Miami Herald: Union leaders fight rail plans
Nov 30, 2009
Florida union leaders said plans to expand commuter rail service in Florida would result in union-busting.
BY BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
Miami Herald–November 28, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — A bill that would help create a commuter rail system in parts of Florida is being challenged by union leaders who call the proposal an attack on organized labor.
Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams said the Florida Department of Transportation, the Crist administration and Florida House want to allow the state to replace protected railroad workers with less qualified, less experienced non-union transit employees.
“That threatens vital protections for thousands of workers and, by extension, the safety of the riding public,” Williams said.
Legislative leaders are expecting to go into special session Thursday on proposals to expand Florida’s public rail system along the I-4 corridor and in the densely populated South Florida region. Florida lawmakers hope a strong bipartisan showing supporting an advanced rail system will garner federal financial backing.
“The legislation being considered for the proposed special session next week fails Florida workers,” said Williams, who called the proposal “nothing short of government-enabled union busting.”
Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach and House Speaker Larry Cretul of Ocala told their respective members just before Thanksgiving to prepare to go into special session Thursday on legislation that would create a new passenger rail system in central Florida and persuade Congress to help the state pay for a high speed rail system.
Leaders said they expected to issue a formal order Monday to hold the special session.
Gov. Charlie Crist is also in favor of the special session, partly in hopes of attracting yet more federal financial help down the road. The commuter project is seen as vital to Florida’s chances of securing federal money for a high-speed system linking Orlando and Tampa and eventually extending to Miami.
The federal government is making $8 billion available for high-speed systems across the nation. A key criteria, though, is that such systems have links to local transportation networks.
A contract has already been signed between the state and CSX Transportation Inc. to have more than 60 miles of rail in Orlando go from carrying freight to carrying people. But Sen. Paula Dockery, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, has opposed legislation that would redirect long, noisy, slow-running freight trains traveling through her Lakeland hometown in Polk County.