Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Friday introduced that 18,000 Amtrak staff will obtain bonuses of $900 this vacation season. (Credit score: @SecDuffy by way of X)
The U.S. Division of Transportation (DOT) introduced Thursday it has helped redirect “exorbitant” govt payouts at Amtrak — put in place below the Biden administration — into $900 bonuses for greater than 18,000 frontline staff.
The DOT mentioned it reached an settlement with Amtrak’s administration and board of administrators to shift roughly half of management bonuses to Amtrak’s unionized frontline staff this vacation season, recognizing what officers described as a “document 12 months” for ridership and income.
“Because of the urging of the Trump administration, end-of-year bonuses will now go to 18,000 frontline staff slightly than being restricted to the manager ranks,” Mark Wallace, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, mentioned in an announcement.
“This long-overdue recognition of the workers who preserve the railroad transferring is a step in the fitting course.”
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy introduced that Amtrak staff will obtain bonuses of $900 this vacation season. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
In a put up to X Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reiterated the announcement, noting “Christmas is coming slightly early” for the 18,000 Amtrak staff receiving the bonuses.
“The Trump administration is delivering LOWER COSTS and BIGGER PAYCHECKS,” Duffy mentioned.
The transfer follows the Trump administration’s push for Amtrak’s govt management workforce to forfeit half of the bonuses they’d have obtained below what the DOT described as “misplaced priorities.”
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An Amtrak eating automotive in Lamy, N.M. (Robert Alexander/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
“Below the Trump Administration, [DOT] found Biden-Buttigieg period bonus constructions for Amtrak’s govt workforce that resulted in exorbitant payouts for senior employees,” the company mentioned. “Below Secretary Duffy, [DOT] will restructure these ranges to be extra aggressive to make sure staff are correctly awarded.”
Earlier this 12 months, Duffy equally criticized the Biden administration, significantly former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for abandoning an “unprecedented backlog” of important infrastructure security enhancements throughout the nation.
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Pete Buttigieg speaks throughout a information convention in Chicago. (Taylor Glascock/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
A spokesperson for Buttigieg, a rumored 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, dismissed the DOT’s criticisms on the time as “nonsense.”
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Fox Enterprise has reached out to Buttigieg and former President Biden for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
