MIAMI - The company that operates Florida East Coast Railroad yards in Miami Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville has notified the state that if it loses its contract with Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC), it will have to lay off 142 of its employees, the South Florida Business Journal reports.
FEC operates 351 miles of mainline track along the east coast of Florida.
Parsec, which has its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, has held the contract since 1994. However, FEC decided to put it out for bid, leaving the future of Parsecs employees up in the air.
The state is looking to, I think like everybody else, find the best cost possible out there, Parsec VP David Budig said. There are no service issues, they have made it clear, but they just want to test the market.
Parsec submitted a bid, but Budig said the company likely will not know the outcome until next month. If the company does not get the contract, it will have to lay off 76 workers from Miami Springs, 20 from Fort Lauderdale and 46 from Jacksonville.
They include crane operators, terminal managers, drivers, and mechanics whose job it is to load and off-load cargo from FEC flatbeds.
Calls to FEC were not immediately returned.
(This item appeared May 13, 2009, in the South Florida Business Journal.)
