(Source: Virginian-Pilot, September 4, 2019)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern furloughed nearly 300 employees in Roanoke and Pennsylvania this week. A spokesman for the company confirmed that 130 people were furloughed at its Roanoke properties. In Pennsylvania, Norfolk Southern furloughed 100 at its Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona and 55 at its Conway Locomotive Shop in Conway, where workers maintain and fix the company’s cars. In February, the company told Wall Street analysts and shareholders that it planned to cut its workforce by 3,000 within three years to help it reach a revenue benchmark. The president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Dennis R. Pierce, called the strategy, “a scheme to suck up as much of the railroad’s revenues as possible and distribute it to investors, particularly to the hedge funds that own an ever-increasing stake in the industry.”
Full story: Virginian-Pilot