New Norfolk Southern layoffs worry workers
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At the close of the first shift at Norfolk Southern's Juniata Locomotive Shop Tuesday, an electrician who didn't want to give his name was talking about how bad he felt for the young family men among the 95 shop employees laid off that day.
The conversation was nearly over when one of those laid-off family men, a second-shift worker, came by on his way into the shop to clean out his locker.
"It sucks," both of them said.
Although he's close to retirement, the electrician remains employed, due to seniority rules, but machinist Robert Tinker of Patton, 35, along with his entire family, will need to deal with the consequences of Norfolk's transition to Precision Scheduled Railroading, which has vastly reduced the need for locomotives -- and thus for the locomotive repair and maintenance services performed in Juniata.
For Tinker, an eight-year Norfolk employee, the layoff will mean applying for unemployment insurance for the first time, and it will probably mean his wife will have to return to the workforce. He also mentioned possible limitations on extracurricular activities for their son, 14, who takes piano lessons and who hoped to join the swim team, and their daughter, 12, who had hoped to play volleyball, which could involve travel that might prove to be impractical.
"I'm a little bit nervous," said Tinker, who was wearing a hat with the phrase "Make America Great Again."
His wife, too, is "kind of nervous," Tinker said.
He reassured her, however, saying, "Sometimes God answers 'no' -- you don't get the job" or whatever else you were hoping for, he said.
He can take reassurance himself from having prepared for the furlough.
When layoffs began -- the company laid off 50 in May, then 100 in September -- Tinker enrolled in an online course on Linux system administration.
"I'll try to get into that field," he said.
He's also been saving money, he said.
His former co-worker, the electrician, knows how it feels, having lost a career when coal mines near Ebensburg closed a generation ago, and then getting laid off from Conrail,
Norfolk's predecessor in Altoona.
"It's not a happy thing," the electrician said. "Having to go home and tell your family."
There were times when he took minimum wage work "to keep the wolves away," he said.
Earlier that day, shop managers escorted furloughed first-shift workers out of the building, the electrician said.
He didn't see any show of anger from the laid-off workers.
"What are you going to do?" he asked rhetorically.
The electrician is cynical about PSR, saying it's mainly a way to please the company's shareholders, Norfolk's ultimate authority.
He suggested a potential layoff preventive: insourcing -- seeking out other companies' locomotives to work on, to keep the shop workers busy.
Conrail did it, he said.
Asked about shop morale, he said, "It can't get any lower, buddy."