(The following appeared at WSAZ.com on April 6, 2010.)
RACELAND, Ky. — One hundred and twenty employees at Progress Rail in Raceland, Ky are now out of a job.
The workers were told of the indefinite furloughs during a 6 a.m. meeting Tuesday.
One hundred of the workers were employed by CSX, the other 20 by Progress Rail.
Barbara Cox, a spokesperson for Progress Rail, tells WSAZ.com that the reason for the layoffs is that “CSX will no longer do heavy repair work.”
Cox says they are “not anticipating the workers returning anytime soon.”
Workers we talked to Tuesday morning, say the layoffs came as a total surprise.
A small number of workers are being retained to perform maintenance work at the plant.
We’re also told that some of the workers being furloughed will be offered transfers or severance packages.