Keolis - Cutthroat and Dishonest

Anyone considering job with Keolis should know that they have absolutely no problem lying to their employees. People working the VRE right now can tell you that their jobs, their pay, their healthcare and now it seems lodging were changed after leaving their old jobs. Once they get a hold of you they use the fact that you have left a job to bully you into accepting the fact that they lied to you. If you complain they threaten you and tell you your lucky to have a job. Anyone that works there now can tell you that more than half the employees are dying to file suit, leave (even for less money) or both. Ask around. These people are plain dirty. After two months they have driven nearly every employee to hate them. As far as managers go one plays the sweet dummy and the rest play the heavy. Either way they are doing what they can to break who they can and plan to get rid of the rest with the help of a partner found in the UTU. Do what you like but trust me it hurts to learn this the hard way and be trapped in a boutique railroad that will probably go away once they have to stop making such nice promises and not deliver. They won't get employees to trust them again.
For MARC - this is IF they win the bid.

One of my planner friends said that Keolis pulled a "Springfield Terminal" on its employees. For those of you who are unfamiliar that was where Guilford Rail System placed its B&M and MEC units under the control of the 3 mile long Springfield Terminal Railroad which had a much more favorable collective bargaining agreement. After that contract expired the workers immediately went on strike strike which prompted the MBTA to give the operating contract for its commuter trains to Amtrak to be free of GRS's persistent labor woes.

Isn't the guy who runs Guilford quite the eccentric anyways? He seems to have made quite a few bonehead moves in his time...

In regards to the topic I'll try riding VRE sometime soon (if I can squeeze it in) and I'll ask some of the mployees.

Davis