(The following story by Adolfo Pesquera appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on January 9.)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas Stung by the economic slowdown, particularly in auto-related shipments, Union Pacific Railroad quietly has been furloughing workers throughout its system, including several hundred in the San Antonio region.
Union Pacific declined to disclose how many workers have been laid off, either systemwide or in the San Antonio area. Unofficially, estimates are a total of 356 employees in the region were or will be laid off over a period that began in November and continues through this month.
If accurate, that would be about 40 percent of Union Pacific's work force in the San Antonio district, a subnetwork of the railroad that stretches from Corpus Christi on the coast to Alpine in the Big Bend country.
The economic situation has affected our company, said Raquel Espinoza, head of corporate relations for the railroad's Southern Region. We're having to adjust our work schedules to accommodate for the transportation needs of our customers.
Espinoza said the railroad would not disclose details of the furloughs, other than to acknowledge they are occurring.
We're having to make these difficult business decisions based on the current situation, Espinoza said. The good thing about our company for now is our diverse commodity mix. The automotive industry is soft, but we've got coal and grain that are doing very well.
When market conditions improve, furloughed workers will be recalled, she added.
Bob Moore, local chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said the latest round of layoffs began in November.
Everybody's worried about it, Moore said, because it's affecting them right now.
Moore said the layoffs have been fluctuating and were in excess of 200 at this moment will it be like that in 10 days, I can't tell you.
Some of the furloughs are seasonal. Business typically slows down during the holidays, but this year the cuts went deeper, he said.
A lot of commodities are just starting to come back, but we're not at 100 percent, Moore said.
A furloughed San Antonio engineer who requested anonymity claimed 356 of the 892 full-time workers on the seniority roster either have been furloughed or given notice. These are workers earning $70,000 a year or more, and the vast majority live in San Antonio, he said.
Some employee disruption was due not to the national recession but to the opening of a new intermodal terminal in south Bexar County. In December, the new terminal halted virtually all traffic into San Antonio's South and East yards and caused dislocation of workers as subcontractors took over the work under new agreements.
But the furloughs reach well beyond San Antonio, extending to rail yards in small towns on the region's extremities.
Jeff Janca, pastor for the First Baptist Church in Brackettville, said there are about 20 Union Pacific workers in that West Texas town, and several attend his congregation. They are concerned about word they've received from higher-ups that several will be furloughed next week, he said.
I talked with one man's wife yesterday, Janca said. He was being moved from engineer out into the yard. He's hoping it's only going to be about six months.
