UTU partners with Amtrak for training

Written by jrood

The United Transportation Union, as a subcontractor to Amtrak, is in the final stages of developing a training manual titled "Emerging Incidents Procedures" for some 8,000 front-line Amtrak employees. "The manual will be used as part of Amtrak's 2012 Block Training cycle to assist frontline employees aboard trains, in stations and on platforms in developing skills related to situational awareness, observation, communication and response," said UTU Training and Education Coordinator Bruce Feltmeyer. These Amtrak employees include conductors, assistant conductors, engineers, lead service attendants and on-board service employees. In preparation for developing the training manual, UTU performed an assessment of the Amtrak workplace culture by working with Amtrak police and utilizing electronic surveys and feedback from UTU regional meeting workshops. "The assessment revealed the most prevalent problem was employees dealing with unruly passengers, which occurs not only at Amtrak, but at all ground service public transportation facilities in the United States," Feltmeyer said. The training course will introduce scenario exercises and an array of techniques in understanding and dealing with them. In November, the course materials will be delivered to Amtrak during UTU-team administered "Train-the-Trainer" session for 38 Amtrak facilitators.

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