“TWU workers get a much-deserved bonus. The Amtrak suits sitting in offices get a much-deserved reality check.”
The Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak announced that all frontline Amtrak workers, including Transport Workers Union members, will receive $900 bonuses during the holiday season – redistributing executive bonuses to the workers that move America’s passenger rail system.
“TWU workers get a much-deserved bonus. The Amtrak suits sitting in offices get a much-deserved reality check,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said.
“Frontline workers make Amtrak run every day, not railroad executives,” Samuelsen said. “This bonus acknowledges that fact and, for the first time in years, restructures the Amtrak budget to direct resources to workers on the line instead of into executives’ pockets. The TWU, in partnership with the FRA and our allies in Congress, has fought for this change since greedy executives at the railroad rewarded themselves while furloughing workers during the pandemic. Today is a major victory in that fight.”
The TWU was the first union to call Amtrak out for its greedy bonus policy in 2021. In the midst of the pandemic with some workers still on furlough, Amtrak quietly gave top executives more than $200,000 each. Some executives, including former Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, where awarded more than $700,000 in bonuses on top of their salaries from 2016 through 2022.
The FRA announced Thursday that executive bonuses will be cut in half moving forward to give frontline workers the $900 bonus. The TWU represents on-board service workers, car inspectors, car repairmen, welders, cleaners and more at Amtrak. The TWU previously supported legislation sponsored by former Rep. Marc Molinaro that would require Amtrak to officially notify Congress before doling out bonuses to executives.