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Below is one of the articles I referenced.

tom

Tom Carper

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From: KBrubaker@elpc.org
To: tomcarper@msn.com
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 14:07:20 -0600
Subject: FW: A time of stress


Tom,

Thought you should see this. I don’t have any “insider” intelligence on this.

Best wishes,
Kevin


Kevin Brubaker
Deputy Director
Environmental Law & Policy Center (www.elpc.org)
35 E Wacker Drive, Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 673-6500
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From: Don Phillips [mailto:phillips605@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 1:48 PM
To: Don Phillips
Subject: A time of stress

This is an item for today's Trains Magazine news wire. I will also be doing a column in the same subject soon. Don

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AMTRAK CUTBACKS

By Don Phillips


MANAGEMENT BUYOUTS BRING STRESS TO AMTRAK


In an effort to save money and cut back on management personnel, Amtrak offered buyouts to its management staff, leading more than 160 managers to accept buyouts including a number of experienced managers who Amtrak wanted to keep. More personnel will be cut over the next few months.

The move by Amtrak President Joe Boardman is part of an effort to save money and avoid any train cutbacks as Congress squeezes Amtrak’s budget. However, a number of sources said so many key positions have been cut that some managers feared safety and operations could be compromised. In a few cases, Amtrak managers said they would leave even if Boardman declined their buyout requests, partly to protest the cuts in safety-sensitive positions.

Amtrak officials scoffed at the idea that safety would ever be compromised. “That’s just not true,” said Brian Gallagher, Boardman’s Director of Operations and Coordination. “No safety-sensitive positions will be cut.”

Joe McHugh, Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications, said that Amtrak is constantly under pressure from some politicians to cut the cost of long-distance trains, and “We don’t want to lose our national system trains.” Money-saving moves are necessary, he said.

McHugh also said it is natural for an organization to be under emotional pressure at a time of buyouts and cutbacks. “A lot is going on,” McHugh said. “It is, unfortunately for some, a very stressful time. McHugh said Amtrak management had become “oversized” and it was time to streamline the organization as the company implements its strategic plan. Many of the people who leave hopefully will be able to get a job quickly, he said, and all will receive severance packages.

However, others in the organization said tension now is higher than it needs to be. For instance, those who chose not to take the buyout know there will be other cutbacks, but they have no idea whether those cutbacks will be accompanied by layoffs or buyouts, how big those cutbacks will be, or what the resulting organization will look like. Would they even want a job in the new organization? Amtrak has never said how many positions it wants to eliminate, leading to more tension. In the last three years, Amtrak has added about 250 new management positions around the country, but it is unclear whether that number is relevant to the planned buyouts and layoffs.

Lack of knowledge makes the cutbacks more stressful than they need to be, according to insiders. “The critical question to be asked is what the new organization actually looks like, since no one has seen it,” said one official who did not take a buyout. “Organizational change is a major undertaking that requires good communication across the organization.”

Several sources said Boardman has contributed to the nervousness by being uncommunicative and testy during the process. In one case, a top official who was reorganized into a new job asked Boardman what his new duties would be. Sources said Boardman replied, “You figure it out” and walked away.

Numerous internet notes from inside Amtrak have criticized Boardman. For instance one said “It is increasingly obvious that the CEO is moody, abusive, and really doesn't have a plan.” It is not possible to determine the exact truth of any of these statements. None of the authors wanted to be identified for fear of retribution. Asked about these notes, one Amtrak official who did not want to be named said, “I would only add that the situation is actually worse than you describe. Boardman is imploding, and the scene you described is occurring with different people on a daily basis. It is truly ugly, and getting worse.”

Gallagher replied that “This is all news to me.” McHugh said people always tend to exaggerate at times of stress and change. Amtrak meanwhile will handle the downsizing in “the most humanistic way possible.”