LOUISVILLE, Ky. — CSX Transportation operations in Louisville should not be affected by a decision to lay off about two-thirds of the nearly 300 workers at the railway company’s car-repair facility in Greenup County for up to five months, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
CSX Transportation will furlough 193 of the 291 employees in Raceland, northwest of Ashland, at the close of business tomorrow. Spokesman David Hall said the company expects to bring all workers back by March 3 and some may return sooner, depending ”on the success that we have in capturing new business from outside the railroad.”
CSX Transportation, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., employs about 4,000 people in Kentucky, including 600 in Louisville. It maintains a modest repair operation at Osborn Yard in Louisville, Hall said.
The Raceland facility is the company’s largest car-repair shop. Workers there build and repair rail cars, including coal hoppers, gondolas and cars that carry steel coils.
”We’re talking about a work force that consistently performs at a really high level. That made it a really tough decision for us,” Hall said. ”It came down to there not being enough work.”
The layoff follows a similar furlough this year, when the company idled 230 employees for 60 days beginning Feb. 2, citing a slumping economy.
Hall blamed an unexpected drop in coal shipments, which ”account for about a quarter of our revenue,” for the problems at Raceland. Mild weather and ”unexpected weakness in the overall economy” reduced demand for coal. ”We were anticipating a recovery in the recent months, and it just hasn’t happened,” he said.
Under a union contract that rewards workers for meeting goals in safety, quality, productivity and attendance, most Raceland workers are guaranteed 200 workdays per year, or partial pay for the days for which there is no work.
Those laid off tomorrow will receive 60 percent of regular wages until Dec. 13 — about the time when the facility will enter its annual two-week December shutdown, Hall said. Most employees save two weeks of vacation to use during the shutdown weeks, he said.
Employees will be eligible for unemployment payments after the extended-pay period, Hall said, and insurance coverage and other benefits will continue throughout the furlough.
Limited operations at Raceland will continue with the remaining workers, Hall said.
CSX Transportation employs about 35,000 workers and provides rail transportation and distribution servi-ces over a 23,000 route-mile network in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. It is a division of CSX Corp. of Richmond, Va.