(The following article by James Quirk Jr. was posted on the Burlington Hawk Eye website on October 5.)
BURLINGTON, Iowa — Thirty–nine employees at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway shops in Burlington have been offered jobs at the railroad’s Galesburg, Ill., location.
The West Burlington shops will close by Dec. 31 and railroad officials plan to work with local economic development officials to find a new use for the facility, according to BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg.
The alternative use of the shops “would not be a BNSF use,” he said.
BNSF officials met with the employees Monday “and all 39 of them are going to be offered the opportunity to work at Galesburg because that’s where we need them more,” Forsberg said.
Having a majority of the local BNSF employees agree to transfer to Galesburg “would be the ideal scenario because … Burlington would continue to benefit from their paychecks because their payroll addresses are currently in the Burlington area,” he said.
BNSF eliminated 258 local shops jobs in January 2003 and 93 other positions were transferred earlier this year to either Topeka, Kan., or Galesburg.
Forsberg said BNSF is expanding its locomotive maintenance facility in Galesburg “as a result of increased demand for maintenance” due to growth in its fleet of locomotives.
“To accommodate the increased activity at Galesburg, BNSF is in the process of adding 35 to 40 jobs at that facility, which currently employs about 100,” he said.
“Expansion of the Galesburg facility began in March. Significant increases in rail traffic volumes and for locomotives to move that traffic have created a strong need for additional experienced locomotive maintenance employees in Galesburg …
“We obviously have a greater need for these skilled employees over in Galesburg because the record traffic volumes the industry’s been hit with have created record demand for locomotives, and we have just run out of capacity at other parts of our system.”
As for the West Burlington shops, BNSF no longer will have a need for them once all the local jobs are transferred to Galesburg, Forsberg said.
“We would no longer have any mechanical operations there,” Forsberg said. “There’s still a small portion — less than 10 percent — of the 750,000 square feet of the building that’s still being used by our materials department (for storage). Our property management group will help determine at some future point what will be done with the facility at a later time.”
Whether the materials department continues to use a small portion of the local shops for storage “remains to be seen,” he said.
Forsberg said he views the new developments as “a win–win” for BNSF and Burlington because the local jobs are only moving to Galesburg, which is less than an hour’s drive away.
Mayor Mike Edwards had a different view.
“I’d like to talk with local economic development officials to see what types of thoughts everyone has on just what that facility could be reused for,” he said. “I don’t look at it as a win–win if the jobs are leaving Burlington, but I’m glad the individuals affected do get an opportunity to go to Galesburg if they don’t mind the commute.”
The city sued BNSF in March, alleging the railroad breached a 146–year–old contract between the two entities by moving local shops jobs outside of Burlington.
The agreement stipulates the railroad could use riverfront property for its switching operations as long as it maintains its principal shops in the city.
The lawsuit is pending in a federal court in Davenport. City Attorney Scott Power could not be reached for comment Monday.
City officials hope that a victory in court would compel BNSF to return some of the lost jobs to Burlington. If that doesn’t happen, they hope a federal judge will order BNSF to start paying rent for use of the riverfront property, which was deeded to the city in an 1836 act by Congress to be used forever for public purposes.