550 jobs to be cut as Amtrak closes Riverside reservation center

RIVERSIDE — In a move announced to employees in a Nov. 14 email, Amtrak officials said they will be closing their Riverside reservation center in January, laying off all 550 employees.

Amtrak says the decision to close the Riverside call center was based on declining phone reservations, but employees and union representatives say the decision was based on Amtrak wanting to pay their employees lower wages.

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Riverside operations will be discontinued Jan. 18, according to Tim Griffin, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, who explained all Riverside reservation operations will be consolidated with the company’s Philadelphia reservation center.

Amtrak officials say they are allowing some of their Riverside workers to relocate to Philadelphia, where their call center operations will be expanded.

Officials did not specify how many of their Riverside employees would be allowed to transfer or what other accommodations will be made for them.

In the email, Griffin wrote that about 90 percent of Amtrak’s customers now book their travel online, and that over the last five years the number of calls received at contact centers has declined by close to 3 million calls.

Frustrated Amtrak employees and union leaders have countered Amtrak’s claims and say Amtrak has contracted with a third-party operator in Florida, where they will be paying workers less money.

According to the email, Amtrak plans on selling the Riverside facility.

 

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Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.