No, it's not an assumption. Starting pay for on-board is $21 per hour plus benefits. You are welcome to tip them and I generally do, but many people work jobs for $21 per hour that don't get benefits and aren't allowed to accept tips - it shouldn't be expected to tip amtrak employees.
Interesting to know. Are on-board staff paid that rate for all the hours they are away from home aboard the train, or just when on duty, serving?
It was interesting to finally get some idea of what onboard personnel are paid. We don’t ask very much of our SCA’s other than that they take our meal orders and delivery our meals to us in our bedroom when requested. As long as they do that, we will continue to tip them. The only other Amtrak people we feel obligated to tip are the Red Cap cart drivers who take us to and from the Metropolitan Lounge, a service we very much appreciate. And we don’t particularly care if the people we tip share their tips with others or report them honestly to the IRS.
https://www.payscale.com/research/U..._Railroad_Passenger_Corporation)/Hourly_Rate#I hope you are correct about the Amtrak staff getting a fair wage, etc, but none of us here seem to know, it is all assumptions as far as I can see?
I do feel sad that millions of regular US jobs have no paid holidays, etc, etc, etc. Why do you think that is ? (At least those union troublemakers don't stir up things by trying to obtain benefits and paid holidays... Bloody unions, eh? )
Interesting that the above source states that over 95% of their Amtrak "pay scales" are estimates. A train attendant is said to start from $13 per hour?
That's great, except the memo is in regards to ticket office and clerical people, not OBS. The OBS people do not have a strong union and they recently voted down their new contract offer because it was so bad....
The OBS folks bargain under the banner of the Amtrak Service Workers Council. From what I can tell the unions in the ASWC include Unite HERE, TCU-IAM, which I assume goes back to the Sleeping Car Porters of A Philip Randolph, which merged into what became TCU (BRAC at the time of the merger.) ARASA which is part of TCU-IAM, and I want to say TWU for some reason. Maybe more unions are involved. None of the unions have enough membership to have any pull but none of the unions want to loss any members. So they have this council that acts as the union but then it splits apart for individual workers it would seem. Some of the unions in the ASWC may be doing great work and others not so much in repping their members, which I assume is mostly dealing with grievances and contract enforcement. I think TCU leads the negotiations.
The last time I was in a sleeper I tipped on boarding at NYP. And at bed time for the SCA he came by and said goodnight and mentioned the conductor would see us off. I think he also asked if I wanted my bottom chair made into a bed and I was fine reclining without a full bed. I gave him the remainder of what I had planned for the tip. We was grateful for the tip and seemed sincere is his gratitude but it also was NOT followed by "I can pay my bills now." Everything else aside, I have had mostly elderly black males as SCA though not exclusively. Being a white southern male I can't help but be aware of the optics of that but regardless of gender or race I will take care of a union brother to the best of my ability. But I am glad they are not working for tips either.
Earlier posts to this thread have provided some indication as to how much Amtrak employees are paid compared to the bad old days when dining car waiters, porters, and other onboard staff people had to derive much of their income from tips. Although everyone should receive a decent salary based on the work they do, the old tipping system did provide an incentive for employees to provide good service and to be courteous to everyone they came in contact with (even those who tried their patience.) Service on the old extra fare trains like the Twentieth Century Limited and the Santa Fe Super Chief was outstanding. The fact that the passengers on those trains were also “well heeled” and able to offer generous tips undoubtedly helped to maintain this high level of service. People who rode those deluxe trains on a regular basis often became good friends with members of the onboard staff and would arrange their travel schedules to be on the same trains with them.
Well.. Acela is mostly competing with Air Travel - I don't think I've ever seen a 1st Class FA get tipped. So I don't think that role would usually get tipped.
