(The following story by Eric J. Greene appeared on The Battle Creek Enquirer website on February 6.)
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The Canadian National Railway Co. is scaling back operations at its Battle Creek yard, a company spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
As many as 38 local jobs might be eliminated, according to people familiar with the change.
“We’re always in the process of examining our operations, always looking for ways to improve our efficiency and improve our service to our customers,” said Jim Kvedaras, senior manager of U.S. public and government affairs for the Montreal-based CN.
Kvedaras said, “A handful of jobs have been identified” for elimination in Battle Creek, but the spokesman said he couldn’t be specific about how many jobs are affected.
The downsizing is part of an ongoing examination of CN operations, Kvedaras said, to reduce the number of times any given rail car needs to be switched, or handled, by rail workers.
“Our overall goal is to minimize the number of times we have to handle the cars. We want to handle things as minimally as possible,” he said. “We’re always examining the way we do things.”
Kvedaras said some of the workers affected will be able to apply for other CN jobs in the region, depending on clauses within their labor contracts.
Union officials who represent the rail workers could not be reached Tuesday evening.
Citing multiple discussions with people familiar with the company’s Battle Creek operations, former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz said eight conductors were laid off within the past week or so, and another 30 employees — including carmen, laborers and clerks — were informed their jobs would be eliminated in 29 days. That notice was delivered about Feb. 1, Schwarz said.
The company has stopped switching westbound trains at the Battle Creek yard, which means only nine of the 18 tracks remain in operation, and the yard will handle only about 170 cars per day, down from 500 to 600 per day, Schwarz said. Eastbound trains still will be serviced in Battle Creek while westbound trains will “run through,” meaning they might stop for fuel but won’t leave the main track, he said.
“If anyone thinks that this isn’t the first of probably a sequence of moves to close the yard, I would say, ‘Think again,'” said Schwarz, who has maintained relations with the railroad and its employees through the years.
“That’s why we’ve got to get going on it, yet again,” he said. “We’ve got to crank it up and get going and see if we can sit down with the railroad.”
Schwarz said the change came with no warning and he has yet to hear the company’s rationale for shrinking operations in Battle Creek.
He said he hopes the company, if it’s looking for a way to be more efficient, would be willing to discuss ideas with employees, labor unions and municipal officials and strike a compromise that would save jobs.
“There are no employees who are more commited to doing their jobs well or who are more loyal to their company, in the past or in the present, than Grand Trunk/Canadian National employees. They deserve every consideration,” Schwarz said.
It’s not clear how many people work for CN in Battle Creek — Kvedaras said he didn’t know — but the payroll has been as high as 500 in recent years.
In 2004, before his election to the U.S. Congress, Schwarz brokered the discussions that are believed to have prevented the closure of the Battle Creek yard by CN. At the time, the company had planned to cut the local jobs as it was embroiled in a contract fight with the United Transportation Union.
According to the CN Web site, the rail conglomerate employs an average of 21,685 people in the United States and Canada; has about 20,264 route miles of track in the two countries; and operates in eight Canadian provinces and 16 states in the U.S.