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Spoke with Virginia this afternoon. I told her we were checking with Amtrak for the latest update and would get back to her but it is likely that there might not be much more that we learn on timing, etc.

I also told her that we'd come up with some language for them to pass on to the Spanish Minister regarding him urging Amtrak to pick the lowest bid. I think we are fine until Monday.

One useful piece of information I did get from her though is the fact that CAF's plant is not a Union Shop. Alstom's is Union. I told her that this might be an impediment to them and that it would be likely that organized labor had been pushing for Alstom because of it. She said that CAF specifically got a question from Amtrak about this. She said that the facility before CAF bought it had never been unionized, that they pay their workers well and provide good benefits and that there has not been an attempt to organize it. I told her that that was all true, but they do lose an effective advocate on behalf of labor because of this. She understood that. She also mentioned that Alstom and CAF share the same labor pool being close to one another. In essence, the workers will go to the plant which wins the contract.

All for now....


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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