Amtrak loosens worker vaccine edict
Rail line will allow covid-19 testing option to ward off service reduction
Amtrak said Tuesday it is temporarily suspending a vaccine mandate for employees, averting the termination of about 500 people and service cuts that were expected next month.
Railroad employees who aren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus will be allowed to submit to weekly testing, Amtrak Chief Executive Officer William J. Flynn said in a memo to workers. The policy applies to the company’s 17,500 employees.
“After reviewing our system service plans in light of these changes, we do not anticipate having system-wide service impacts in January,” Flynn said.
Amtrak warned last month about possible service cuts after the end-of-the-year travel crunch because some workers have not complied with a mandate to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. Amtrak president Stephen Gardner noted last week the possible cuts in a House hearing, where he said the railroad didn’t expect to have enough people to operate all trains.
About 5% of the railroad’s workforce was facing termination for not showing proof of vaccination by the January deadline. The carrier was primarily looking at reductions along its long-distance routes.
A higher percentage of unvaccinated employees are at stations where routes have “relatively small crew bases at intermediate points along multiday long-distance routes,” Gardner said last week.
The possible terminations worried industry leaders and passengers, and were likely to harm Amtrak’s recovery from the pandemic slump after recent progress in restoring service and rebuilding ridership that had plummeted by 97%.
The policy change Tuesday was welcomed by industry leaders.
“Amtrak is doing the right thing,” said Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association. “This addresses the issue without compromising safety. Everyone — crews and passengers — is safest if everyone is vaccinated. But Amtrak reached huge numbers of vaccinations within their staffs, and that’s to their credit.”
In the memo, Flynn said fewer than 500 employees were not in compliance with the company vaccination mandate as of Tuesday. He said 95.7% of employees are either fully vaccinated or have an accommodation, a number that rises to 97.3% when including those who have reported getting at least one vaccine dose.
“This is remarkable progress,” Flynn said. “And we anticipate that between now and Jan. 4, we will get even closer to a 100% vaccination rate, which remains our goal and our policy.”
Amtrak evaluated its policy after a federal district court decision last week that halted the enforcement of the executive order for federal contractors. The company, he said, will revert to its original vaccine mandate policy announced on Aug. 11, which allowed for testing as an alternative to vaccination.
Under the new rule, unvaccinated employees without an approved accommodation will have a testing option on a temporary basis, pending the outcome of the executive order litigation. The company also allows employees with approved exemptions to continue working if they submit a negative coronavirus test at least weekly.
“We believe these most recent changes are both appropriate and prudent, given the recent court decision and the continuing and evolving pandemic,” said Flynn, who is stepping down from the CEO position in January.
Flynn has served as Amtrak’s top executive since April 2020. Amtrak has named veteran executive Stephen Gardner as its next CEO, the company announced Wednesday.
Gardner, who has served as the passenger railroad’s president for the past year, will take over the top job at Amtrak on Jan. 17. Flynn, who led the company through the coronavirus pandemic slump and the recovery efforts, will remain at the company as a senior adviser to Gardner through the end of the fiscal year.
Gardner, 45, has been at Amtrak since 2009 and has served in various leadership roles, including chief operating and commercial officer.
He was named president a year ago, in charge of day-today operations, and leads the company’s effort to grow service and ridership. He will hold both president and chief executive roles starting in January.
“I’m truly humbled and honored to assume this role for America’s Railroad,” Gardner said in a statement.
At a House hearing last week, Gardner praised Congress’s passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, saying the allocation of $66 billion of new funding for rail will help kick-start more intercity passenger train service and improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of the nation’s rail networks.