prevent amtrak from shutting down

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RailFanNebraska

Service Attendant
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
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there has got to be something we can do other than just sit around and argue about amtrak's future. there has to be some way we can prevent this shut down of amtrak. 55% of americans want more funding for amtrak, this is just crazy
 
There is really nothing more which can be done! Remember Congress has madated everything you see happening! Two scenarios are at hand here, Nebraska!!! Either one of the two is to occur!!!

First one is to force the unions to call a strike, and the company shuts down and blames the workers!!! So they get end up getting fired!

Second one is to actually shut down temporarilly, reorganize the company, end old and begin new labor agreements, and so on and on...

The second is the one I personally feel is in implentation right now, but only time will tell! I will say it again, and mimicking my good friend "trainboy," the time to get out and ride your favorite long distance train was yesterday!!! Do so before it is too late if you wanna see it as we know it, otherwise plan on dealing with what is left after all is said and done!!! I am sorry, I am a realist, and hate to rain on the parade, but it is happening now. I hope all employees have their "houses" in order!!! OBS...
 
Thanks OBS,

I got mine in order, sadly it involved getting a new job. Sorry, but Amtrak is a dying horse who's final run into the sunset is coming to an end.

Thanks for the memories, Amtrak. We'll see yah on the "other side" of the big Railroading land in the sky, where the streamliners lay and the porters play, in the big Railroading land in the sky. :huh: <_< :D
 
Well c-mon now, give it a little more time!!!! I have my house in order, too. But still have the "job" thing to do, too!!! We'll see. Let's give them some benefit of the doubt with this equipment and reform situation for spell!! OBS... :huh: :mellow: <_< OBS...
 
Ok, I'll give them another three months. Until then I'll eat the diner-lite food and enjoy the luxury of non-existant trains. I'm happy to see that our illustrious management team is hard at work keeping their jobs until the next fiscal year! GO TEAM! Furlough, furlough, furlough! C-2, C-2, C-2! :D :D :D
 
Amtrak could also make do with a sort of fee based Trust Fund, like what the airports and highways have.

See here: United Rail and also some other web pages on that site.

See also : Long Distance analysis versus short distance trains.

Amtrak has only had just enough to roll along, but never enough to really fix up the trains. I feel depressed regarding this whole situation, and also feel sorry for the employees who have to deal with this every day. :( :angry:
 
Given many subscribers are Amtrak employees, I want to say that employees can help make or break any operation. I picked up my tickets for an up coming trip at my local station and I just have to say the station attendant was very very curteous, helpful and cheerful. All of this in the face of uncertainty - that says a lot in my opinion. Everyone realizes that folks need to look out for their own individual futures. Hopefully, things will work out, and those of you who choose to make your future with Amtrak will then enjoy the success and hapiness you seek. Sure many things need to change to keep Amtrak on track. But keeping passengers happy (and safe) and encouraging more folks to ride the rails requires your continued committment to service. I'm pleased to say I have mainly enjoyed quality service from Amtrak's employees! If nothing else - THANKYOU.

Deimos
 
Trainboy - perhaps you can explain the C-2 situation to the members of this forum.
 
haolerider said:
Trainboy - perhaps you can explain the C-2 situation to the members of this forum.
C-2 pay is full pay between 3-5 years depending on how much time the employee has with Amtrak.

Also it goes beyound C-2 pay any Amtrak employee that hired out in freight service before going to Amtrak then has there prior rights to go back with the date they hired in on the Railroad.

Which means if a younger freight RR employee get's bumped off because of this then the Government would have to pay freight RR employees to sit at home until they can rehold.

You do not want to dissmantle Amtrak it would cost way to much money plus the Railroad retirement System would lose 20% or more funds goping in and under contracts the Freight RR's would have to pay in what Amtrak did and they sure as heck don't want to do that. :)
 
Thanks:

do the employees have to meet any minimum vesting period to qualify for C-2 or do they just get paid not to work, no matter how long they have been employed?
 
haolerider said:
Thanks:
do the employees have to meet any minimum vesting period to qualify for C-2 or do they just get paid not to work, no matter how long they have been employed?
They will get paied not to work this does not work like unemplyment they will get paied just to sit at home.
 
haolerider said:
If they get other employment do they still get the Amtrak C-2 pay?
They wouldn't get a job doing something else because there getting paied what they did when they were working.

But to your answer i am not that sure so i won't make a post on that.

But like i said why would any of them wan't to work when your already getting paied to sit at home. :)
 
"But like i said why would any of them wan't to work when your already getting paied to sit at home. "

The answer for most people would be:

"Because they have more pride than just sitting at home and getting paid to do nothing.",

but maybe that is part of the problem with Amtrak. This kind of severance certainly does not exist in any other business/industry that I am aware of and if this is an example of some of the archaic work rules that determine who can do what and how Amtrak union employees are governed, we may have hit on the major problem........not so much the managers that everyone is complaining about, but the union employees themselves and the agreements.

As Pogo once said: "We have found the enemy and it is us!"
 
The more I think about this, the more confused and irritated I become. Most people - even if they don't have an incentive bonus plan or some sort of reward system - think their incentive to do good work is to be able to keep your job.

With this severance system, what is the incentive to do a good job? If you do a good job, you get to keep working, if you don't do a good job and the company closes, you still get to keep your paycheck for a lengthy period, so what do you care if the company closes? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Who pays this? The Railroad Retirement Board?
 
haolerider said:
The more I think about this, the more confused and irritated I become. Most people - even if they don't have an incentive bonus plan or some sort of reward system - think their incentive to do good work is to be able to keep your job.
With this severance system, what is the incentive to do a good job? If you do a good job, you get to keep working, if you don't do a good job and the company closes, you still get to keep your paycheck for a lengthy period, so what do you care if the company closes? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Who pays this? The Railroad Retirement Board?
The Government will pay C-2
 
C-2 is one of those hidden and almost unknown programs developed when Amtrak was created. When Congress authorized the creation of NRPC in 1970, they realized that the probability of Amtrak being "self-sufficient and profitable" in five years, as the system was billed to accomplish, was in reality impossible. Since Amtrak was created to "create job opportunities" versus running passenger rail as many people think, the government created an independent "promise" to the new Amtrak employees (almost all being shed by the freight railroad payrolls) that if your craft were to become obsolete (abolished) due to the end of passenger railroading in the United States, the government will provide you money to "replace" your Amtrak income so you can restart your life, ie. go to school, learn a new trade, wait until you become eligable for retirement, RRB, Social Security, whatever. As BNSF1088 has already posted, there are formulas, charts, graphs, etc. that determine the dollar amount eligible. Also, as stated, it protects those in the private sector (freight railroads) employees from the effect of the loss of passenger railroad jobs (primarily T&E, clerical and ARSA jobs) and provide a means of acquiring new crafts to become employed in the freight side of railroading by on-board service employees.

It's worth noting that C-2 has been the most influential piece of legislation protecting passenger rail for over 35 years. Every Amtrak CEO from Reistrap to Gunn have used the government bailout of Amtrak employees to keep enough money in the pot for Amtrak not to have to abolish entire craft positions resulting in the abolishment of the high labor long distance trains. Which do you want? No trains and pay employees; Give Amtrak money and run trains using employees. It's a no brainer.

The key is that C-2 is a promise. Like any promise, it can be withdrawn at any time. All it takes is one paragraph in Amtrak's next reauthorization bill, and it's gone. Any employee should not view C-2 as a pension plan, that, like hundreds of other business, can drop like a hot potato and be turned over to the Guarantee Pension Board. C-2 is just a small, but important, part of Amtrak's Congressional charter. Like the micro-management of OBS services, C-2 could be abolished in one large package bill if Congress wanted to get rid of the "spur" Amtrak's used to defend the funding of the long distance trains. <_<
 
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