Labor unions representing Amtrak workers say changes in dining service aboard the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited are threatening jobs and pensions as well as annoying passengers.
The unions want Amtrak to reinstate full dining-car service on the both trains, which serve northern Ohio.
The dining changes, which became effective on June 1, involve providing cold meals to sleeping car passengers.
Amtrak executives have characterized the cost-cutting changes as experimental and pledged to provide at least one hot entrée at a future time.
The executives told the Rail Passengers Association that Amtrak is studying making improvements system-wide food service improvements.
The Amtrak Service Workers Council, however, is not impressed.
“We pledge to do everything in our power to preserve these jobs and the unique Amtrak dining experience,” the council said in a statement.
The council said that seven chefs have been furloughed and given a little more than a week to make a major life decision, meaning moving to Chicago or Seattle in order to continue working for Amtrak.
Some of them have 30 years of service and live on the East Coast.
“Therefore, it is certain that closing dining cars on these routes will have immediate and ripple effects on Amtrak workers across the country, not only those employed on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited lines.
The union group also took aim at how Amtrak sought to frame the change, issuing a news release and making statements charactering the changes as providing “fresh” and “contemporary” meal service.
The council said the new meal service is nothing more than a cold snack in a cardboard box being delivered to passengers in their rooms.
“Riders are paying close to $1,000 a ticket, only to be fed yogurt and sandwiches? We have been told by our members that passengers already are expressing their dissatisfaction with the upcoming service and meal plan changes,” the council said.
“Our members are on the frontlines, and they know that passengers view the current dining service as part of the experience of riding a train through the country along a long-distance route.”
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari declined to comment on the council’s statement other than to say the pre-packaged meals are not limited to the examples cited in statements.
Amtrak expects to save $3 million annual by eliminating full-service dining cars from the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited.
Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak Capitol Limited, Amtrak dining cars, Amtrak labor unions, Amtrak Service Workers Council, Amtrak trains, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, dining aboard Amtrak, dining cars
Amtrak in the Heartland 
Leave a Reply