Claiming BMWED Contract Violations on the Amtrak Property

What is a Grievance (or time claim)?

What's on this page?

• Rule 64 Claims for Compensation and Time Limits for Filing, a copy of the rule governing submitting claims on Amtrak's NEC.

• Amtrak's Designated Officers, a discussion of Rule 64(b) and the importance of delivering your claim to the correct Amtrak officer who's designated to receive it.

• What Is A Grievance, a look inside the claim and grievance process.

• The Do's and Don'ts of Grievance Handling, what to do and obviously what not to do.

• The Three Part Formula, a brief article discussing the three part grievance format which is standard in railroad arbitration. This article deals with the Statement of Claim, the Statement of Facts, and the Position of the Employees.

• Seperating Opinion from Fact, facts are facts and with support will strengthen a claim. Opinions cannot be verified like a fact. A fact can be supported by written record, statements, copies of time sheets, awards, records, etc. Claims, whether at the initial level or during appeals, will consider facts and not opinion.

• Sample Grievance, using the three part formula

• Claim Forms, prepared claim forms that will help furnish the necessary information that must be contained in a claim. Download, print, fill in the blanks, and mail. Included is a sample.

• March 10, 1976 Informative letter written by BMWE Vice President Fred Wurple, wherein Grievance handling is addressed

• My Claim was Answered, Now What? A continuing discussion on Rule 64(b).

Download and Print a copy of Rule 64

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Amtrak's Designated Officers for NEC claims , grievances, and appeals

Amtrak's Labor Relations Department will periodically, formally and officially notify the BMWED as to where to send our claims and grievances. Amtrak has contracted with the BMWED to appoint and designate the officer with whom the claim must be filed in the first instance (1st level). This agreement includes the requirement that if the officer disallows the claim, he must do so in writing and give his reasons therefor. Thus, his decision has been contracted for and may not be brushed aside by higher level officers. Rule 64(b) clearly states:

This simple paragraph contains three key elements concerning claim submission.

1. "All claims or grievances must be presented in writing by or on behalf of the employee involved...." From this language we understand that all claims must be written, not verbal, and that an individual employee can submit his/her own claim, or a claim may be submitted on behalf of an employee by a BMWED grievance officer who is authorized to do so. So I can submit my own claim, as long as it's written, but I can't submit a claim for John unless I'm authorized by the union as a grievance person. For a list of who's authorized to submit claims, please contact your local committee or District Representative.

2. "... to the designated officer of AMTRAK authorized to receive same..." meaning only those managers who Amtrak selects can receive our claims and grievances. A claim sent, for example, to your supervisor or Assit. Division Engineer will fail the proceedural requirements of claim handling and the claim will be denied.

3. "... within sixty (60) days from the date of the occurrence on which the claim is based." We have 60 days to submit a claim to Amtrak's designated officer, meaning the claim must be in the hands of whoever is designated to receive it within 60 days of the violation. Let's say that on Saturday May 1, 2017, Amtrak assigned a junior employee to work overtime instead of you. You are the senior employee, are qualified to perform the work and were available had you been called. Your written claim must be delivered to the correct designated Amtrak officer before June 29, 2017, or within 60-days of May 1, 2017.

This is the most important piece of the complicated process of claims and grievance handling. Your claim must go to the correct Amtrak officer, within 60 days of the violation, and be in writing. Emails and faxes don't count. Claims should be delivered either personally, or by US Certified Mail with a return receipt requested (green card). If you hand deliver your claim, make sure to have it date stamped as received, and retain a copy for your records.

Here is the current list of Amtrak's 1st level Designated Officers, including their names and the addresses of where to send your claims, grievances, and appeals.

Still not sure where to send your claim? Use the "Contact Us" link on the left in the Main Menu bar.

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What is a Grievance?

A grievance is a complaint or dissatisfaction arising from the interpretation or application of a contract. It is not necessarily a mere personal difference or problem affecting an individual worker. Two questions determine whether a dissatisfaction is a grievance:

Grievances involve such things as discharge and discipline of employees, seniority rights, discrimination on personnel, racial or religious grounds, safety or sanitation of work places, defective tools or machinery, treatment of workers by supervision and wage rates.

The term “grievance thus includes a great variety of controversial differences between employees and employers. Many grievances merely represent differences of opinion on interpretation and do not imply any serious argument. However, the accumulation of these minor disputes has often led to major conflicts between employees and employers. Hence, there is a need for understanding individual disputes as they arise and settling them in a just and speedy manner.

The grievance procedure provides the individual worker with the means of enforcing the terms of the contract and with a democratic method of appeal against any one person’s decision affecting the worker’s wages and working conditions. It thus protects the rights of the individual worker in industry. The grievance procedure is linked to the local lodge system, the election of local grievance people is at the subordinate lodge level.

The most important job performed by local grievance people is handling grievances. They are the representatives of the workers of their subordinate lodges in their dealings with the Company. Secondly, they give leadership to the rank and file union members in their department because they are the officers closest to them.

Many grievances can be settled at the subordinate lodge level, thus the better equipped and trained local grievance people are, the more cases they will be able to settle. Local grievance people should receive assistance in order to do their work properly. They should be supplied with a copy of the current Agreement, National Division and System Bylaws, and policies provided for by the Contract. It is essential that they become thoroughly acquainted with the Contract, Constitution and By-Laws and grievance procedures.

In view of the personalities involved, and the lack of precedence for solving some problems, local grievance people must be skilled diplomats. They must also be impartial judges in order to get the facts separated from the feelings and opinions.

The grievance shall be presented, in writing, by the employee and/or the local grievance person or the duly accredited representative, to the employees Division Engineer or designated Carrier representative, with a copy for the District Chairman, the local grievance person, and a copy retained by the employee. Grievances will be proceedurally denied for delivery to incorrect Company Designated representative. Know what the grievance entails and who to send it to.

Local grievance people hold key positions since they are the first people to deal with a grievance. They must have sound judgment for they are likely to get complaints on every aspect of working conditions from “I can’t work with red heads”, to real problems such as speedup on the job. They will have to sift justifiable complaints form unjustifiable ones, and will have to tactfully discourage habitual “bitchers”. If the worker is in the wrong, local grievance people should help the worker come to that realization rather than have a Company Officer do it.

“Know the Contract” is the first commandant for local grievance people. In order to know whether or not the Company and the Union are living up to their Agreement, local grievance people must know what it provides. If they do not know, they cannot tell the worker who brings in a complaint whether they are right or wrong. Local grievance people should keep up to date on arbitration decisions and new interpretations of the Contract clause.

The duties of local grievance people are, briefly, to see that the provisions of the Contract are enforced, to take up individual grievances with Management, to promote general Union policies, to encourage members to join the Union, and stress the need to attend local lodge meetings. To do a thorough job, local grievance people should have a complete knowledge of the department they represent.

The following general rules should be kept in mind by local grievance people:

• Check all the facts. Don’t be afraid to tell a worker if a claim is unjustified. Plan on how you will present the case to the Carrier Official before you meet with him.

• Keep cool. A lost temper is a lost argument.

• Show respect for the Official and make it clear that you expect similar respect. If he tries to talk you down, be firm without using abusive language.

• Stick to the point. Don’t let the issue be sidetracked. For example: If you are trying to get safety goggles for Welders, don’t let the discussion swing to whether workers in the Track department wear safety gloves.

• Try to put the burden of proving the case on the Official. If you are sure he is wrong, the weak link in his argument will be seen. Be a good listener, and when it is your turn, demand that your case be heard through.

• Maintain the Union’s position unless it’s proven wrong. Remember you are the workers Representative.

• Insist on prompt action in the handling of grievances. If you believe that the grievance cannot be settled by the Officer, proceed to the next stage of adjustment. If, because of company policy, the Officer is not authorized to handle some grievances, don’t let him stall in such a case.

• As many grievances as possible should be handled at the first level. This aids in rapid settlement and helps to maintain good relations.

• Keep track of a grievance which has been handed over to a District Chairman. In an appeal case, follow developments closely. It is important that workers be informed that you are not neglecting their grievance even though the direct responsibility has been given to the District Chairman, Vice Chairman or General Chairman.

• Be a good loser. If you have lost a grievance with the Company Official, remember that your agreement allows for a higher appeal.

• Be a good winner. Don’t crow over the Company Official when you have won a case.

• Maintain a united front when accompanied by other workers or Committee people. If there appears to be some disagreement among your Committee, request a recess and settle it outside. Don’t show discord to the company’s Official.

• Settle every case on it’s own merits. A record of similar cases settled in your department will be helpful in preparing your case. This is important to maintain the respect of both workers and Management for adjustment of grievances by a worker’s representative.

• Local grievance people should not sit waiting for grievances to come to them. They should be on the alert to notice infractions of the Contract, voluntary or involuntary. If the Agreement specifies that adequate drinking facilities must be provided, a single cup beside a cold water tap does not meet this provision. If the work requires provision of safety gloves for all workers in their department, they will not hesitate to ensure that the new worker, who started only a few weeks ago, has the necessary equipment.

• Local grievance people should remember that the Collective Agreement places definite responsibility with the Union. The Company has a right to expect that workers will:

1) Observe Company rules.
2) Do a fair day’s work
3) Be punctual, and not be absent without just cause.

• Local grievance people should provide leadership in seeing the Company’s rights are respected. They should see that the workers keep their part of the bargain.

To sum up: The purpose of a grievance procedure in a contract is to provide a method of dealing promptly with the grievances of the workers. Grievances are affected by human relations and human characteristics. Fairness, ability to cooperate, and prejudice, are examples of the human element that will have a bearing on settlement.

It has been stated, quite accurately, that prejudice is a man’s number one problem in getting along with others. Prejudice closes minds to facts which should enable people to work together in friendship and avoid unnecessary disputes.

It may take nothing more than an unfair or overbearing boss, or a fellow worker with a bad working habits, to stir up fear or jealousy. These are emotions and disordered emotions should not replace the facts that are needed to back up a just grievance. They can only serve to confuse the issue. No one should enter a grievance with the thought of revenge or out of a “chip on the shoulder” spirit. Such complaints are generally not in the interest of the workers, and only tend to disrupt the grievance machinery. Also, demands should be reasonable. To demand more than is necessary to settle the grievance, is unwarranted.

Friendly cooperation between Union and Management helps greatly in settling grievances and often prevents them. Laws and Union-Management Agreements exist governing the handling of grievances, but unless both parties are eager to cooperate fairly, there will not be industrial peace. In producing an atmosphere of cooperation, the part of local Grievance People is vital. It is important that in carrying out this job, they act with speed as well as intelligence, and that both these qualities be matched by good will.

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The DO's and DON'Ts of Grievance Handling

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The Three Part Formula

The formal claim or grievance probably is the most common form of written Union communication.

Understandably, many Union reps hate to write letters; words are sometimes hard to come by and then there is the thought of putting something down on paper for all the world to see. But grievance writing is not something to be afraid of or to avoid like the plague; and, like it or not, grievance writing is a big part of your job as a union rep. It is a skill which can be acquired through study and practice. If you can argue your point verbally---and none of you would be Union reps if you couldn’t---then you can learn to write effective formal grievances.

The major focus of grievance preparation and writing is to produce a grievance which will present the BMWED's position in the best way so as to convince any reader that you are right. Essential to the process is an understanding of the basic elements of a grievance, i.e., what you absolutely must include. You cannot even begin to write a grievance without knowing what it has to contain and in what order.

Let’s start at the very beginning of the grievance writing process. That’s what goes on in your head before you put pen to paper or hit the keyboard. First, gather all the facts. With the passage of time, witnesses retire, move to other locations or otherwise become unavailable. Likewise, evidence disappears and documents get destroyed, so it is critical that you do a thorough job of fact gathering at the outset. After you have gathered all the facts, you must define the issue, determine what rules of your agreement apply, who the claimant is and what he or she is entitled to should the claim be paid.

But how will you know what information is required? A good way for you to clarify what information you need to include in a grievance is for you to adhere to the grievance format which is standard in railroad arbitration. Most importantly, you should learn to arrange your thoughts in terms of this standard format because this format is required by the National Railroad Adjustment Board. Each and every grievance is composed of:

*Note that we only show three elements. That is because there are only three main parts to a grievance and every last thing you write in support of the claim has to fit into one of those three categories.

Of course, you also need to remember to include the date, the file number, your signature and to direct copies of the grievance to the appropriate parties. Copies can be particularly important if a copy of the grievance is used to notify a carrier officer that his or her decision is being rejected, as required in many grievance rules. This standard claim format is logical and will help you, as a union representative, to better understand what information and argument is required for you to produce sustaining claims. Adherence to the format also makes it easier to convert thoughts into words. You must also remember that each of the three elements is linked to the others, and no claim is likely to be sustained if any element is defective or is just plain wrong.

There are other reasons why the use of this standard claim format makes good sense. First, if your claim is to be taken to arbitration it absolutely must be in this format. This means that your General Chairman or whoever writes submissions for your Board must make all the information in your claim fit into the three categories. This can be very difficult to do if a claim is written free style---that is, in letter form, without regard to format. It is also very time-consuming and tedious, and there is always the chance that a very valid or important point that you made will get left out of the submission. Picture someone having to transfer several pages of free style text sentence by sentence into this format.

Another reason for using the same format in all your grievances is the growing use of personal computers. If any of you use word processing programs, you know that it is a simple process to copy or cut and paste text from one document to another. It is also very easy to edit documents. If you have your own computer, you may also find it convenient and a great time-saver to store files containing the text of various rules or even “canned” arguments in a central directory so you can call up and insert text into your grievances in the appropriate place. So it just makes good sense to put the claims in the same format every time. And if you have a number of repetitive claims, using the standard format will save you a lot of precious effort; just call up the basic format and change the specifics. You can’t do that as easily with a free style letter.

Statement of Claim

The first element of the formal grievance is the Statement of Claim. This portion of your claim is critical because it is the foundation of your claim and it is time-sensitive. Here you must set out:

• When and where the Carrier did something wrong which violated the Agreement and affected the member

• What the Carrier did

• The Claimant’s name and the remedy requested

The Statement of Claim must be an affirmative assertion that the carrier violated the Agreement on a certain date when its actions adversely affected the named claimant, and that as a result the claimant must be awarded a specific remedy.

The remedy may be money or it may be a particular act, such as requiring the carrier to award a position to the claimant. It should also be in line with contractual entitlement. In other words, it serves little purpose to claim a $100,000 penalty for a one-shift overtime runaround claim. Don’t short the Claimant, but keep the claim in line with what we call the “make whole” philosophy. In plain terms, ask that the Claimant be compensated for what he would have earned had the Agreement not been violated. You may demand in a scope/classification of work claim that some disputed work be returned to the Claimant, but you should know that many arbitrators are hesitant to do this, believing that they have no power to tell a carrier how to run its business. Instead, most arbitrators prefer to rule that the carrier must pay a price for each day or tour that it violates the Agreement, thus stopping short of ordering the carrier to reestablish a position, etc.

The Statement of Claim has to be 100% correct. If not, and if it is not corrected within the time limits provided for in the Agreement, the General Chairman cannot correct the error and salvage the claim. For example, if you make a material error in the Statement of Claim---let’s say you claim the violation happened on April 1st---and later you discovered it actually happened on April 3rd,---and your Agreement contains a 60-day time limit provision, if you attempt to correct the improperly filed claim you are in effect filing a new claim and can only do so within the sixty (60) days specified by Rule 64 of the Agreement.

You also may discover after having filed a claim that the magnitude is much greater than you thought, involving more claimants or occurring on more dates than you originally specified. This is one of the main reasons why you have to promptly and thoroughly research your claims so you do not file for the wrong date or the wrong claimant. Therefore, the utmost care and attention must be devoted to preparing your Statement of Claim because it may not be altered or expanded once the time limit for filing claims has passed.

Generally speaking, the identity of the claimant should be readily discernible from the carrier’s records. That does not mean that you always have to specifically state the individual names of the claimants. The term “senior welder” or “senior available employe” has been used in railroad arbitration proceedings for decades and is especially appropriate in cases where the relief requested extends over a lengthy period of time and involves different employes on different dates.

If you do name a claimant, make sure you have the right one. You cannot amend a specific claimant’s name after the time limits have expired for filing the initial claim.

BMWED-IBT claims sometimes name several specific Claimants, such as a list of furloughed employees or the craft employees who would have been assigned the work in the absence of contractors. It is perfectly OK to name several Claimants and to state the amount or portion of the relief to which each is entitled, if you are able to do so.

Statement of Facts

The Statement of Facts is the second of the three component parts of a grievance. The Statement of Facts is simply the story of what happened. And like any story, it helps to begin by introducing the cast of characters.

First, start with the claimant, identified by seniority date, assigned position, working hours and rest days, etc. If other employes are involved, their seniority dates and assignments (if pertinent to the dispute) should be stated. Then give a chronological statement of what happened. Be brief and factual. This is not the place for allegations or arguments; just the facts. Unlike the Statement of Claim, the Statement of Facts can be expanded during the handling on the property.

Note that we specify during the handling on the property. It is important for you to remember that when the General Chairman dockets a claim for arbitration at the Adjustment Board or a Public Law Board, that action closes the record. You can make amazing discoveries about the case and develop fantastic new facts and evidence, but once the record is closed, such information is barred from the case---even from the arbitration proceeding. Again, once the claim has been docketed for arbitration, the opportunity to present facts is gone. But so long as the parties continue to attempt to resolve the claim on the property, either side may present additional facts supporting their position.

When you write the Statement of Facts, keep in mind that Board members and the neutral referee will have never heard of the case, and that the clarity with which they first learn of the case will materially contribute to their impressions as to the appropriateness of the claim. Nothing is more irritating to a referee than to read a statement of facts and not have any idea of what the claim is about. He or she will then probably look through the correspondence on the property and settle on the Carrier’s version, which is usually well set out in its final denial letter on the property. This, we do not want to happen, so you must learn through practice and experience what to include.

The Statement of Facts is also a good place to introduce evidence which sets up the case. But you must know enough about the grievance to have an idea as to what facts the arbitrator will need. In a scope rule case, for example, you might identify the Claimant and state that he is “assigned to position so-and-so and a copy of the bulletin establishing his position is attached as Exhibit “A.” Another example might be the introduction of a carrier instructional bulletin with which you take issue. You might also introduce in a non argumentative manner your version of a conference you might have had with Carrier prior to filing the claim. The key is to limit this element of the grievance to stating the facts as you understand them. Do not call names, and do not be argumentative or sarcastic.

A good grievance writer knows how to present the facts in a manner so as to draw the conclusion that the agreement has been violated before the position of the employes has even been read. While it takes a some practice, it is possible to present even inarguable facts in a manner which complements the BMWED’s position. The argument comes next.

The Position of Employes

The final component of a grievance is the Position of Employes. This is your opportunity to present argument to support your claim. As with the Statement of Facts, this component of the claim can be refined during the handling on the property. Here you should cite the relevant rules, quoting word for word those portions which specifically apply to the claim.

If you have them, you may also want to try your hand at quoting from arbitration awards which interpret the Rules in support of your position. Arbitral support, when available, will be added by the System or Joint Protective Board in subsequent handling, but if you have an award on point or if similar claims have been paid in the past, the inclusion of this information adds professionalism to your claims. and forces the carrier to address the awards you cite. Your arguments and any citations designed to prove the intent, purpose and effect of the Rules on which you rely must be sufficient in detail so as to be convincing. Remember, it is not sufficient to merely quote from awards which you think sound good; no, you have to establish that the awards decided cases which were similar or identical in facts and rules to the claim you are writing. And read the whole award before you cite any language. Some award language may look great on page 2, but on the final page the Board denies all facets of the claim. Also, make sure you are citing from the Opinion of the Board, not a partisan position.

The Position of Employes must link directly to the facts which you established in the Statement of Facts. There is no point in arguing long and hard or quoting from various awards on an issue which you didn't even mention in your Statement of Facts. What you must do is link by argument, evidence or award citation the rules which have been violated with the circumstances which you set out in the Statement of Facts.

There you have it: the three key elements of a grievance. And remember, we are not talking about invisible separations of thought and expression: you must actually write on the paper and underline Statement of Claim, Statement of Facts, and Position of Employes, just as we show in the following sample claim and grievance.

If you can present your case to a local carrier officer in a written grievance which is positive, professional and convincing, he or she might just decide to settle the claim, particularly where the grievance is so well set out and so clearly in violation of the agreement as to prove embarrassing if appealed to the next higher level. Even if the grievance is not settled locally, a well-written initial claim is essential to those who might progress the claim.

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Seperating Opinion from Fact

Facts are Facts ! 

• A fact can be verified.

• A statement which cannot be verified is NOT a fact. Only exceptions to this rule lie in past events.

• Facts should exclude personal opinion and inference as much as possible.

• A fact is a statement of a thing done, having happened, or existing.

• A fact is a report of reality or actuality. 

Opinions are Opinions !

• Opinions cannot be verified like facts.
   
• They are personal in nature.
   
• Opinions can be based on facts, or partly on facts.
   
• An opinion is the belief or view you have of a person or situation and is generally based on inference or judgment.
   
• There is no positive way of determining which of two opinions is best. If the opinions relate to forecasting a future event then the test of which is the best opinion will only be known when the event occurs.
   
• An opinion does not become a fact because you agree with it.
   
• An opinion does not become a fact because a lot of people agree with it, it is not necessarily a good opinion.

You Are Expressing An Opinion When:

• You try to define motives of a person’s behavior.

• You try to predict future events.

• You try to predict what people will do.

There Are Different Kinds Of Opinions

1.Inference

It is a statement about the unknown based on the known, e.g., from observation of clouds and thunder to say “It is going to rain”.Inference is a conclusion from given data.

It is a guess, and may be an informed or uninformed guess.

It goes beyond the facts of the case.

2. Judgment

An operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination.

Involves an expression of approval or disapproval of the person, object, or situation. Statements beginning “I think...”, or “It seems to me...” are of this type.

Judgment, like inference, goes beyond the facts of the case.

Judgment may be sound and logical but it may not.

Some words themselves constitute a judgment. For example:

Scab....................Prince
Radical.................Conservative
Crackpot...............Sound Man

The judgment implied in any of the above types of words varies according to the way it is used and the situation in which it is used.

Facts, Facts, Facts !

Fact finding is difficult and time consuming

It is sometimes impossible to get all the facts.

There is no substitute for the facts.

Get as many as you can.

Accuracy demands work, you can’t get out of it but it is worthwhile.

Don’t Depend on Hearsay

For Example:

Instead of accepting what a person says his work record is, check the record yourself.

Instead of taking a workers or foreman’s word that a certain condition constitutes a hazard, go examine the condition yourself.

It is impossible to avoid the use of inference or judgment for all of the facts are not always obtainable. We should always be sure that our opinions are as objective as possible. Always obtain as many facts on a situation as you can and make sure that your opinion fits as close to the facts as possible.

It can be difficult, sometimes, to interpret facts. If you don’t see the significance of the facts, they are of no value to you.

When dealing with facts DON’T:

Don’t select only facts which support your point of view.

Don’t take the view that the facts which disagree with your point of view are irrelevant or unimportant.

Don’t look at just some of the facts in a situation.

Don’t try to distort the facts, let them speak for themselves.

Examples showing the difference between fact and opinion

1. Opinion:    Superintendent Smith lied to us.

Facts:     Superintendent Smith told us he didn’t have the report with him. Later, when he opened his briefcase, the report fell out onto the table.

Reasons:    To say that Superintendent Smith lied is to make several assumptions.

That he knew the report was in the briefcase.
That he was deliberately attempting to deceive.

The facts are what actually happened.

The opinion is a judgment, because we think that his action is wrong, and we express disapproval

2. Opinion:    Superintendent Anderson became angry at the hearing.

Facts:     At the hearing, Superintendent Anderson swore, became red in the face, and thumped the table.

Reasons:    We are inferring here that the Superintendent was angry on the basis of observing his actions. But, he may have been putting on an act. In this particular case, the inference may be pretty safe, but it is nevertheless an inference. It also might involve judgment, i.e., if we think getting angry is good or bad.

When arguing and debating, distinguish clearly between Facts and Opinion.

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Forms

Time Claim Form, to submit 1st level or initial claims, print out this form, fill in the blanks, and mail or hand deliver to Amtrak's designated officer. You will need a certified mail receipt  and return request card readily available from any Post Office prior to completing this form. There is a space on the form to include the certified mail number. This number and receipt is important. Without it, there will be no proof that Amtrak received your claim. Be sure to keep a copy of the claim and any enclosures you might attach with it, such as pay stubs, rosters, qualification cards, statements, etc.

Remember, this is your claim, these are your assertions, this is your complaint. Somehow Amtrak violated the agreement and caused you a dissatisfaction or a missed work opportunity. You are speaking up when you file a claim. You should file simple claims on your own behalf not only because you were there when the violation took place and you know the circumstances, but because you'll know when you submitted the claim and when to expect Amtrak's answer. You'll know that the claim was submitted within the sixty (60) days required by Rule 64, and you'll know if Amtrak answered your claim within their response time limits. Would you let someone else bid a job for you? Doubtful. File these simple claims. It's as easy as bidding a job.

Download and Print Time Claim Form

View a sample of a completed basic Time Claim form

Time Claim Information form is available to download, print, and complete when you are not sure if there has been a violation of the agreement and you would like to have the issue investigated or an interpretation of the contract. This form along with your separately written statement is then given to your Local Grievance Chairman so it can be determined if a claim should be developed. Please include other information with the form such as written statements of witnesses, co-workers, pictures, if any, job briefings, or any relavant information. Your Claim Information form will not be investigated or processed without your written statement accompanying the completed form.

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BMWE Vice President Fred Wurple's letter

March 10, 1976 Informative letter written by BMWE Vice President Fred Wurple, wherein Grievance handling is addressed. While this letter might seem dated, the content is just as relavant today as it was in 1976. This letter serves as a guide for submitting claims on railroad properties. Facts are facts and while they can be argued against, it it diffucult to dispute facts that are supported with documentation. Remember, the only bad claim is the one that wasn't submitted.