GARY, Ind. — Canadian National Railway Co. plans to cut 1,146 jobs — mostly through early retirement or attrition — in an effort to improve productivity, according to the Northwestern Indiana Times.
But the initiative will have a “minimal impact” on the Chicago area work force, Canadian National spokesman Jack Burke said Wednesday.
The Montreal-based company, while making its announcement in late November, said two-thirds of the cuts will occur in Canada, with the rest occurring in the United States.
CN’s operations in the United States include Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central and the Wisconsin Central Division. The railroad employs about 750 people in Chicago, Burke said, with some employees living in the Chicago suburbs and Northwest Indiana.
Very few individuals in the Chicago operation will be affected by the job cuts, Burke said, declining to give a number.
“Many of the cuts have already been made through attrition,” he said.
And in Woodcrest, Ill., Burke said the work force at CN’s locomotive repair facility may actually get 30 additional employees because repair centers in Fond du Lac and Stevens Point, Wis., will be downsized or closed.
“A good number of the individuals in Wisconsin will be offered an opportunity to move to Woodcrest,” he said.
CN officials said the cuts, representing 5 percent of the railway’s work force and including 250 management jobs, are designed to save $80 million a year. Roughly 30 percent of the cuts are expected to be achieved through normal attrition and retirement, 45 percent by way of early retirement and 25 percent through severance packages.
Paul M. Tellier, president and chief executive officer of CN, said in a written statement that CN takes no joy in announcing the permanent job reductions. He added, CN must leave no stone unturned, given difficult conditions in its bulk commodity businesses and rising labor costs.
CN’s capital budget reportedly exceeds $1 billion a year. Labor costs take up roughly 40 percent of total operating costs.