Amtrak employee meals

[Amtrakfflyer]

I don’t think it’s petty at all. I just think it’s interesting. Maybe because I’m in a related industry. That being said company material is company material and obviously shouldn’t be shared. ALPA and Teamsters contracts for pretty much any airline can be googled easily enough.

My original post on this thread had more to do with curiosity on logistics of food on the second day of a trip after a overnight in a hotel. Leaving home the first day is easy enough just pack some food in your igloo bag etc. The 2,3,4 days out gets more interesting. I’d usually find a 7/11 type store grab a couple yogurts, fruit, or whatnot the night before and put it in the hotel fridge assuming they had one. KFC was good once in a while too as it stored in the hotel fridge and wasn’t half bad cold. Hotels that had the free continental breakfast were always nice too. Throw a couple things in your bag good to go. It got embarrassing however when certain co workers would literally empty parts of the buffet into their bag and walk out with it

That’s all I meant by the question, cargo airline, Amtrak, freight workers probably have a lot in common that way

 

[PVD]

Contract terms are usually pretty easy to get, what an individual person makes, with a few exceptions is not something that should be readily accessible.

 

[railiner]

Learning other people's business may be 'interesting', but asking it is rather impolite....like asking a woman her age....

 

[Ryan]

I think we debated this sensitive subject before, and some proponents of this, stated their intention to "arm themselves" with this info, (as in service manuals), and quote it to employees perceived to not be in compliance. Not a good scenario, IMHO....

I think that service standards are something a bit different and salary and benefits, though. While the latter has no bearing on my trip, the former can be hugely impactful.

While I'm not going to get into an argument onboard and quote their manual at them, I would be more firm about asking for something that I believed that I was entitled to, and I'd absolutely be more certain to contact Amtrak with a complaint after the fact if there was an issue. Or, alternatively if a telephone agent said that I was not allowed to book a particular number of people in a room that the rules state I'm allowed to, I'm not going to just roll over and pay for an extra room. Again though, I'd probably just hang up, call back again, find an agent that has been properly trained and then follow up with a complaint concerning the non-compliant agents.

But again, past basic elements of human decency and workers rights, the particulars of the employee/employer relationship are between the two of them.

All that said, the OP's question seems harmless and born out of genuine curiosity and wouldn't begrudge any employee that would want to discuss how meals are handled.

 

[caravanman]

I apologise for using the expression "petty" in my post above. I just felt that some folk were taking their annoyance at Amtrak in general out on a few employees who might be getting meals free.

I need to get out more, with lockdown, I am becoming a cranky old man!

 

[Chris I]

What airline pilots? Perhaps overseas operating crews with flights over 9 hours, but no. Most domestic pilots are responsible for their own grab and go between flights.

I usually see flight attendants bring food to the cockpit on Transcon flights (5+ hours). Most domestic flights are under 3 hours, though, and I imagine that food is not brought to the cockpit.

 

[jiml]

I usually see flight attendants bring food to the cockpit on Transcon flights (5+ hours). Most domestic flights are under 3 hours, though, and I imagine that food is not brought to the cockpit.

Flight attendants lost their catered meals in the airline bankruptcies/cuts post 9-11. I think this was pretty much industry-wide. Pilots on the majors still receive meals on most flights of a certain duration - usually matching the criteria used for FC passengers (pre-Covid of course). As has been pointed out previously, regionals and LCC's had less benefits in the first place. This was all covered as it happened on frequent flyer sites such as Flyertalk. Frankly, some domestic FC food isn't that great, so if I'm a hungry pilot and there's a McDonald's next to the gate...

 

[me_little_me]

As customers, we may not be entitled to know what Amtrak employees make, but as taxpayers we do. Whether the government calls it a "private corporation" or not, we taxpayers pay ALL the money that Amtrak does not make in revenue and that is significant. That gives us the right to know how they spend it and that information should be public knowledge.

 

[caravanman]

Congress gave Amtrak $1.942 billion in 2019, and a few employees ate meals valued at around $15 each. Happy now, taxpayers?

 

[Qapla]

While it is true that the "Amtrak position" pay rate could be public knowledge, we do not really need to know what the individual employees of the rank-and-file make. As far as I know, the exact salaries of all the soldiers make is not public information ... why should those for Amtrak be?

However, that does not mean we should not know what the board members and top management are paid - including bonuses and incentives. I read an article earlier today said, "Former Amtrak CEO Moorman and current CEO Anderson both publicly stated, and Amtrak documents confirm, that they came out of retirement to work without a salary." - but went on to include this information "Amtrak documents received in mid-October revealed only that both men were eligible to receive up to $500,000 in annual bonuses, based on goals specified in written memoranda they agreed to with the Amtrak board of directors. "

I'd be willing to work without a salary if I were getting a $500,000 bonus in place of a paycheck

 

[Ryan]

the exact salaries of all the soldiers make is not public information

Yes they are.

 

[blueman271]

While it is true that the "Amtrak position" pay rate could be public knowledge, we do not really need to know what the individual employees of the rank-and-file make. As far as I know, the exact salaries of all the soldiers make is not public information ... why should those for Amtrak be?

However, that does not mean we should not know what the board members and top management are paid - including bonuses and incentives. I read an article earlier today said, "Former Amtrak CEO Moorman and current CEO Anderson both publicly stated, and Amtrak documents confirm, that they came out of retirement to work without a salary." - but went on to include this information "Amtrak documents received in mid-October revealed only that both men were eligible to receive up to $500,000 in annual bonuses, based on goals specified in written memoranda they agreed to with the Amtrak board of directors. "

I'd be willing to work without a salary if I were getting a $500,000 bonus in place of a paycheck

mypay.dfas.mil literally gives the base pay for every pay grade at every year of service. Our special pay and BAH allowances are public knowledge and easily searchable as well.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Contract terms are usually pretty easy to get, what an individual person makes, with a few exceptions is not something that should be readily accessible.

I think the hiding of compensation probably does more to hurt workers than to protect our personal dignity.

Learning other people's business may be 'interesting', but asking it is rather impolite....like asking a woman her age....

Until I started traveling I never realized that in many countries discussing topics such as income and compensation is not viewed as rude or taboo. At first this was very jarring but maybe they have it right and we're the odd ones.

It seems rather petty to want to pry into folks working conditions. Amtrak may offer poor quality service, with long train delays, and run ancient equipment, but is this because some staff get a free meal at work?

Would it make you feel better if I posted my own benefits first? It just does not seem like that big of a deal to me.

 

[Qapla]

So, I can go to that website, type in a soldiers name and see his exact salary ... not the "base pay" for his rank/years - the exact amount on his personal paycheck?

I did not know that.

Anyway, I do not need to know individual employees paycheck amounts but knowing the exorbitant amounts that cutting services gives to those at the top get as a "bonus" for cutting those services - I do think would be of interest when it comes to a company run/owned by tax dollars.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Anyone can look up starting pay for various Amtrak jobs... it’s not a secret.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

So, I can go to that website, type in a soldiers name and see his exact salary ... not the "base pay" for his rank/years - the exact amount on his personal paycheck?

Maybe not in the US but in at least one country you can.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/b...es-to-tax-transparency-norway-leads-the-field
I cannot say if the Norway method is better or not but I do think some of our assumptions about what should be kept private or public are kind of backward in some ways. For instance, the way we hide basic aspects of life like salaries and taxes but happily march alleged suspects down a jury poisoning "perp walk."

 

[Qapla]

Since Amtrak is a US enterprise - it doesn't seem like the Norway system would even have a bearing on the matter.

As for how the "justice system" in the US works - that is an entirely different subject than Amtrak rank-and-file employee individual salaries ... and has no bearing on the meals for Amtrak employees - unless the employees are stealing them ... and they would have to steal an awful lot of them to get "perp walked"

 

[Bob Dylan]

I usually see flight attendants bring food to the cockpit on Transcon flights (5+ hours). Most domestic flights are under 3 hours, though, and I imagine that food is not brought to the cockpit.

But dont eat the Fish! Lol

 

[caravanman]

I think most folk in the UK would say that discussing a person's income is uncouth. Not the behaviour of a gentleman. My feeling is that either all should declare their incomes, or no one should.
That reminds me: Check the balance in my Panamanian bank account!

 

[Ryan]

So, I can go to that website, type in a soldiers name and see his exact salary ... not the "base pay" for his rank/years - the exact amount on his personal paycheck?

I did not know that.

No, you can't do that.

But you can figure it out with nothing more than publicly available information.

 

[daybeers]

A relevant video about sharing salaries with coworkers.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I think most folk in the UK would say that discussing a person's income is uncouth. Not the behaviour of a gentleman. My feeling is that either all should declare their incomes, or no one should.

You previously mentioned passengers confronting staff over work related benefits, and obviously that would be unacceptable behavior, but you also seem to condemn the mere discussion of compensation as if it is fundamentally injurious. Is there a specific harm you believe is caused merely by knowing how much someone else makes?

 

[jis]

In my own job experience over my entire career it seems to me that the only group that gains from keeping compensations secret is the managers who can then proceed to fecklessly lie their way through under compensating many while making them believe that they are compensated more than others. Making the information more public would mostly cause agony to the managers who would have to be more honest for a change. Just IMHO of course.

Over a significant part of my working life there were small groups of us who surriptitiously shared compensation information within the group without letting anyone else know, since we knew that officially what we were doing would be subject for disciplinary action including dismissal. But it was useful to gauge which manager was honest and which one was a liar and to what extent. And yes, I was blessed with having several honest managers, and a few not so honest. In general more validated information is better than less in making decisions.

 

[TrackWalker]

Is there a specific harm you believe is caused merely by knowing how much someone else makes?

Learning my CEO makes in 1 month what took me 38 years at the same company to earn was very injurious to my mental well-being. (especially after being told earlier in the week by the beancounters I was not entitled to the .5 hours of OT (only ST) I had put in for)

 

[jis]

Learning my CEO makes in 1 month what took me 38 years at the same company to earn was very injurious to my mental well-being. (especially after being told earlier in the week by the beancounters I was not entitled to the .5 hours of OT (only ST) I had put in for)

I am assuming this is mostly a sarcastic remark. Since CEO incomes of at least publicly traded companies and also of all 501c(x) non-profits, are always public knowledge I am not even sure we are really talking about it in this thread.