# Benefits



## Pastor Dave (Nov 23, 2010)

The last few years, I've toyed with the thought of taking a leave of absence and trying to get a position with Amtrak in OBS. I just spent the last 3 hours listening to the in's and out's of our new health plan (although our leadership could have saved the effort by condensing our meeting into a single line e-mail: "Welcome to our new health insurance plan: don't get sick...")

Does anyone know the benefits Amtrak workers receive?


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## rrdude (Nov 23, 2010)

Dave, are ya married? If so, I'd think long and hard about going into OBS, though I bet Amtrak would never have a better employee watching over their flock of passengers!


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## Devil's Advocate (Nov 24, 2010)

Interesting topic. I remember you talking about shadowing the OBS before so I guess this isn't a spur of the moment kind of thing. I've been thinking of a career change as well, but at first glance I doubt I'd be happy as an Amtrak OBS. I don't know what the benefits are like, but I'm not so sure I would enjoy working as a front-line employee for _any_ consumer carrier. Transportation is just too prone to disruptions and too easy of a target for customer abuse. If there's a delay you can blame the engine or the weather or whatever but the passengers can't demand an apology from a locomotive or the sky, so they'll still vent at you. And even though I really enjoy riding on a train the idea of doing it for days on end, month after month, would probably drive my enthusiasm for trains into the ground. I enjoy them in part because I don't associate them with anything really bad, but a job working with rail passengers would probably change that eventually. And then I might become just like those employees nobody likes because they show no interest in decent customer service and no enthusiasm for the job. That would be bad for everyone involved. But, you seem to have a bit of a different outlook from mine, so maybe it would turn out better for you. When this came up in the past you seemed genuinely curious about what's involved in the job and what can be done to make the experience as agreeable as possible for everyone. At the very least I think having you aboard might help the rest of us gain some additional insight into the views and considerations of the staff. Maybe it would help bridge the gap a bit and improve the opportunities for constructive dialog among passengers and staff. In any case it would probably give you plenty of oddball stories to tell your friends and family. Train folk can be rather odd folk indeed. Not exactly crazy, but just enough off center to make for an amusing tale or two. :hi:


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2010)

Look into a part time job at Starbucks or REI. They have health benefits for part time employees.


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## Dan O (Nov 24, 2010)

Sounds like they would have decent coverage...

http://www.brs.org/PDF%20files/Summary&AgreementFINAL.pdf

http://bletamt.org/downloads/Benefits%20Handbook%202008.pdf

I don't know if those cover all of Amtrak or not.


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## dlagrua (Nov 25, 2010)

Government workers earn 30-40% more than their counterparts in the private sector with great healthcare benefits and a terrific retirement package. Paying far in excess of what the private sector pays is one of the reasons why the federal government and most state governments are going broke.

If you can get a job with Amtrak go for it, as without money, the wage scale cannot continue on its present path forever.


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## Trogdor (Nov 25, 2010)

dlagrua said:


> Government workers earn 30-40% more than their counterparts in the private sector with great healthcare benefits and a terrific retirement package. Paying far in excess of what the private sector pays is one of the reasons why the federal government and most state governments are going broke.
> 
> If you can get a job with Amtrak go for it, as without money, the wage scale cannot continue on its present path forever.


Amtrak employees are not government workers.


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## guest (Nov 25, 2010)

Current employee here. We pay between 150 and 200 dollars/month for health insurance, still have free dental and vision, optional 401k, and of course our beloved Railroad Retirement (MUCH more secure than Social Security!!). Until the most recent contract, we didn't pay anything for medical, so the new charge kind of hurts. My one big gripe (and I've heard this from others I work with) is that we have NO paid sick days, unlike virtually every other company that offers any kind of benefits. This results in our coming in to work while sick, potentially making both our co-workers and our passengers ill. And if we call in sick (if we work on long-haul trains, at least), not only do we not have sick pay, but we also lose an entire trip, which averages around 60 hours for a long-haul. Not cool. Over all, I'd call the benefits at Amtrak "average".


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## Chatter163 (Nov 25, 2010)

dlagrua said:


> Government workers earn 30-40% more than their counterparts in the private sector with great healthcare benefits and a terrific retirement package.


Source of this claim?


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## guest (Nov 26, 2010)

Chatter163 said:


> dlagrua said:
> 
> 
> > Government workers earn 30-40% more than their counterparts in the private sector with great healthcare benefits and a terrific retirement package.
> ...


A lot of government workers these days are part-time and/or temporary, with NO benefits of any kind, regardless of their hourly wage.


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## Bob Dylan (Nov 26, 2010)

As a retired Government employee, both Federal and State, I have watched these threads as they come up periodically with amazement that so many people are basically ignorant of what Governmentt employees make and what their benefits really are. While it's true most companies are in a race to the bottom now a days (ie Wal-Mart, biggest and richest company in the world being sued for cheating their employees consistently!), and lots of people are unemployed, I can recall for years friends and family that kept asking when I was going to quit working for the government and make some "real money?"

The benefits were traditionally good, Federal still are, but with so many state and local Governments in budget trouble, lots of these negotiated benefits are disappearing and people are losing their jobs! Contracting out of services is a conservative idea and has been terrible for such things as prisons, security, social service etc! Even here in low wage/no benefit Texas the State had to fire such companies as IBM and others and take over essential services that were botched by High Wage/for profit companies!

I dont begrudge Amtrak employees a cent, they have a really HARD JOB, and if the service is professional and their attitude at least civil, I make sure they are tipped for their labors!

Anyone that begrudges what others make ,or their benefits,needs to get a life or another job! Envy and Greed are two of the seven deadly sins! My motto is: if you haven't, walk a mile in their shoes! BTW-Paying taxes for essential services is the American way, United we stand, Divided we fall! :excl: Jim


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## jmbgeg (Nov 26, 2010)

guest said:


> Current employee here. We pay between 150 and 200 dollars/month for health insurance, still have free dental and vision, optional 401k, and of course our beloved Railroad Retirement (MUCH more secure than Social Security!!). Until the most recent contract, we didn't pay anything for medical, so the new charge kind of hurts. My one big gripe (and I've heard this from others I work with) is that we have NO paid sick days, unlike virtually every other company that offers any kind of benefits. This results in our coming in to work while sick, potentially making both our co-workers and our passengers ill. And if we call in sick (if we work on long-haul trains, at least), not only do we not have sick pay, but we also lose an entire trip, which averages around 60 hours for a long-haul. Not cool. Over all, I'd call the benefits at Amtrak "average".


Public and private sector employers have faced double digit increases in health insurance costs for years; at a pace well in excess of their revenues. In response, changes to benefits packages have been needed. They have included higher health insurance deductibles and or co-pays, and more recently, employee participation in the premiums in cases where employers have paid the entire employee premium in the past. These adjustments have been unavoidable. In am not convinced that the "Obamacare" health care reforms will constrain premiums, with the prohibition of disallowing preexisting conditions and the lifting of annual and lifetime payout caps. There will be notable costs for those expansions in coverage that will be passed on to employers and employee in higher premiums. It is probably best for me not to delve further into health care reform, as this is an Amtrak discussion board, not a polical board.

It would be interesting how Amtrak employee benefits match up against other trasnportation sector employers like commuter train operators, freight train lines, and airlines if those are reasonable comparisons. No sick paid days is an unfortunate policy decision.

All in all, the total compensation bundle (wages, insurance benefits, 401(k) matches and other retirement plans) should be evaluated to determine fairness to employees and employers.


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## Pastor Dave (Nov 26, 2010)

rrdude said:


> Dave, are ya married? If so, I'd think long and hard about going into OBS, though I bet Amtrak would never have a better employee watching over their flock of passengers!


I am married. Both of my kids are out of the house and my wife is independent enough to not need me around all the time.

I appreciate the compliment. I do think I would be good at OBS services since I often deal with people at their "worst," or most "distressed." I'm not looking at this as a change of career, just a respite with an opportunity to gain some new experiences. The multiple 24 hour days might be a challenge, but the multiple "at home" days without being on-call would sure be tempting...


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## PRR 60 (Nov 26, 2010)

In my former line of work (private industry), we had craft employees who did the identical work as a craft at Amtrak. Our people were paid about 20% higher than the Amtrak folks, with comparable benefits. In fact, a significant number of our people came to us from Amtrak (a fact that my counterpart at Amtrak would good-naturedly chastise me about every chance he got).


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## amamba (Nov 26, 2010)

That is disappointing to me to hear that amtrak does not offer paid sick days to all of its OBS staff. I do agree that it could cause OBS staff to come to work sick - thus providing a hazard to coworkers and also passengers. I would hate for a SCA or LSA to come to work and then also perform poorly. But for some people it might not be economically feasible for them to stay home while sick and then risk losing out on 60 hours of pay.


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## Pastor Dave (Nov 27, 2010)

amamba said:


> That is disappointing to me to hear that amtrak does not offer paid sick days to all of its OBS staff. I do agree that it could cause OBS staff to come to work sick - thus providing a hazard to coworkers and also passengers. I would hate for a SCA or LSA to come to work and then also perform poorly. But for some people it might not be economically feasible for them to stay home while sick and then risk losing out on 60 hours of pay.


This has got to be tough for the employee since, I guess there is no way just to take 1/2 day to figure out if you have the stomach flu or just ate something bad. But I understand that you just can't decide after the train has left the station that you a feeling better and can hook up somewhere down the line.

Maybe Amtrak could offer it's folks some sort of "savings account," to plug into when runs are missed because of illness. At least that way they could get some sort of paycheck.


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## rrdude (Nov 27, 2010)

dlagrua said:


> Government workers earn 30-40% more than their counterparts in the private sector with great healthcare benefits and a terrific retirement package. Paying far in excess of what the private sector pays is one of the reasons why the federal government and most state governments are going broke.
> 
> If you can get a job with Amtrak go for it, as without money, the wage scale cannot continue on its present path forever.


I cannot believe that you CONTINUE to state that Amtrak employees are "Gov't employees" they are NOT.

Just because Amtrak receives a subsidy from the Federal Gov't (albeit a large one) does not make them Gov't employees. If that is your standard for defining "Gov't Employees" then EVERY company that receives any subsidy from the feds would have "Gov't Employees", and I doubt that employees at Delta, United, General Motors, Chrysler, Conrail, (old days) and many other private companies consider themselves "Gov't employees"


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## PRR 60 (Nov 27, 2010)

rrdude said:


> I cannot believe that you CONTINUE to state that Amtrak employees are "Gov't employees" they are NOT.
> 
> Just because Amtrak receives a subsidy from the Federal Gov't (albeit a large one) does not make them Gov't employees. If that is your standard for defining "Gov't Employees" then EVERY company that receives any subsidy from the feds would have "Gov't Employees", and I doubt that employees at Delta, United, General Motors, Chrysler, Conrail, (old days) and many other private companies consider themselves "Gov't employees"


Amtrak is not a private corporation. It is a quasi-government corporation with the board of directors appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Amtrak has the legal power of the federal government even to the point that Amtrak highway vehicles have federal government license plates. You are correct that Amtrak employees are not employees of the federal government, but they are not employees of a private corporation either.

For the record, Delta and United do not receive direct federal subsidy. The one-time post 9/11 payments to airlines was paid over two years - 2002 and 2003, and that was it.


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## jmbgeg (Nov 27, 2010)

Pastor Dave said:


> The last few years, I've toyed with the thought of taking a leave of absence and trying to get a position with Amtrak in OBS. I just spent the last 3 hours listening to the in's and out's of our new health plan (although our leadership could have saved the effort by condensing our meeting into a single line e-mail: "Welcome to our new health insurance plan: don't get sick...")
> 
> Does anyone know the benefits Amtrak workers receive?


On the Amtrak website:

https://careers.amtrak.com/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://1d27480f80dffd288952a215b826e161&windowId=WID1290893511293


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## rrdude (Nov 28, 2010)

PRR 60 said:


> rrdude said:
> 
> 
> > I cannot believe that you CONTINUE to state that Amtrak employees are "Gov't employees" they are NOT.
> ...


You can type it any way you wish, "Quasi-Private" or "Quasi-Public", so we are both correct. However, Delta and United, at least thru their regional connections (which they may or may not have a financial interest in, so again, you may be correct on this too) *do receive direct funding* for the essential air service that they provide.


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## Devil's Advocate (Nov 29, 2010)

PRR 60 said:


> For the record, Delta and United do not receive direct federal subsidy. The one-time post 9/11 payments to airlines was paid over two years - 2002 and 2003, and that was it.


You seem to have a knack for carefully wording your posts so as to focus on the least significant aspects and draw attention away from the final outcome. US airlines receive subsidies from multiple government sources, including from federal funds. How many turnstiles those subsidies pass through or which specific costs they defray has diddly squat to do with the final result. But please, keep focusing on the bureaucracy while carefully ignoring the origin and destination.


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