The strangest protest ever

I was downtown on Friday for the Hispanic Leadership Network conference at the Hyatt when I saw perhaps the most unusual protest I’ve ever seen. As I’ve discussed in the past, there is an out-of-town carpenters’ union that has been protestingnumerous Albuquerque businesses. This protest of Amtrak appeared to be coming from the same source.

For the uninitiated, Amtrak is America’s federally-owned passenger rail system. It received $1.565 billion in taxpayer subsidies last year. What reason would a carpenters’ union have to protest the railroad? Honestly, I have no idea. And asking the paid, minimum wage protesters won’t get you any answers either, we’ve tried.

So, I say, shame on Amtrak for taking $1 billion+ in annual subsidies, but I don’t think that was the point of the debate.