Well it appears from some rumblings, NS has cut over 100 positions as of yesterday. Hearing everything from Shops to HQ. I imagine details will be coming out next week… It’s going to be a rough ride for Shaw and gang these next few months… These cuts were announced almost 2 months ago.
Once again, these activist investors are out for the quick buck. Loot the treasury and run.
Is the reason for the cuts to get more out of the work force, or is the reason a drop in business demand? If it is the latter, what is causing it?
The freight market remains soft… likely why there are some layoffs.
So much for Shaw’s promise to not throw away institutional knowledge at every dip in the economy. The vampires win again.
In part it remains to be seen - if NS (or other carriers) get to cutting T&E positions - recovery with a shipping upturn will result in gridlock for the carriers that don’t have a crew base that can support the traffic.
There are elements of the employee base that can be cut - MofW, MofE, Supervision and the carrier can still function (although as PC demonstrated considering those cuts as permanent result in a company that is falling apart in every concievable way). If that employee base is restored in the near term, the company can respond to a increase in traffic.
Not much left to throw away after the last tangle with the PSR fangirls/fanbois.
Wasnt Shaw, it was BoD that decided to go sip the O.R. kool-aid.
Ed
NS has become operationally undisciplined, and our COO choice will sort it all out.
Sure, Jan…
I believe much of the eastern duopoly’s current dynamics goes back to the way the Conrail dismemberment shook out. NS “won” the merger by getting turn key lanes that had already been modernized, and the meshed network benefits were rapidly realized. CSX got a mountain of capital spend over a couple of decades before they could cash in on the golden triangle.
Lo and behold, CSX is now seeing the end of that daylighted tunnel, and has gained some pricing power, which has wrong footed NS.
I don’t think this was written in stone, but was a reasonable likelyhood on comparison of the two networks a decade ago; and some of it is just dumb luck - if that snake oil salesman hadn’t croaked before he set his fangs, NS would likely be in a better market position.
Anyhow, as the proverb goes, we’ll see…
For those wanting to cut rail employment to the bone - remember the national unemployment rate is 3.8% - at least when I was taking Econ 101 in college - 4% was considered Full Employment. Cutting rail employees will have them going into other areas of employment to support their families.
At one time, Railroads would have 75-90% return to duty of furloughed employees - in the 21st Century that return to duty number has been on the order of 10-15% answering the call and coming back to work for the carriers. Whatever efforts the carriers put into training those that didn’t return when called was just wasted money and manpower. Cutting manpower is easy and can happen instantly - restoring manpower to the pre cut levels and beyond is a lengthy procedure.
Back when I was working, there was
This seems so obvious. It costs a lot to train new employees–and the railroads then just toss that cost away by layoffs.
When is it going to dawn on RR management that young people today, like it or not, are different than we were in their attitudes toward school and work? Have you read the articles about the large drop in attendance figures for schools nationwide since the pandemic? We already know millenials have a reputation, deserved or not, for not having anything like the work ethic of boomers and previous generations. Combine these two qualities (?) and it’s obvious railroads are going to have Hell’s own time finding suitably responsible employees in the necessary numbers. Increased pay alone won’t do the trick. When interested applicants learn about the job’s hours and responsibilities they’re going to be increasingly discouraged, I think, and seek employment elsewhere. And this is on top of the effect is has on many marriages.
Bottom line: The day of hiring & laying off workers as it was some years ago is over. Railroad management doesn’t seem able or willing to read the handwriting on the wall right now–but they will.
Keeping ‘trained and qualified’ workers on the payroll during a business lull is the anathema to the PSR Cadre. PSR demands the nose be cut off since the mouth can do all that is necessary - eat, communicate and breath. The nose is redundant.
Any railroad managem
Young people today have more options than earlier generations did. A generation or two ago getting a job at a railroad was hard… you had to know someone who works there already to get in usually, and if not you really had to be at the right place at the right time. Now they and everyone else is looking for people… tables have turned…
Shortsightedness in terms of layoffs, retention and hiring has plagued many corprations besides railroads for many years, sadly. And this stupiditylong preceded PSR.
PSR pushed a lot of people with decent seniority out the door. Guys with 5-10-20 years walked out.
That’s one of the telling things about the current situation. It used to be rare for someone who has 5 to 10 years (or more) to willingly leave. A couple I know went to railroads with more favorable and stable working conditions. Most I know who have left went to non-railroad jobs.
Concerning furloughs, that has almost always been a fact of life on the railroad. I think what’s changed is how much quicker they are to furlough and slow to call back. Also years ago they hired people out of high school or just a year or two out. Mostly single men who could better weather a furlough during the slack times. Those furloughs, as one gained seniority, would get shorter in time and within 5 or so years one could pretty much hold on year round. Only a major downturn would mean getting furloughed.
Now they prefer people with a few years of either work experience (preferably in outdoor/all weather type jobs) or school. People, slightly older with families because they are viewed as more reliable also were sought after. People like this can’t take the furloughs as well. Especially when they seem to come more haphazard then in years past.
Trains had an article many years ago that included how the progression of a train crewman’s career would go. In the days of full crews and then of the reduced and finally two man crews.
Jeff
Have grip bag - will travel. A change of district or railroad is likely in a career arc. Airbnb-ification of rental housing shifts that cost benefit, and the allure of many crew bases is lost on modern applicants.
We’re past millenials and are now into hiring Generation Z. And honestly? Many of these younger guys are some of the best RRers we have, esp. given how little actual training the RR wants to give them.
I don’t know whether they will stick around. The pay isn’t as great as it used to be (and I don’t think pay will ultimately be the deciding factor). If PSR comes back into play again and cuts jobs, I don’t think they’ll be too keen on waiting out a furlough, chasing work, or having to work jobs they don’t like (road v. yard v. local).
Ah, the boomer railroader.
A lot depends on the institutional memory of PSR - do those pushing PSR remember the chaos and lost revenue opportunities that happened the previous time that they pared the organization’s work force to the bone and thus created the corporate inability to satisfy their customers demands for service.
I fear those infected with PSR and its mantra, have a shorter memory span than 1/2 the business cycle and will continue to make the same bad choices until there are no railroads left.