Santa Fe Offers Some Rail Workers $50,000 to Quit
Santa Fe Railway said today that it will offer $50,000 to each of nearly 2,000 locomotive engineers and firemen willing to leave the company.
Santa Fe expects only 150 to 200 workers to accept the lump-sum payment, “but we’ll take anything to reduce employment,” spokesman Bob Gehrt said.
The problem, Gehrt said, rests with firemen. In the past, they were needed to shovel coal into the locomotives, but the job has become obsolete, he said..
“There’s really nothing for them do,” Gehrt said.
If some engineers accept the offer, firemen can be promoted. If firemen leave the company or win a promotion, they don’t have to be replaced, the spokesman said.
In addition, Santa Fe hopes to transfer some engineers to the West, opening more spots for firemen who opt to stay with the company.
The payment offer runs until July 3; the transfers until June 22, Gehrt said.
Chicago-based Santa Fe, a subsidiary of Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp., runs trains in 13 states, from Illinois to Texas and west to California.
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