Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is asking employees to burn off vacation days and is also scrapping a system that allowed up to 52 weeks of holiday time to be banked, part of renewed efforts to control costs amid a slowdown in the railway industry, the Toronto Globe reports.
Managers and other non-union workers in Canada hired before 1996 had been allowed to carry over their vacation time, but CP chief executive officer Fred Green said he's leaving no stone unturned in an effort to strengthen the carrier's balance sheet.
"Unused vacation is a liability for which the company maintains an accrual," Mr. Green said in an internal memo to roughly 3,000 non-union staff across Canada.
CP said it's converting fully to a use-it-or-lose-it system for vacation time.
CP is seeking to cut costs as the recession erodes cargo deliveries across North America.
In the first two months of this year, CP and Canadian National Railway Co. saw their carload traffic fall an average of 18.4 percent.
During a webcast yesterday from New York, Mr. Green said CP is committed to cost-cutting by running longer trains and renegotiating fuel contracts.
CP (TSX) rose 1¢ to $36.01.
(This item appeared March 12, 2009, in the Globe.)
