More than 100 Alberta jobs are at the end of the line after Canadian National announced widespread job reductions as part of a “productivity” drive last week.
The Montreal-based railway says 30 per cent of the 1,146 permanently-axed positions will come through attrition, 45 per cent through early retirement and 25 per cent through layoffs.
“We take no joy in announcing these permanent job reductions, but CN must leave no stone unturned in this
productivity initiative given difficult conditions in our bulk commodity businesses and escalating labour costs,” said Paul Tellier, CN’s president and CEO.
Tellier added labour and fringe-benefit expenses account for about 40 per cent of CN’s total operating costs, “so anytime we are looking to control costs we must, by definition, look to control our labour costs.”
About two-thirds of the jobs to be lost are in Canada. A total of 117 positions will be eliminated in Alberta.
Before the cuts, CN had almost 24,000 workers in Canada and the U.S.
The company expects to take a fourth-quarter 2002 after-tax workforce adjustment charge of approximately $79 million for severance and other payments to affected employees. In addition, it plans to spend $173 million to shift to a different method of dealing with employee personal injury and other claims.
