Amtrak and North America’s Building Trades Unions sign workforce MOU

Credit: hsr.ca.gov

Amtrak and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), the labour organisation representing more than three million skilled craft professionals, has announced a landmark national agreement to promote a strong workforce pipeline of U.S. union construction workers to build and expand America’s passenger rail. 

Amtrak’s agreement with NABTU, along with their affiliates and state and local councils, represents a transformative moment for passenger rail and organised construction labour, by setting a model for labour-management co-operation and workforce development. With Amtrak’s 15-year expansion strategy to create half a million jobs delivering over $150 billion in economic benefit to 160 local communities, this agreement helps ensure a consistent construction workforce pipeline, workforce training, and labor standards with family-sustaining wages, healthcare benefits, and pension security. 

“Today’s agreement opens more career pathways of opportunities for our members and enables our gold-standard training model to deliver the highest quality work for Amtrak,” said Sean McGarvey, President of NABTU. “Our highly trained men and women professionals have the best craft skills in the world. With this agreement, we will continue to expand our diverse workforce and strengthen the economies of more communities all across the land. We commend Amtrak for coming to the table to work in partnership with us and our membership, and we also thank Ed Wytkind, former President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD), for his help and support throughout the process.”

“The partnership between Amtrak and NABTU reflects a commitment to the workforce, who will help build the future of our country’s rail infrastructure,” said Amtrak CEO, Bill Flynn. “As the son of a frontline railroad employee, I know first-hand the hard work, dedication and value union employees bring to their job. Amtrak is proud to partner with NABTU to utilise and grow this workforce.”

As part of this framework, Amtrak and their construction partners will work together with the building trades’ unions to accelerate apprenticeship readiness programmes, promote diversity, and ensure fair wages and benefits for the construction workforce on their projects. This announcement underscores Amtrak’s commitment to investing in today’s workforce, as well as the next generation of America’s workforce.