So I've been waiting for the right time to sit down and type out my experience being a federal contractor working at Amtrak (yes that railroad) for almost a decade and I think it's finally that time.
When I was hired (after applying for 2.5yrs and having my mother pull some strings for me, yay nepotism) I was so ecstatic about the $10/hr pay raise that I would be receiving that they could have asked me to jump in front a train (haha) and I would have done it. Ten years later (and a BS in Acquisition and Contract Management) and my pay has only increased about 30%, all of that purely negotiated between the different unions and the corporation. Twice, my union (Transportation and Communications, TCU) has let our contract lapse, only to take more rights away from the workers when we did sign a new one.
Since Amtrak is a Federal Corporation, our union has been losing bargaining rights left and right since the company was founded 50 years ago. We were not allowed to strike, nor ask for raises and the only way to be promoted was to LITERALLY suck manager dick. As a female-presenting queer person, I was not aloud to be myself, for fear of retaliation and assault. I've had men in supervisory positions make lewd comments about my body and undress me with their eyes. I've also had men make thinly veiled threats regarding my identity and heritage (“Imma shoot that t**** in the face” “We should round them all up and send them back to the camps”) If I tried to speak up, I was gaslit into oblivion, even by my own mother sometimes (who also happens to be queer, shocker)
The beginning of the end for me was March 2020. My mother suffered two strokes after shoveling, blinding her in her right eye and leaving her permanently disabled at 52. I had to fight with Amtrak and the Railroad Retirement Board (our form of SS) for 10 months before they approved her $2800 a month disability payments. She will receive that for the next 9 years, until she is “allowed” to retire with full benefits. Meanwhile my office suffered greatly. My mom loved her job and genuinely thought the people there were her friends. SUPRISE they weren't and not a single one has contacted her since she left.
Due to the sheer amount of hate, distrust, and bullshit in the office, we have been unable to fill 3 positions (I'm talking data entry clerk, full benefits, $32/hr) and so it was basically left to me to do EVERYTHING. This is the same corporation that has let me be bounced around to 8 different departments in 8 years all while telling me how much I was valued.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the vaccine mandate. I was forced to report to the office (100 miles round trip/day) the entire pandemic. My position is entirely able to be completed remote. The company gave some bullshit reason why we were not allowed to WFH. Under Biden's Executive Order, Federal Contractors (which we are) are to be fully vaxxed, NO EXCEPTIONS. (You may file a religious or medical exempt, but the accommodation was unpaid 90 suspension )
Now do I agree with this? Hell no. BUT, if you are going to work in an open air office, with SHITTY ventilation system and NO windows, I'm sorry I'm not risking my disabled ass because you don't want a shot in your arm. For months, the company is saying if you are not fully vaxxed by this date (they kept pushing the date back) you WILL be terminated, sorry not sorry. Well about 2 weeks before the deadline…the company decided they will no longer be enforcing the mandate because 95% of their employees “have received a single dose” NOT EVEN fully vaxxed. This put me in a terrible position because three men who I work with on a daily basis are VERY anti-vaxx and also refuse to wear a mask while coughing in your face.
Thus came the day when I went into my managers office, demanded a work from home accommodation on the basis of being high risk as well as taking care of multiple high risk people at home (my husband has diabetes and then both my mothers have chronic health conditions and are cancer survivors) OR he fire me. He laughed in my face about the accommodation, said it was “impossible” and that I was being “entitled” because no one else gets to work from home (JK THREE current employees were working from home at the time of this conversation) and that he would need a valid reason to fire me. I told him I refuse to do my job, I will literally sit there for 8 hours on my phone and he STILL refused to fire me. I insulted him, I pleaded with him, I begged him for 30 minutes to fire me while he sat there with this patronizing look on his face.
I had to pull my “Trump” card…I am a medical cannabis patient here in PA (tho working in DE) and use cannabis on the daily to treat my anxiety, chronic pain and PTSD. I showed him my medical card and the vape pen in my pocket and I finally got what I wanted, a termination letter. I had to sign my right to trial away (which they sent the notice to the wrong address on purpose so they could “arrest” me) and hand in my badge but I was FINALLY FREE. My life has only exploded upward and outward since I was “fired”, my mental health is better than ever and me and my husband are focusing on our dream of opening an occult shop.
If you have made it this far, I applaud you. This community has given me so much confidence in my decision and I am truly grateful to each and every one of yous on here. Don't ever forget your power, and never stop fighting.