(The following story by Chris Moon was published in the January 15 issue of the Topeka Capital-Journal.)
CARBONDALE, Kan. — Losing his job at the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway shops won’t be the end of the world for Anthony DaPrato.
“We’ve seen our hard times,” the 39-year-old said Tuesday afternoon at his home south of Carbondale.
DaPrato was among 64 employees whose jobs were eliminated Monday at BNSF’s Topeka shops. Citing a lack of work in locomotive repair, BNSF also eliminated 248 jobs at its shops in Burlington, Iowa, and 20 jobs at its Interbay Locomotive Shop in Seattle.
A day after hearing his job was abolished, DaPrato looked across the living room at his wife, Leslie. Two of the couple’s four children were sleeping in the back bedroom, home sick from school.
The house was quiet.
“I guess we could go back to washing our clothes in the tub,” DaPrato said.
Leslie, curled up on the couch, smiled.
That is just part of the couple’s story, to which BNSF seems to have been a bright spot.
“I don’t think the reality (of the furlough) has actually hit yet,” said a soft-spoken Leslie DaPrato.
Years ago, she was washing the family’s clothes in the bathroom of their two-bedroom apartment in Florida. They had just had their first child, and Anthony DaPrato was working a $5-an-hour job while attending school to become a motorcycle technician.
They paid $365 per month in rent. DaPrato had a 20-mile drive to work.
When their car broke down, he tried walking, getting up a 3:30 a.m. to make it on time. Then he bought a bicycle.
A few years later, they sold all of their furniture to move to northern Mississippi. DaPrato would bring home old pallets from which his wife made a makeshift table and bench. It was all the furniture they had.
Things got better — much better — when DaPrato was hired as a railroad laborer by Santa Fe in July 1995. He moved his family to Topeka and worked the lines across the Midwest.
Within three years, he became a welder foreman and took a job at the Topeka shops. The pay was good. Shop employees earn about $19 an hour.
In June 1999, the family moved onto their six-acre lot south of Carbondale. Their two-bedroom house came with a basement and several outbuildings. DaPrato called it their dream home.
“My kids love it here. This is everything we’ve put in for,” he said.
In April 2000, Leslie DaPrato left her work at SBC’s service center in Topeka after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome, also known as arthritis of the muscles. Her body aches for much of the time, leaving her unable to work.
She drew short-term disability from SBC until she stopped working for the company in 2001. The couple is still seeking government aid.
But at the same time, DaPrato was trying to establish his career. Eyeing a supervisor’s position at BNSF, he worked and went to school full time at Allen County Community College.
In May, after two years of classes, he received his associate’s degree. During the fall, he took his first full load at Washburn University.
In the meantime, he dodged layoffs and transfers at the shops. Over the past 18 months, BNSF has cut, moved or furloughed 250 employees from its Topeka shops.
As a boilermaker in 2001, DaPrato was ninth from the bottom in seniority when BNSF laid off eight boilermakers.
On Monday, however, he didn’t make the cut.
The news came one week before his two oldest children, ages 16 and 12, were set to receive braces. His wife is scheduled for surgery in February. The first, at least, is being reconsidered.
DaPrato said he will be attending a career transition seminar next week for BNSF’s furloughed employees. Company human resources officials will help employees with their resumes and discuss career options.
DaPrato said he has heard the company is touting its job openings in other states.
“However, a lot of people aren’t going to want to leave,” he said.
DaPrato is one of them.
He will be looking for another job in Topeka and is confident he will find one. He is an experienced welder and a certified motorcycle technician.
Whether that job comes soon enough and pays well enough for the family to keep its home is another story.
“That’s the hard part — finding something that’s going to pay enough,” he said.