Ya, the weather has been brutal across the northern plains. Temps in the -20s and -30s! Looks like things are going to moderate later this weekend and next week looks to be much better with temps considerably warmer. Hopefully that will help Amtrak get things back on track. It's unfortunate things were so bad, but I'm not sure what Amtrak could have done in this situation...if you are stuck in the middle of nowhere, well, you are stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Pastor Dave
You nailed it. Union = lifelong job, = "I don't give a sh** attitude. Want to REALLY **** off your union rep? Ask him how you can NOT pay union dues, and still work in the craft. TRAITOR!
fine but how do you explain employees who are ****s right from the start of the trip when everything goes right and there still ****s like anything you ask is a hassle for them or sleeping car attendants that you never ever see. how do you explain them HMMMMMMM. union members seam to be more rude cause no mater what they do amtrak can't fire them so they can get away with it.
Some people are just @$$hats, it doesn't take a union to make them so. On the contrary, some people are dedicated hard workers, joining a union doesn't automagically make them into the kind of worker that you describe.
As I stated in an above post I had been a union representative for a major Amtrak craft union for 25 years. I have represented employees in hundreds of company investigations and I can tell you that "Union = lifelong job, = "I don't give a sh** attitude." is wrong.
You are so right. AMTRAK agreed to a contract that does not require staff to be nice.
Right, bash on the news program that you must have been watching since you posted immediately after the story was aired. If you hate NBC's Nightly News so much then why are you watching it.
Agreed.
More knee jerk defense reaction to any bad press for Amtrak! Some folks are so obsessed it is funny.
With all due respect, we may be wording it hard (but not necessarily too hard), but we are all entitled to our opinions, including you, but I feel we shouldn't go after each other's opinions.
24 hours, after the big snow storm here in NYC in mid-December, there were people still sitting in the airports 3 days after still trying to get where they were going.
While I certainly won't deny that there are some Amtrak workers who do seem to stick their heads in the sand when there is a problem, there aren't that many that do so. One thing people also have to realize is that sometimes the very people who would be making the announcements are outside the train trying to fix things to get it moving, especially in the case of the accident with the pickup truck. If the local police are busy talking with the crew, the crew can't very well be inside the train making announcements to tell people what's going on. Additionally, in the case of the accident, the crew is limited by Amtrak as to just what they can say. AFAIK they can't for example get on the PA and blurt out "that the train just hit a car and killed all 5 people inside, 3 of whom were kids."
Sorry, but you are wrong. I've been with Amtrak now for only 4 years. I have seen no less than around 15 OBS employees fired for various reasons. It's not impossible to fire union employees it simply must follow the rules and guidelines laid out to do so. Employees must be trained counseled and warned. Then discipline must be progressive and consistent with other disciplinary actions. As well there are time limits. If Amtrak management does it's job, documents and follows up then problem employees who have repeat offenses are fired and no amount of union involvement will get them un-fired.
Excuses, just have the coach attendant run back and forth from the conductor with updated information to call out on the PA. No wait there is probably a provision in the union contract that says coach attendants can't use the PA system.
Yeah, I'm sure that's just what the police want while trying to conduct an investigation, to have a coach/sleeping car attendant to walk outside every 5 minutes through the crime scene as it were, for an update because some passenger isn't getting enough information.
Not only that, but people only hear what they want to hear. Ever watch passengers on a plane or on Amtrak during the safety announcements? Many pay absolutely no attention and are even busy talking through the announcements. Of course if the plane is expecting an emergency landing, then suddenly they're paying attention and studying the seat pocket safety cards.
