{"id":1105634,"date":"2021-12-10T09:44:21","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T14:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1105634"},"modified":"2021-12-10T09:44:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T14:44:24","slug":"amtrak-set-to-cut-some-services-due-in-part-to-unvaccinated-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amtrak-set-to-cut-some-services-due-in-part-to-unvaccinated-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Amtrak Set To Cut Some Services Due In Part To Unvaccinated Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famtrak-set-to-cut-some-services-due-in-part-to-unvaccinated-workers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1105634&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"p1\">Amtrak is getting ready to cut back on its services due in part to the enforcement of its vaccine mandate early next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Amtrak\u2019s vaccine mandate is scheduled to be implemented January 4, and a spokesman for the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/amtrak-prepares-to-reduce-service-because-of-vaccine-mandate-11639086847\">reportedly<\/a> said that its rule will stay even if the federal vaccine mandate attempted by the Biden Administration is still barred by the courts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Amtrak President Stephen Gardner discussed the upcoming setbacks in written <a href=\"https:\/\/transportation.house.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/Gardner%20Testimony1.pdf\">testimony<\/a> for a hearing before the House Committee on Transportation &amp; Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on Thursday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gardner noted that 94% of the workers are fully vaccinated, and 96% have gotten at least one dose, but added that those \u201cnumbers do not include employees who are on leave of absence or have an approved accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cAs part of addressing the challenges presented by COVID-19, Amtrak must comply with the federal mandate effective January 4, 2022 that employees of government contractors be fully vaccinated,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gardner added that \u201cbecause many engineers, conductors and on-board service employees retired or left Amtrak during the pandemic, and we temporarily halted hiring due to funding uncertainty and covid-related distancing requirements that inhibited training, we anticipate that we will not initially have enough employees to operate all the trains we are currently operating when the federal mandate takes effect. \u2026&nbsp;This will likely necessitate temporary frequency reductions, primarily for our long-distance services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He also explained how this fallout will mostly be experienced \u201cacross our long-distance services because of the relatively small crew bases at intermediate points. \u2026 At some of these crew bases across our network, we have a relatively high percentage of unvaccinated employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gardner added that if those workers do not get vaccinated by the scheduled date, the company will not have enough workers who are able to perform the necessary functions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/585210-amtrak-to-cut-service-as-employees-refuse-vaccines\">commented<\/a> on the company\u2019s discussion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t expect these requirements will cause disruptions to services that people depend on,\u201d Psaki told reporters. \u201cThere is some time to implement it. We are of course working with all federal contractors and federal employees and parts of the federal government to implement this going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/amtrak-prepares-to-reduce-service-because-of-vaccine-mandate-11639086847\">reported<\/a> by The Wall Street Journal, \u201cAmtrak has 15 long-distance routes, which carried 14% of Amtrak\u2019s passengers during its 2019 fiscal year, according to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Journal added, \u201cAmtrak\u2019s ridership was 12.2 million in its 2021 fiscal year, compared with 32.5 million in fiscal year 2019, an Amtrak spokesman said. For the 2020 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, Amtrak carried 16.8 million passengers. \u2026&nbsp;Amtrak currently has nearly 18,000 employees, a spokesman said. It had 18,600 employees at the end of 2019 fiscal year, according to its 2019 fiscal-year company profile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/amtrakoig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/OIG-A-2022-003%20Workforce.pdf\">report<\/a> by the Office of the Inspector General&nbsp;from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trains.com\/trn\/news-reviews\/news-wire\/amtrak-hr-department-too-understaffed-to-handle-planned-hiring-report-says\/\">noted<\/a> another potential issue \u2013 the \u201cHuman Resources department does not have sufficient leadership or staff to effectively recruit, screen, hire, and onboard new employees, which will likely hinder the company\u2019s plans to add 2,500 to 3,500 new employees in FY 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Earlier this week, a federal judge in Georgia blocked the Biden administration\u2019s vaccine mandate for federal contractors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/judge-halts-biden-vaccine-mandate-for-federal-contractors\">reported<\/a>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">According to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/daily-labor-report\/biden-vaccine-mandate-for-federal-contractors-blocked-nationwide\">Bloomberg<\/a>, the judge halted the mandate nationwide, which was originally mandated by President Joe Biden in September. The decision follows a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Kentucky, who was presiding over a case involving Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The mandate would have taken effect on January 4th, and would have affected about 25% of the U.S. workforce, including employees of companies like Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, and General Motors, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The mandate was opposed by a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/governors-immediately-push-back-on-unconstitutional-biden-plan-will-fight-them-to-the-gates-of-hell\">number of states<\/a>&nbsp;almost immediately after it was signed, including&nbsp;Arizona, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Biden administration\u2019s mandate for private companies with more than 100 employees has also been suspended. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled an injunction against the mandate. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering a lawsuit brought by the Daily Wire and numerous other companies challenging the mandate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Daily Wire is fighting Joe Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate in federal court. Join us in this fight by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lp.dailywire.com\/osha-petition\/\">signing our petition<\/a> to OSHA, telling them that you will not comply with this mandate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amtrak is getting ready to cut back on its services due in part to the enforcement of its vaccine mandate early next year.Amtrak\u2019s vaccine mandate is scheduled to be implemented January 4, and a spokesman for the company reportedly said that its rule will stay even if the federal vaccine mandate attempted by the Biden Administration is still barred by the courts.\u00a0Amtrak President Stephen Gardner discussed the upcoming setbacks in written testimony for a hearing before the House Committee on Transportation &#038; Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on Thursday.\u00a0Gardner noted that 94% of the workers are fully vaccinated, and 96% have gotten at least one dose, but added that those \u201cnumbers do not include employees who are on leave of absence or have an approved accommodation.\u201d\u201cAs part of addressing the challenges presented by COVID-19, Amtrak must comply with the federal mandate effective January 4, 2022 that employees of government contractors be fully vaccinated,\u201d he noted.Gardner added that \u201cbecause many engineers, conductors and on-board service employees retired or left Amtrak during the pandemic, and we temporarily halted hiring due to funding uncertainty and covid-related distancing requirements that inhibited training, we anticipate that we will not initially have enough employees to operate all the trains we are currently operating when the federal mandate takes effect. \u2026\u00a0This will likely necessitate temporary frequency reductions, primarily for our long-distance services.\u201dHe also explained how this fallout will mostly be experienced \u201cacross our long-distance services because of the relatively small crew bases at intermediate points. \u2026 At some of these crew bases across our network, we have a relatively high percentage of unvaccinated employees.\u201dGardner added that if those workers do not get vaccinated by the scheduled date, the company will not have enough workers who are able to perform the necessary functions.\u00a0White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also commented on the company\u2019s discussion.\u201cWe don\u2019t expect these requirements will cause disruptions to services that people depend on,\u201d Psaki told reporters. \u201cThere is some time to implement it. We are of course working with all federal contractors and federal employees and parts of the federal government to implement this going forward.\u201dAs reported by The Wall Street Journal, \u201cAmtrak has 15 long-distance routes, which carried 14% of Amtrak\u2019s passengers during its 2019 fiscal year, according to the company.\u201dThe Journal added, \u201cAmtrak\u2019s ridership was 12.2 million in its 2021 fiscal year, compared with 32.5 million in fiscal year 2019, an Amtrak spokesman said. For the 2020 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, Amtrak carried 16.8 million passengers. \u2026\u00a0Amtrak currently has nearly 18,000 employees, a spokesman said. It had 18,600 employees at the end of 2019 fiscal year, according to its 2019 fiscal-year company profile.\u201dA report by the Office of the Inspector General\u00a0from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation also noted another potential issue \u2013 the \u201cHuman Resources department does not have sufficient leadership or staff to effectively recruit, screen, hire, and onboard new employees, which will likely hinder the company\u2019s plans to add 2,500 to 3,500 new employees in FY 2022.\u201dEarlier this week, a federal judge in Georgia blocked the Biden administration\u2019s vaccine mandate for federal contractors.\u00a0The Daily Wire reported:\u00a0According to\u00a0Bloomberg, the judge halted the mandate nationwide, which was originally mandated by President Joe Biden in September. The decision follows a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Kentucky, who was presiding over a case involving Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.The mandate would have taken effect on January 4th, and would have affected about 25% of the U.S. workforce, including employees of companies like Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, and General Motors, Bloomberg reported.The mandate was opposed by a\u00a0number of states\u00a0almost immediately after it was signed, including\u00a0Arizona, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia.The Biden administration\u2019s mandate for private companies with more than 100 employees has also been suspended. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled an injunction against the mandate. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently considering a lawsuit brought by the Daily Wire and numerous other companies challenging the mandate.The Daily Wire is fighting Joe Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate in federal court. Join us in this fight by\u00a0signing our petition to OSHA, telling them that you will not comply with this mandate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1105634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}