(The following article by Francine Knowles was posted on the Chicago Sun-Times website on April 13.)
CHICAGO — Amtrak cooks and waiters rallied and leafletted outside Union Station on Wednesday to protest dining changes that they say have cost jobs.
The workers were protesting Amtrak’s implementation of a new simplified dining system, which replaces on-site preparation of food with prepared foods that have only to be heated.
More than 100 jobs have been cut in Amtrak train kitchens so far because of the change and more will be made by the end of May, said Isaac Monroe, secretary treasurer of Unite Here Local 43 in Chicago. Unite Here represents 2,000 cooks, waiters and porters across the country, including 500 in Chicago.
“They haven’t told us what the total [job] loss will be,” said Monroe, who contends the changes have reduced the quality of Amtrak food service and diminished passengers’ train experience.
Richard Kerley, 42, who has worked for Amtrak for eight years and manages the dining and lounge cars at Amtrak, said he and others are worried about losing their jobs. He said he was rallying to show support for his co-workers.
“They started in the kitchen,” he said. “The next thing you know they could come for anybody.”
Leaders of the Amtrak Service Workers Council, which is made up of the Transportation Communications Union, Unite Here and the Transport Workers Union of America, contend the simplified dining is part of a broader plan by Amtrak’s board and the Bush administration to dismantle Amtrak.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the changes are being made because the railroad is under mandate from Congress to reduce its food and beverage costs or risk losing funding.
Amtrak, which had ridership of 25.4 million last year, has never made money in its 34-year history and had an operating loss of $500 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
The railroad has replaced dishes with plastic plates, and meat and fish items are now prepared ahead of time, Magliari said. Vegetables and some other side dishes are still cooked on site, he said.
The simplified dining has been in effect on routes between Chicago and San Antonio, Chicago and New Orleans, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and New Orleans for the last several weeks. It will be rolled out on all but two train routes by Memorial Day, Magliari said.
The change is estimated to save the railroad “tens of millions of dollars” annually, he said.
Richard Dennis, a 65-year-old Amtrak customer who’d just arrived in town from Washington, said he regrets that he no longer can buy a made-to-order grilled steak when he takes the train.
“I think it will hurt because people like the dining car experience,” he said of the changes.
The White House has called for reduced funding for Amtrak, backing off an earlier push to end all subsidies for the railroad.