Passenger Trains > Court OKs Amtrak conductor's suit alleging 18 years of bias

https://www.hrdive.com/news/court-oks-amtrak-conductors-suit-alleging-18-years-of-bias/548243/

Dive Brief:  Amtrak must face some of the bias claims brought by a former conductor who alleged that she was subjected to misconduct for about 18 years, a federal district court judge determined (Garner v. National Railway Corp. (dba Amtrak), No. 18-cv-3789 (N.D. Ill., Feb. 1, 2019)). 

PC1974 Wrote:
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> https://www.hrdive.com/news/court-oks-amtrak-condu
> ctors-suit-alleging-18-years-of-bias/548243/
>
> Dive Brief:  Amtrak must face some of the bias
> claims brought by a former conductor who alleged
> that she was subjected to misconduct for about 18
> years, a federal district court judge determined
> (Garner v. National Railway Corp. (dba Amtrak),
> No. 18-cv-3789 (N.D. Ill., Feb. 1, 2019)). 


I don't even have to open the article. Ax me why.

If she hated her job so much, why did she stay 18 years?  

Duna Wrote:
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> PC1974 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> https://www.hrdive.com/news/court-oks-amtrak-condu
>
> > ctors-suit-alleging-18-years-of-bias/548243/
> >
> > Dive Brief:  Amtrak must face some of the bias
> > claims brought by a former conductor who
> alleged
> > that she was subjected to misconduct for about
> 18
> > years, a federal district court judge
> determined
> > (Garner v. National Railway Corp. (dba Amtrak),
> > No. 18-cv-3789 (N.D. Ill., Feb. 1, 2019)). 
>
>
> I don't even have to open the article. Ax me why.

"Ax me why?"  Seriously???

So you are also prejudiced against African Americans.

 

This is a classic exhibit of the danger of quotas. If you ride Amtrak as frequently as I do you know that most ( not all ) of the OBS people you meet who have that proverbial chip on their shoulder are minority females who want you to know that they've done you a favor showing up for work today and they'll get to your issue(s) when they're good and ready to...and not before. 

   Nearly all of them when finally called before a disciplinary hearing to examine the many customer complaints in their file play the gender/race discrimination card to the max. I'll give you 10:1 odds that her file is replete with customer complaints some going back years. 

   Until/unless Amtrak can be freed from having to have a certain percentage of new hires be minority this decades long issue will continue and probably get worse.

    The shame is that the small percentage of bad actors spoil it for the vast majority of OBS folks ( including most minority females & males) who try hard to deliver a good product. 

     My wife recently encountered a VERY rude sleeping car attendant on # 421 in San Antonio who banged on her roomette door so loudly as to wake all the neighbors with the demand that she change rooms per the manifest. Long story short the wife said " I'm sleeping, need to get dressed etc." which wasn't good enough for Ms. Jones who went and got an Amtrak police officer who in turn went and got a local Trainmaster involved. He ruled she could stay in the room and proceed on to Maricopa. We wrote up Ms. Jones and are still waiting 2 months later for Amtrak to follow through and issue some sort of discipline for this rude, scary, unprofessional behaviour. Yes, she is minority/female.

    The worst part of all is that these cases attract the classic ambulance chaser low life attorneys who get a large percentage of any monetary settlements and more often than not the company will settle out of court for fear that a jury ( or arbitrator) will award more than they can settle for. This only encourages more of the same.

    Sad but true.   Ross Rowland 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/19 05:51 by co614.

Source docs:

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.352948/gov.uscourts.ilnd.352948.33.0.pdf

Amtrak probably is not allowed to tell you what the did to this employee for privacy reasons

The culture of rude behavior is caused by a union mentality mixed in with a bias of management who thinks it must write people up to change it

80% union issue

Good employees don’t need unions

Posted from iPhone

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> Good employees don’t need unions

As someone who has had to defend rank and file members against bogus rules violations, you couldn't be more wrong.

Regarding Duna's and Mr. Rowland's remarks, their display of ignorance isn't even worth the electrons of a response. Disgusting, both of them.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/19 08:00 by bioyans.

bioyans Wrote:
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> amtrakbill Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Good employees don’t need unions
>
> As someone who has had to defend rank and file
> members against bogus rules violations, you
> couldn't be more wrong.
>
> Posted from Android

I'm going to have to agree with you here... A lot of the time a union is all there is to protect you against inept management and their total indifference to the workers and any issues they might have... It pains me as a conservative to write that, but after working a union job for a while I completely understand...

"Good employees don’t need unions."

You've got it backwards, good employers are the ones who don't need unions.

Posted from iPhone

Erik Leeper
Phoenix, AZ

My response to ( Mr./Mrs./Ms. ??) bioyans is go ride Amtrak for not less than 10,000 miles/year and see what you encounter, then report back.

    Thanks, Ross Rowland 

If you had been a good employee for 30 years but were "laid off" because you reported unsafe work practices, had your company change hands, implemented "precision scheduled BS," "move to Mexico," etc. just a year or even a few months short of your retirement, you would understand why there is a need for lawyers and even unions.
Corporate greed is boundless, especially now that "activist shareholders" rule the workplace.
Our system requires due process as a counterbalance this unfortunate corporate behavior. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/19 08:37 by 79mph.

co614 Wrote:
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> My response to ( Mr./Mrs./Ms. ??) bioyans is go
> ride Amtrak for not less than 10,000 miles/year
> and see what you encounter, then report back.
>
>     Thanks, Ross Rowland 

Why, when your own post made it very clear what actually happened? How *dare* the uppity "minority female" employee question why your wife was not in the room the manifest said she SHOULD have been in, and you had to put her in her place by "writing her up" because of who you USED to be. Maybe Amtrak hasn't disciplined her, because they realize she did nothing wrong. Judging by your frequent references to "writing up" Amtrak employees, it's pretty clear you get some sort of gratification out of it. Maybe the "attitude" you get, is a direct reflection of the "attitude" you direct at the employees. Your comments about quotas, race, and gender speak volumes, and it isn't pretty.

And, FYI, I also ride Amtrak frequently. In my own experience, I've gotten more attitude from white male conductors, than any other craft aboard the train. In fact, I can clearly recall an instance on the Silver Star, where the "non-minority male" CO pounded on my roomette door and woke me from a nap, and gave ME an attitude because the NEC crew had failed to scan my ticket. So much for your "quota" theory.

Posted from Android



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/19 09:36 by bioyans.

While this is a shame, The OBS on the 4 times Ive rode Amtrak (this last time last summer to Chicago and back) were very good at their jobs.  We ended up getting waylaid outside Toledo due to an intermodal breaking a knuckle of which I inquired as to why we were sitting there. I had a fellow railfan ready to film me going by for my 15 year old daughter,but it was Ok.  

Couldnt care less about getting into Chicago Late, still had plenty of time to explore, went to Shedd aquarium, and had a Giordanos deep dish pizza for dinner I took on board for the run back. 

Coming back it was a bit cool, but I was ok. Had my cell so I wasnt worried. 

Never once did I see on all 4 times any bias towards any felame OBS at all.  Not once. 

Michael Fair
Royal Oak, MI

amtrakbill Wrote:
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>
> 80% union issue
>
> Good employees don’t need unions
>

I spent 20 years wearing a target and undergoing continual threats BECAUSE of doing the job well. The union was of at least some assistance in managing to survive it.

TAW

 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> If she hated her job so much, why did she stay 18
> years?  

...maybe the same reason I stayed at BN through almost 20 years of harassment, threats, and attempted intimidation: needed the job and nothing better came along (not for a lack of looking).

TAW

Dawn is a by the book professional railroader. Just the kind of employee Amtrak targets, the employee that's not in the club!

YOU GO GIRL!

PS I remember when Travis sent the trains out on Alton during the big ice storm. They should have all been annulled. It was ultimately his downfall. Dawn was on one of those train wrecks in downstate Illinois. They were out there all night. What a mess! Mgt was looking over the crews really hard to pass the buck on that one, she stood up and wouldn't play scapegoat. Made enemies back then, but sure got my respect. Saw others that were glad the target was on her back, cause it kept the target off theirs. What an messed up railroad.

bioyans Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> amtrakbill Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Good employees don’t need unions
>
> As someone who has had to defend rank and file
> members against bogus rules violations, you
> couldn't be more wrong.
>
> Regarding Duna's and Mr. Rowland's remarks, their
> display of ignorance isn't even worth the
> electrons of a response. Disgusting, both of
> them.
>
> Posted from Android
Did you really expect anything different from them? 

Amtrak, pay the lady.

PC1974 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dawn is a by the book professional railroader.
> Just the kind of employee Amtrak targets, the
> employee that's not in the club!
>
> YOU GO GIRL!

The problem I have with this is that a protected class employee can claim bias and people listen while a heterosexual white male employee has nothing to fall back on when faced with the same situation.  Inept management makes everyone's life miserable, but nobody cares until a minority employee makes a complaint, then someone listens.  

And then you have the employee that Ross describes, a minority female who really doesn't belong on the job but is able to hide behind her minority status to be a substandard employee, even a good manager has a hard time getting rid of her without being accused of racism/sexism.  That obviously does not describe the majority of employees, but those bad apples tarnish the image of all the good people.  I would venture to say that Ross would complain about anyone he felt was lazy and/or ignorant, not just a minority. 

  If someone complains about a white male, the commentary is about poor management letting him get away with it but if the complaint is about a minority then there are those defending that person. Their are pieces of garbage in all types of people.  A substandard employee should not be able to keep their job just because they are diverse, performance should be the only metric. 

From my personal experience riding Amtrak, I have fortunately had overall good crewmembers, and the ones that were not as good it seemed to be the whole crew not just one individual.  And all the crews I have experienced have been real diverse - I have had whites, blacks, asians, middle eastern, male and female.  I have luckily not had to deal with surly angry employees.  Some are better than others, and those people I write Amtrak to note their good customer service.