ALTOONA, Pa. — Norfolk Southern furloughed 86 workers at its Juaniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona on Friday, while eliminating another 14 jobs through attrition, the Altoona Mirror reports. The moves leave the shop with approximately 400 workers.
Workers learned of the layoffs Friday morning when they arrived for their shift and were prohibited from entering the shop complex. An employee told the paper the cuts included 32 electricians, 31 machinists, as well as those in other trades.
The newspaper quotes a Norfolk Southern statement saying the furloughs came as “part of our long-term business plans to evolve our operations to best serve the needs of our customers,” and says the job cuts were blasted by both a local union official and a state legislator.
“It’s all corporate greed,” said Stege Plazek, the local president of the Transport Workers Union, who was among those laid off. “They continue to slash manpower to fill their pockets.” State Rep. Lou Schmitt (R-Altoona) said railroad managers were unwilling “to cut half a penny off their record-setting dividends to keep my people employed.”
Welcome to corporate America 2000. Unfortunately this is becoming the reality for the American worker. Get out and don’t let the door hit you in the ass as you leave. Hey, but the bosses have their golden parachutes and the hedge funds and short tern investors are happy. More money for them.
So these people, who are not over paid executives, are prevented from going in to collect their tools, say good bye to friends at work, and otherwise exit gracefully are treated like disposable trash. The miracle is that many employees are fans of railroads when Management treats them so disrespectfully.
And NS is doing this as at a time when freight traffic is increasing. Indeed, a very strange strategy.
So Norfolk Southern can better serve their customers by furloughing people that keep the motive power functioning? Maybe NS should dump the empty-suit PR people who don’t help the railroad function. Typical modern corporate BS. The constant cost-cutting by the PSR bunch will hinder future corporate growth, regardless of what the brainwashed management stooges say.