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Season 5, Episode 155

Historic contract win for TWU and Amtrak onboard service workers

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Guest Name:


John Samuelsen

Guest Website:


Transport Workers Union of America 

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John Samuelsen, International President of the Transport Workers Union of America, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the long journey to getting Amtrak onboard service workers a historic wage increase and industry-leading paid parental leave in their recently ratified contract.

At the end of July, the TWU secured the largest wage increase for Amtrak workers in its 53-year history. Samuelsen explained the work that went into achieving the record contract. After more than three years of negotiations, more than 85 percent of the 360 Amtrak onboard service members that make up TWU Local 1460 ratified the contract. 

The new agreement will give workers a 34 percent total wage increase over the life of the contract. This contract is backdated to July 1, 2022, and will include full retroactive pay for members. Samuelsen said the onboard workers may not have the power of Amtrak's engineers, but they are crucial to Amtrak’s operations. 

Samuelsen discussed the work-life balance portions of the contract and how they will improve the quality of life for members. One of the big wins he highlighted was the industry-leading paid parental leave program, which the TWU said far exceeds other rail carriers in the country. Starting in 2025, there will be 10 weeks of paid parental leave for workers who have been active for at least one year.

For more on the historic Amtrak contract, please listen to the show above.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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