(The following report appeared at WGRZ.com on April 26, 2009.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Local union leaders confirm that a major announcement about the curtailment of operations at CSX’s Frontier Rail Yard in Buffalo is expected this morning.
Dave Kellner, president of Transport Workers Union Local 2020, says CSX management is considering a proposal that would reduce the flow of commercial shipping through Frontier Yard by nearly 50 percent.
Jim Louis, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, says if the proposal is enacted, the number of railcars coming through the local CSX yard would be reduced by 400 to 500 cars daily. Louis says most of those cars would be re-routed to CSX railyards in Albany, NY or Willard, OH.
Currently, about 1,000 cars pass through Frontier Yard on a daily basis.
Kellner says there are rumors that, along with the reduction of traffic, the company could lay off as many as 400 local workers. That’s about half of Frontier Yard’s current workforce.
“Right now, we just don’t know,” Kellner said Sunday. “We have to wait until Monday and hear what they have to say.”
Monday morning’s “town hall” style meeting between local managers and CSX’s Northeast District Manager, John Gaylord, is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM at Frontier Yard.
Louis says many of the workers his union represents have expressed outrage that they were not informed of the meeting or the curtailment proposal sooner. Louis says he was not told about the meeting until late Friday afternoon.
“Where is the trust?” Louis asks.
Louis also says the curtailment proposal goes against a previous agreement made between CSX and local unions. He tells 2 On Your Side that, at one time, CSX had committed to making upgrades at Frontier Yard that would increase the flow of daily commercial traffic.
“Other industries will be affected by these reductions,” he told us by phone Sunday. “At a time when the local GM plant is in trouble, we don’t need another local industry going under.”
According to Louis, dozens of local companies use CSX to ship their products and raw materials. They include ADM Milling, American Brass, Ashland Oil, Batenfield Oil, Bestway, BFI, Boc Gas, CertainTeed, Chem Central, Chevy Motor-Tonawanda, CO Steel, KP, DuPont, Exolon, FMC, General Mills, Goodyear, Henry & Henry, Lake Erie Recycling, MHF, Nabisco, NOCO, NRG Power Plant, Ocello, Protective Closures, Quebecor, Safety Kleen, Smurfit Stone, Sonwil, Standard Elevator, Stetson Chemical, Stone Container, Sunoco, Tonawanda Coke, Weyerhaeuser, and 84 Lumber.
Kellner says other rail companies could be in trouble if CSX goes through with the reduction plan. Canadian National and Norfolk and Southern both currently use Frontier Yard as an interchange for their trains.
CSX posted a profit of $246 million during the first quarter of 2009. That’s down from last year’s first-quarter profit of $351 million.