Passenger Trains > FWD: Amtrak Rally to Save Union Jobs on December 13-Riverside, CA

From: "Larry I. Willis, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO"
Date: December 10, 2018
Subject: Amtrak Rally to Save Union Jobs


TO: Executive Committee

This Wednesday, December 13th at City Hall in Riverside California, TCU-IAM is hosting a rally to protest Amtrak's decision to shut down its call center in that community—a move that will cost 500 union jobs coming right after the holiday season. I hope that TTD unions with members in the area can help support this rally (see attached flyer), stand with our brothers and sisters and send a message to Amtrak that this low-road labor model is unacceptable.
 
Amtrak is claiming that this move is necessary due to reduced call volume and that workers in Riverside will be offered positions at its remaining call center in Philadelphia. Amtrak already has a relationship with a non-union call center in Florida and has asked the contractor to staff up as it prepares to close its facility in Riverside. We are extremely concerned that call volume will be transferred to the non-union facility where wages are about half of what is paid at Riverside with no Railroad Retirement or health care benefits. And while the CBA requires Amtrak to offer positions in Philadelphia, we doubt that most workers will be able to uproot their lives and move across the country to follow this work—a fact that Amtrak is counting on.  
 
To provide a little bit more context on this fight, there is an excellent op-ed that appeared in the Riverside newspaper over the weekend by a TCU call center employee on what this closure will mean for him and his co-workers. Also attached is the letter we sent to the California delegation last week expressing our strong opposition to this closure and a recent local press clip.
 
I know TCU and IAM would appreciate a strong showing of solidarity on Wednesday and support for these workers as they fight to save their union jobs.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to discuss, please let me know. Thank you.

Reduced call volume? Then why does it take forever to get someone to answer a call? Delta answer's my call in less than 30 seconds unless there is a big weather issue disrupting flights. Anderson must be aware of the excellent call center service provided by his former employer. They even seem to know where the various seats on multiple different aircraft types are, something that some Amtrak agent's aren't aware of regarding room locations and differences. 

To put another perspective to this - This follows Amtrak's closure of the reservation offices in New York, Jacksonville and Chicago!
Now, see how long you wait on the phone to talk to someone (other than the machine they call "Julie")

Who calls to make a reservation anymore? I am an Amtrak regular and I haven’t the need to call in almost 3 years. I agree with Anderson - Passenger rail is labor heavy. Labor expense needs to be reduced if they are to survive, grow, and thrive.

Posted from iPhone

I'm happy that some people (in this case the AFL-CIO), are finally beginning to realize the fatal plans Anderson and his management team has in mind for Amtrak.

My hope is that more protests and push-backs will come from States, Cities, etc, who want  to stop further downgrading Amtrak service.

I further hope that Congress in DC will wake up and formally charge Anderson with violating the Will of Congress with his cuts & downgrades.

Need to strike a balance. We can't send the whole thing to Bangalore and Manila. If they have too many agents, reduce by attrition, early retirement packages, offer some relocation assistance and incentives to the Philly area. Race to the bottom usually leads to poor customer service and reduced revenue as well.

Raja Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who calls to make a reservation anymore? I am an
> Amtrak regular and I haven’t the need to call in
> almost 3 years. I agree with Anderson - Passenger
> rail is labor heavy. Labor expense needs to be
> reduced if they are to survive, grow, and thrive.

I had to call a customer rep when the online system kept kicking out my credit card as declined. Had the problem cleared up with the issuing bank (fraud department flagged the initial attempt until they confirmed it was actually me buying a ticket), but the reservation software kept kicking it out.

Sometimes you also need to talk to an agent to get all your options. Was trying to book a connection between the Surfliners, and the Southwest Chief in LA. Online system would only show the pairing with the shortest layover, even though I wanted to take an earlier Surfliner "just in case." Would have been more expensive to book the two legs separately online.

Posted from Android

Has any local congressional member taken to the cause? That would be key, unfortunately the centers going to close but it could be one more nail in Anderson’s congressional coffin if people take note.

A lot of House seats flipped in Southern California "Reagan Country" . I do not think the defeated members will do anything. My defeated Rep in NJ shut off his constituency service on Nov 20 and advised people in a constituent e-mail blast to contact the 2 Senators. The new members need to be brought up to speed after Jan 3. Anderson's timing was perfect to operate in that vacuum or changing of the guard.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/18 12:22 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A lot of House seats flipped in Southern
> California "Reagan Country" . I do not think the
> defeated members will do anything. My defeated Rep
> in NJ shut off his constituency service on Nov 20
> and advised people in a constituent e-mail blast
> to contact the 2 Senators. The new members need to
> be brought up to speed after Jan 3. Anderson's
> timing was perfect to operate in that vacuum or
> changing of the guard.

The part of Riverside (Orange Crest) that the reservation center is in has been represented by a Democrat who has been in office for 6 years now. He's not a rookie.
California has two Democratic Senators who aren't rookies either. All three know what's going on. But can do nothing until the Senate decides to act. And Amtrak is not exactly on Sen Mc Connell's radar right now.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
(SNIP)
>
> The part of Riverside (Orange Crest) that the
> reservation center is in has been represented by a
> Democrat who has been in office for 6 years now.
> He's not a rookie.
> California has two Democratic Senators who aren't
> rookies either. All three know what's going on.
> But can do nothing until the Senate decides to
> act. And Amtrak is not exactly on Sen Mc Connell's
> radar right now.

That's good advice.

While the local representative would usually be the lead legislator on an issue, they will often seek to create a caucus with other members to strengthen their bargaining position.  You need people on your side to move your idea. The outgoing Congress and Mick Mulvaney have made it clear that Amtrak is a bloated, inefficient organization, and Mr Anderson's Job 1 is to straighten that out.

Nancy Pelosi mentioned something similar when she told the President that he doesn't have the votes among his own party to build his wall. And she's not offering him any.

Raja Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who calls to make a reservation anymore? I am an
> Amtrak regular and I haven’t the need to call in
> almost 3 years. I agree with Anderson - Passenger
> rail is labor heavy. Labor expense needs to be
> reduced if they are to survive, grow, and thrive.
>
> Posted from iPhone

People who call the reservation center are those that need to book a semi-complicated or human-assisted reservation that the computer or "Julie" can't handle. Been there done that MANY times for certain travel I do. The wait time to talk to a rep gets LONGER and longer every time. Amtrak also has to realize that it serves a population base that still is not apt at using an iPhone or even computer (or perhaps not very tech savy). If Airlines still have a call center - of all travel modes - than Amtrak definitely needs it. 

The unions are WAY TOO LATE to the party on this and the food service discussion. 

Yes, labor expense needs to be reduced in order to run a passenger railroad network in the 21st century. Amtrak needs to figure out how to coexist with both smartly. 

But can someone PLEASE show me where Anderson is making some significant strides in producing "new" revenue????? All we have are cost cuts and cost cutting. Where's the top line revenue ideas for growth. Not growth from regular business, growth from new lines of revenue streams. 

This is a Union job with rail road retirement? No.wonder Amtrak loses so much money. Close it down. No.wonder i.had to use the practice of call back till you finally get a person who knows what they are talking about.

Posted from Android

goduckies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a Union job with rail road retirement?
> No.wonder Amtrak loses so much money. Close it
> down. No.wonder i.had to use the practice of call
> back till you finally get a person who knows what
> they are talking about.
>
> Posted from Android

I thought the call center way in India.....

Posted from iPhone

"Race to the bottom usually leads to poor customer service and reduced revenue as well."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This.

This is why we pay union dues.  Hopefully there are some members of the California delegation that have the power to influence Amtrak's decisoin.
Remember, Congress has a mandated goal for Amtrak to be raising the CSI scores.  This will work against that!

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is why we pay union dues.  Hopefully there
> are some members of the California delegation that
> have the power to influence Amtrak's decisoin.
> Remember, Congress has a mandated goal for Amtrak
> to be raising the CSI scores.  This will work
> against that!
Just because someone is a union worker does not mean they are better at customer service.

Really? Eliminating duplicative resources, reducing expenses, shedding valuable real estate during an up-market, installing new train interiors, increasing manpower for train cleanliness, renovating first class lounges, identifying next generation equipment to replace 40+ year old Amfleets, new diesel locomotives, etc.

Doesn’t sound like a path to destruction to me, you may not like the route but it’s a path to sustainability.

The “outsourced” call center is in Florida providing American jobs to skilled professionals that specialize in this work, let Amtrak worry about running trains and let professionals worry about call centers, food & beverage, redcaps, baggage, etc.

Amtrak needs to concentrate on its core business and let those that specialize is the other areas run those ancillary lines. The same reason businesses and universities don’t run their own cafeterias, it’s not what they are good at, so they hire companies that are good at it to do it for them more effectively. I constantly hear complaints of long wait times and inaccurate information on here, so why all the concern? In all likelihood we will get better service in the end.

another_view Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Really? Eliminating duplicative resources,
> reducing expenses, shedding valuable real estate
> during an up-market, installing new train
> interiors, increasing manpower for train
> cleanliness, renovating first class lounges,
> identifying next generation equipment to replace
> 40+ year old Amfleets, new diesel locomotives,
> etc.
>
> Doesn’t sound like a path to destruction to me,
> you may not like the route but it’s a path to
> sustainability.
>
> The “outsourced” call center is in Florida
> providing American jobs to skilled professionals
> that specialize in this work, let Amtrak worry
> about running trains and let professionals worry
> about call centers, food & beverage, redcaps,
> baggage, etc.
>
> Amtrak needs to concentrate on its core business
> and let those that specialize is the other areas
> run those ancillary lines. The same reason
> businesses and universities don’t run their own
> cafeterias, it’s not what they are good at, so
> they hire companies that are good at it to do it
> for them more effectively. I constantly hear
> complaints of long wait times and inaccurate
> information on here, so why all the concern? In
> all likelihood we will get better service in the
> end.

Yeah, keep believing that.  AT&T off shored their call centers 10 years ago. How was the service last time you called for service from AT&T?

 

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is why we pay union dues.  Hopefully there
> are some members of the California delegation that
> have the power to influence Amtrak's decisoin.
> Remember, Congress has a mandated goal for Amtrak
> to be raising the CSI scores.  This will work
> against that!


They should strike until they acheive wage parity with conductors and engineers.

Si Se Puede!