the fire on that. And as the new chair of the Railroads, Pipelines and HazMat Subcommittee, I’m going to work to hold Amtrak’s feet to the fire.”
Rep. Chuy Garcia (Il-4th): “I’m proud to stand with you here today to say to Donald Trump and Richard Anderson that we will not stand for any privatization of Amtrak!”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Il-9th): “Under the leadership of Richard Anderson, Amtrak is on the wrong track!…And I think we can say for all the Democrats in the House of Representatives that when we fight, we win!…We live in a world class country we need a world class Amtrak.”
TCU Vice-President Jack Dinsdale: “On-Board Employees are skilled, trained and dedicated…these are professionals, they are the best of the best. It is time to recognize the hard workers at Amtrak, the great job they do every day and support them.”
