(The following article by Chris Moon was published in the January 13 online issue of the Capital Journal.)
TOPEKA, Kan. — Sorrow was felt in the Heartland on Monday when Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway abolished hundreds of jobs at the railroad’s maintenance shops in Topeka and Burlington, Iowa.
BNSF eliminated 248 of the 388 jobs at its Burlington shops and 64 of the 367 jobs at its Topeka shops, citing a lack of locomotive repair work. The cuts came as the company continued to study a possible consolidation of its shops in Topeka or Burlington.
“The shop study is not done. It won’t be done until later this year,” said BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg.
Forsberg said Topeka fared better than Burlington because Topeka’s shops work on General Electric locomotives that are powered by DC electric current. The Burlington shops work on locomotives powered by AC electric current, which aren’t as popular in the United States.
Topeka officials on Monday were hoping the heavy cuts in Burlington were a sign the shops could be consolidated in the capital city.
Doug Kinsinger, president and chief executive officer at the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, said it seemed unlikely the shops would be moved to Burlington simply because of the cost of relocating the 303 workers left in Topeka.
But, he said, BNSF’s plans are anybody’s guess.
“They have not given us any feedback on where they’re going long-term,” Kinsinger said.
For months, the study has kept officials in both towns scrambling to offer incentives to BNSF to win the consolidation. Both Burlington and Topeka are steeped in railroad history and owe much of their early growth to the railroad industry.
Burlington Mayor Tim Scott said BNSF officials insisted from the outset of the study that both shops may see simply a reduction in employees rather than a consolidation. On Monday, a BNSF official told Burlington’s city manager, “without 100 percent surety,” that the shops weren’t going to be consolidated, Scott said.
“I guess I just have to pray now that we can retain those 130 jobs at this point,” he said.
Kinsinger said his dealings with BNSF led him to believe the railroad would prefer to have one consolidated facility.
“So it’s our perception that they still are saying it’s a high priority to consolidate,” he said.
Scott said Monday’s news was just another part of what Burlington residents were calling “the curse of Highway 34.” Several nearby towns on US-34 highway have suffered heavy layoffs within the past year, including a 1,600-worker reduction at a Maytag plant in Galesburg, Illinois — 40 miles from Burlington.
“Quite frankly, in our size of community, if they had consolidated here and brought 200-plus jobs, it would have been a real boon for the community,” Scott said. “And it will have just the opposite effect now that we have 248 people no longer employed.”
BNSF also is cutting 20 of the 105 jobs at its Interbay Locomotive Shop in Seattle. All of the job reductions are effective immediately, Forsberg said.
Affected employees in Burlington were being released from their duties Monday and will receive pay and benefits through March 15. BNSF also will provide a career transition workshop for employees who are displaced as a result of the furloughs.
Affected employees in Topeka and Seattle were released from their duties Monday and will be paid through Saturday. The furloughs in Topeka include machinists, electricians, sheet metal workers, boilermakers, laborers and carmen.
Federal law benefited the Burlington employees because more than one-third of their workforce was being eliminated, triggering a 60-day notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
All affected employees will receive four months of medical coverage, plus payment for vacation and job training assistance, Forsberg said.
BNSF said the company implemented a condition-based maintenance of its locomotive fleet during the past three years, which significantly decreased the requirements for locomotive overhaul and heavy repair work. Locomotive components are changed out as necessary during regular maintenance, reducing the demand for overhauls and the traditional time-based change-out of components.
BNSF said the acquisition of 1,800 locomotives during the past six years and the retirement of older, higher maintenance locomotives has reduced the overall annual locomotive maintenance requirements.