David Gunn message to employees

[Superliner Diner]

June 13, 2005.

Dear Amtrak Co-workers,

Let me address two subjects that were in the news last week. First, progress is being made on the Acela problem and there’s reason to

believe that the manufacturer will have approved brake rotors soon. This means we may have the first of the trains coming back next month; but only gradually. When we have a real operating plan in place, I will let you know.

Some of you have told me you were surprised by the congressional hearing last week on the subject of Amtrak’s food and beverage service. While some of the criticism about our food service is fair, some of the testimony by JayEtta Hecker of the GAO was false, and Bill Crosbie did a nice rebuttal job at the hearing. At the suggestion of several employees, I’ve asked that the GAO’s testimony and a strictly factual rebuttal be sent to you. Look for it shortly.

Nevertheless, there are some things that we are doing to better manage our food and beverage costs. First and foremost, the current contract is a bad one, and it’s not going to be renewed as it is.

But front-line employees can help decrease our losses. Too often I hear that cafés are not opening for the first 30 minutes of a trip or closing early, and especially around meal times that can mean hundreds of dollars in sales.

Let me also ask that conductors and LSAs remember to make announcements about the café car — we want to encourage sales, and every little effort helps.

I was saddened by the GAO’s intimation that food service can be delivered by employees making minimum wage. That kind of talk is unfair to our employees. They don’t know what they are talking about.

Ignore comments like that. Continue to do your job well, treat our passengers with respect and kindness and see to it they have an enjoyable trip.

Sincerely,

/s/ David L. Gunn

 

[Superliner Diner]

I am tempted to print out a few copies of this and hand them to lounge or cafe car attendants who open late, close early, or decide to take their breaks at prime eating times, like 12 noon or 5 PM.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Or try the Silver Service out of Miami, 92 and 98, they don't open the Cafe until after they leave WPB, which is nearly TWO HOURS after the train departs MIA !!! And I seem to remember about the same deal arriving on the 91 and 97 SBs. They always want the Cafe and Diner completely closed and completely cleaned out and cleaned up before arrival at the last stop, so service stops long before then.

We were unable to eat in the Diner on Sunset Limited a couple of times because they actually stopped serving as they arrived in JAX (where we usually we got on). And that's 3.5 HOURS before it's scheduled arrival at destination (Orlando). I know Sunset has a short overnight turnaround for departure the next day (sometimes REAL short when they've been real late), but it seems like serving up to two hours prior to destination ought to be reasonable for the Diner. And to be fair, most of the times we've ridden that train on that route segment, they DID keep the Diner open until some time after it departed JAX SB.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

Or try the Silver Service out of Miami, 92 and 98, they don't open the Cafe until after they leave WPB, which is nearly TWO HOURS after the train departs MIA !!!  And I seem to remember about the same deal arriving on the 91 and 97 SBs.  They always want the Cafe and Diner completely closed and completely cleaned out and cleaned up before arrival at the last stop, so service stops long before then.  

That is the old policy! Departing out of MIA we open up the lounge now somewhere between FTL-DFB on both trains northbound, and the diner opens shortly thereafter. On train #98 the diner usually opens on time at 11:30, and on train #92 the best they can do is about 13:00, but usually about 13:30 is the time for the short lunch. We could actually be ready to open immediately leaving MIA (like we usually do in NYC) if they would let us start about two hours earlier than we do. Currently we in OBS report in MIA to work about an hour before the train departs. And it is up to us to get the train ready. At least ten to fifteen minutes is eaten up due to crew briefing, and another twenty minutes is eaten up due to having to load the stock in both food cars. Open the food cars leaving out of MIA? Ain't happening unless they have ready crew completely set up the entire train, or have us report ealier! Southbound into MIA, we (the diner) have to make last call leaving the SBG station and then close thirty minutes thereafter. That's on both trains even if it means extending a meal past it's normal closing time. The lounge car is supposed to make a last call when the train crosses St Lucie Canal, and then the car closes when the train pulls into WPB. All crews are different, however, my crew follows the new policy.

Having the car cleared out and cleaned up is only a partial reason to the times the food cars close. It can take up to an hour and a half to get inventory and paperwork complete. And passengers are supposed to be out of the area when the LSAs have all their funds out on the table. Having other crew members around while you are counting your funds, verifying inventory, sorting out your meal checks (diner), among other paperwork is agrivating enough as it is. And the big reason is pay! Our time (all OBS except the two LSAs) STOPS as soon as we hit the bumper at either end! Unless they begin to pay us until we actually sign out, we are LEAVING at that time! So our work must be completed before then! OBS...

 

[AmtrakWPK]

I'm very glad to hear that they have changed that policy and are basically starting to operate food and cafe services as soon as they actually are able to after departing MIA. It always seemed a stupid policy and one that lost them quite a few sales. The next time we have a chance to get down there (assuming W hasn't killed Amtrak by then), we'll check it out.