(The Associated Press distributed the following article on November 10.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Corp. announced Monday it will cut 800 to 1,000 nonunion employees over the next six months, as part of a plan to streamline its management structure and to create a smaller organization.
The railroad said the layoffs will cost $60 million to $80 million, which will be recognized over the next two quarters. The company said it expects to realize the savings by the middle of 2004.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is streamlining its management structure from 11 layers to no more than eight.
“It will be a time of some consternation by our employees, but we’ve asked them to focus on the jobs at hand,” CSX spokesman Gary Sease said.
The company did not say which regions would be most affected. About 3,000 of the company’s 5,000 nonunion employees are based in Jacksonville, Sease said. CSX has 34,000 employees and its rails cross 23 states.
“We will put managers and decisions closer to our customers, increase accountability at every level and establish a far more competitive cost structure,” Michael J. Ward, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.
In the third quarter, CSX reported a loss of $103 million, or 48 cents a share, after recording more than $200 million in charges to change the way it estimates injury liabilities and to settle a dispute related to a 1999 sale of international container shipping assets.
CSX shares fell 45 cents Monday to close at $33.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.