ASWC Calls for Firing of Amtrak President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWU Contact: John Feltz, 732-567-5262
UNITE HERE Contact: Donald Boyd, 312-404-3526
TCU/IAM Contact: Jack Dinsdale, 661-204-6909
Amtrak Service Workers Council Calls Out Amtrak President Richard Anderson for Privatizing Our National Rail Network
WHEN: Monday, December 17 at 11 a.m.
WHERE: Corner of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street, Boston, outside South Station
Watch it livestreamed on Facebook @AmtrakServiceWorkersCouncil
WHO: Representatives from the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), UNITE HERE, and the Transportation Communications Union/International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (TCU/IAM); and other allied groups.
WHY: Amtrak President Richard Anderson is hellbent on privatizing Amtrak. In June, he cut full dining car service to the Lake Shore and Capitol Limited Lines. Passengers, paying upwards of $1,000 a ticket, can no longer enjoy being served freshly-prepared, hot meals; instead, they must settle for cold, pre-packaged meals.
As a result of the service cuts, seven TWU chefs were furloughed. Anderson claims no jobs were lost, but if these workers – who have decades of rail service – chose to stay with Amtrak, they were forced either to uproot their lives and relocate thousands of miles away or start careers over again in another position with the railroad. Their other option was to stop working for Amtrak altogether.
In August, Amtrak released a Request for Information (RFI), seeking outside vendors to replace approximately 1,700 onboard food and beverage service workers. Submissions are due Jan. 19, 2019.
The ASWC put out our own “RFI” in the form of a passenger survey. The survey confirms that passengers prefer hot food and experienced, direct employees – not low-paid contractors – on the trains.
The ASWC is demanding that Chief Executive Outsourcer Richard Anderson stop degrading onboard services by cutting and outsourcing jobs and that he be fired from his position at Amtrak!
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The Amtrak Service Workers Council (ASWC) comprises three unions representing Amtrak service workers: The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), UNITE HERE and Transportation Communications Union/IAM (TCU/IAM).