BNSF sheds 140 more workers

[BNSF 1088]

BNSF sheds 140 more workers
BNSF Railway shed rail 140 more of its rail network employees, putting 2 percent of its mechanical workforce on the types of indefinite layoffs that railroads call furloughs.

Under that system, workers are no longer paid but the carriers hope to offer them jobs again, with their union seniority protected, when business picks up enough. However, if they are idled long enough those employees may need to update their craft certifications before they can get back to work.

"We truly regret furloughing these employees; however, our volumes are down more than 10 percent so far this year and this reduces our mechanical maintenance requirements," Chris Roberts, vice president for mechanical and value engineering, said in a statement posted on the company's Web site.

BNSF said it has taken more than 650 of its locomotives and 35,000 freight cars out of service and stored them around its system because of the reduced traffic.

This is just the latest cut by BNSF, but it is not alone. All other major railroads have also cut their workforce, with total rail layoffs in the thousands across North America.

The company also said it has taken steps to limit how many direct employees it sheds, such as bringing in-house some types of it used to contract out.

(The preceding article by John Boyd was published March 3, 2009, by the Journal of Commerce.)
March 4, 2009