Railroad Workers Fear for their Jobs

By Ryan Barry

            NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Many Chessie-Seaboard X Transportation workers in Nashville are concerned about the stability of their jobs after two major production facilities shut down last month, leaving hundreds unemployed.

            The major railroad shipping company CSX Transportation is cutting back on production costs by removing two facilities responsible for maintenance and service of CSX train engines and railcars. The Erwin rail terminal was the first to be shut down, followed by the termination of the mechanical shops in Corbin.

            Nashville CSX machinists and railyard employees wonder what’s to come after CSX shut down their facilities in both Erwin and Corbin, Tenn., leaving nearly 500 people unemployed or in transition. Some employees from Corbin and Erwin may be eligible to transfer to other CSX facilities in higher demand across the region, such as Nashville, which would complicate matters for those that work there already.

Photo by Ryan Barry

            “We’re not really afraid that it’s going to happen here or that we’re going 
to get laid off,” CSX machinist Joseph Barry said. “It’s just that now there are experienced people from Corbin that could be transferred here, and that means we’ll be lower on the totem pole, which is bad news if they need to let people go.”

            A new deal is being discussed that would combine the machinist and pipefitting crafts into one master-engineer craft to compensate for the workers being shifted from the closed facilities. This deal has caused some unions to step away from the company while others stay. “We wanted to walk away, but if it means helping people keep their jobs, then we’ll see this through,” a union representative said. The representative wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the relationship among the union, the workers and the company.

            The official reason for the downsizing is a lack of need for repairs following a decline in coal traffic through the region. There are other implications that the downsizing of assets is signaling a potential merger in the near future, but that is currently unconfirmed.

            For more information about this story and news relating to CSX, go to the official website at www.csx.com.

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