…As stated on TRAINS new wire…Layoffs at the Johnsown plant of Freightcar America upcoming this Spring. Article reads of upwards of 200 plus workers to be on layoff and perhaps for an exended period.
Co. states it is looking for work for the plant and almost the same day a new production line was opened in Roanoke, Va. plant. The sound of that does not bode well for the Johnstown plant, in my opinion.
I spent a day in the plant early last year as a contractor and this action was already expected by most of the workers there that I had the pleasure of talking too. They believed that the main reason was that the Johnstown plant in unionized while the Danville and Roanoke plants are not. I don’t know how true that is.
I will say this though, the operation going on inside the Johnstown plant is very impressive. Awesome to see how the cars are built.
cnw…I had heard similar info regarding what the workers were thinking last summer. My home is within 20 miles of Johnstown and visit the area several times a year.
Freight Car America still has a lot of orders to fill, they just need to make the best profits possible by closing one plant. It sounds harsh, like having to live between two freeways in a tent, but that is the way everybody stays in business in the big, tough economy.
Andrew
…For some reason behind the scenes it seems they {Freightcar America}, might have wanted to do away with the Johnstown plant. Believe the Virgina plant had just been established within the last few years.
The Johnstown facility has been in existence for decades…Part of the former Bethlehem plants for years.
The Virginia plant in Roanoke has been an NS and N&W car shop for decades. Rail Car America is leasing it from NS. NS closed the shop several years ago and leased it to RAIL more recently.
8NS
My understanding is its not just that its unionized but the Johnstown area has such a history starting with the company-union battles from the later 1800’s on up that there is a mindset among too many workers in the area which most companies don’t care for.
I’ll never forget riding on a train from Philly to Lewistown in 1972 and sitting next to a woman from Johnstown. She insisted I had to be a doctor or a dentist (not true) since I had clean fingernails and in Johnstown the only males with clean fingernails were doctors or dentists!
…What a weird “picture” of Johnstown folks…I suppose when in the mix of hard working Steel and Coal production folks, finger nails might be found to be soiled at times…
The massive quanities of steel workers operated in the large complex of mill sites up and down the valley for decades. At their peak, I believe about 25,000 of them…
Believe they do have a history of turning out good products.