Amtrak Asst Conductor Salary

What does an Asst Conductor at Amtrak make?

The only thing the Human Resource announcement at jobs.amtrak.com says is the prevailing Union rate.

The pay rate shouldn't be a secret as it is a Union agreement.

You will start out at a step rate at 75%. It takes 5 years to get to 100%. Posting wages on this board is always frowned upon. Amtrak has going on 6 yrs. without a new contract.

You probably can do a Freedom of Information Act request to find out the salary. I don't know why it is frowned upon to reveal salaries, it is public information since Amtrak is a government corporation.

Forgive me if i am wrong but this forum is called, employment. With any type of employment comes, salary. So why cant someone post what they earn, or at least give an estimate of what someone can earn. I am really thinking that if all the railroaders are that disgruntled out in thier job that they carry it over to thier free time, then it really sounds like a horrible job. Maybe I am wrong but it sounds like the moderators that frown upon giving salaries are not railroaders at all, instead maybe they are just sore because they are the railfans that never got hired! Hey loosen up a bit or you might not have a board to moderate at all. Hey i might be wrong, but i dont think so.

I would suggest you look in the forums, and find someone working in the position you are interested in. Contact him via PM, or Email, if possible, and ask discretely about this info. Pay rates are not "public knowledge", and our unions fight hard for every penny we receive. Asking or talking about someones salary in a public forum is in bad taste, and is also somewhat intrusive. I respect someones desire to know what we are paid, but more importantly, you must respect my right to keep this info out of a public forum. As far as it "being a secret", because it's a union agreement, join the union, or become a manager. The contract is negotiated between those two parties only, with no input from the public, during the process. Why you feel it's your business, is simply beyond me. The moderator is doing what is correct. You were explained how the scales work, now contact a person in the craft you are interested in, and with the carrier you desire employment on, and ask for yourself. I noticed none of you inquiring, are posting your job titles, and salaries, in your questions. How would you feel if we discussed the $9.04 an hour, you are making? It's none of our business, and our paychecks are none of yours. Regards

GOLDEN-ARM wrote: How would you feel if we discussed the $9.04 an hour, you are making? It's none of our business, and our paychecks are none of yours. Regards

G-A, you pick $9.04 out of the blue? That was the starting Trainman's rate when I hired out!

D'OH!!!

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and side with the posters who want to know. When you've got the opportunity to get hired on and completely change your life from top to bottom, it's a fair question to ask what you can expect to make. Not to mention the fact that it's so difficult to understand the variables (step rate, yard vs road, pre-vs.-post 1985 contract, trip miles, claims, etc). Golden Arm's advice is good to contact someone privately, but I don't think that an innocent inquiry to help make a big decision like this is a big deal. I just give people a broad range and compare road vs. yard and what you can expect if you stick it out for a few years. David hasn't really been a hardcase about salaries, but there are a few mods on here who go ballistic about it. Maybe a sticky should be put at the top about asking money questions and the proper way to do it.

Wow, you guys make $9.04? I hope the new contract gets us newbies up to that.

You stated, SW, that "it is a life changing deciscion, etc..." but you don't get hired on the forums. The carriers do the hiring. They will tell you what they pay, and how often they pay it, etc. Asking about salary is like asking a women if she's pregnant. It's not done, in polite society. It IS in poor taste, to ask something so private, in a public forum. Ask a person privately, but don't be suprised, if they are vague, about it. I always go to an interview, and ask the questions there, if I couldn't get the info beforehand. If it's not enough money, I walk. Same for "bennies". If they aren't right, I walk out the door. WAY too much money to be made out there, to settle for crumbs. A public forum is not the place to share salaries. You won't hear me discussing the specifics of a contract, or salary, in this public forum, excepting for mentioning some arbitraries, etc., but never with a dollar amount attached to the discussion. It's nobodies business but the union men and the carriers who signed into agreements with each-other. That's my .XX cents worth. (deleted for security reasons )

Well in New York at least, the Freedom of Information Law allows us to find the salaries of teachers and other school officials who have privately negotiated contracts. It's part of the public's right to know where their tax money is going. I would suspect the FOIA is similar to New York's FOIL because FOIL came out after FOIA to apply to bodies under state jurisdiction. I would be willing to bet that you could find the salaries for employees at the MTA. I have excersized the rights given to me under the FOIL to find the salaries of public employees who have private contracts and the agency complied. There are very few reasons why a government body can deny a FOIL request and these requests are not taken lightly.

In Amtrak's case, they are subject to the FOIA and a request to inspect a union contract would probably be reasonable. Probably if an Anti-Amtrak publication got hold of that information, there would be ramifications and that's why people object to divulging their salaries.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:...Pay rates are not "public knowledge", and our unions fight hard for every penny we receive.

What a pile of crap! It is not a secret. No one was asking anyone what their specific wage might be. Most people work in exchange for money. "How much?" is a legitimate question.

For example, if you go visit Norfolk Southern's employment info page, the pay rates are posted. The basic pay rate for a new conductor on the NS is about $16-$18 an hour depending on the exact job. It's no secret and they sky does not fall down with the revelation of the pay scale.

Amtrak is the same way, the pay varies based on the specific job. However, to answer the poster's question, union scale for a an Ast. Conductor on Amtrak works out to about $40K+ per annum, give or take. Conductors make in the $55-60K range.

-r

Razor, thanks for the info. UPRR for their Train Service at least give you a ballpark (up to $40,000 the first year and up to $75,000 after) but Amtrak gave only "prevailing union rate".

Oh man, now you've gone and done it!! Posting for all the world to see, how much money the railroads pay. On our railroad, we hire railfans, and explain they will be allowed to ride on the train, throw switches and couple cars, and maybe someday RUN the engine. We start them out fairly low, just allowing them to hang around and be on the property. If they want to be a brakeman we charge them more, and once they're hooked, and want to run, the price really goes up! We're thinking of getting rid of our newer power, and going to old Baldwins and ALCOs so we can charge even more. We even thought of going to steam engines, but decided against it, we wanted to keep it cheap enough that the average fan can afford it. Let's hope you didn't mess it up for us. Imagine people wanting to be PAID money for railroad work - amazing!

Ok, ok I apologize for causing a landslide. I really just want to call to everyone’s attention what the purpose of this board is, or for that matter what any board is for. I think it boils down to people helping people. I meant no disrespect to the moderators or to that of anyone who feels that some discussion or types of discussion are wrong in this particular topic. The name of the topic is employment, and I believe that allot of people have legitimate questions pertaining to just that. Now if I were to come out and have a political discussion about the Clinton administration or the bush administration, I can see stopping the discussion. However questions on salary, credit scores on obtaining a loan so that someone can attend a technical school, or whatever else someone needs help, so that he or she can obtain employment on the railroad, let it go. Personally I am a member of many forums that have helped me so much in my life; I just hope to someday anonymously help someone out, to repay the anonymous people that have helped me out in the past.

Now to everyone that thinks that salary is a private matter, if salary were negotiated on an individual level I would agree. However salary is not individual at all, at least for most positions in the railroad. Everyone gets paid the same for the most part. In that case in an interview it is not proper to ask what the salary is, you should have researched what it is before hand, hence where we come in.

Again I am not trying to insult the current moderators, as they seem pretty laid back compared to some of the earlier posts I have read.