Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX on a diet?

I see in the news that CSX is eliminating 120 management positions. They are trimming the fat and tightening their belts. Actions like these, will transform them into a lean, mean, fighting machine. Thus enabling them to "duke it out" with NS for business.

Before anyone flames me. I must say that I do not like to see anyone lose their job. However, that sort of redundancy should never have occurred in the first place.

Also, I hope they divert those monies to improving their infrastructure.

BaltoJoey

Rest assured, with their resumes, they will find jobs elsewhere with no problem.

Now if only SEPTA (52% management) and Amtrak (48% management) would just follow suit.

BaltoJoey Wrote:
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> I see in the news that CSX is eliminating 120
> management positions. They are trimming the fat
> and tightening their belts. Actions like these,
> will transform them into a lean, mean, fighting
> machine. Thus enabling them to "duke it out" with
> NS for business.
>
> Before anyone flames me. I must say that I do not
> like to see anyone lose their job. However, that
> sort of redundancy should never have occurred in
> the first place.
>
> Also, I hope they divert those monies to improving
> their infrastructure.
>
> BaltoJoey

Whether it should or shouldn't have happened is moot possibly. The postions were in part the result of Conrail integration, and it was known ahead of time that they would over hire, because they anticiapted lots of additonal work getting it integrated. Now that that's done there's too much duplication, so out they go.

CSX seems to have a management purge about twice a year; so far I've yet to see much improvement in either operations or stock price; they clean house almost as frequently as they reorganize operating territories (divisions to business units to service lanes to subdivisions to who knows what next?)

It remains to be seen whether this will help anything. I think it is more about improving the bottom line than improving service. Nevertheless, I do think there are probably too many layers of management.

fmw Wrote:
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> It remains to be seen whether this will help
> anything. I think it is more about improving the
> bottom line than improving service. Nevertheless,
> I do think there are probably too many layers of
> management.


Right on. Own some stock in a utility. Several years ago, they elected to take the same approach. Then the buddy system kicked in. Prior to the shakeup, there were two layers of executive management. After the makeover, there were three layers. We'll wait and see what happens here.

Someone mentioned in a previous post about being able to go head to head with NS. It is the responsibility of management to give the rank and file the proper tools to get the job done safely, efficiently, and on time. Many disagree with me but it is the role of management of support the employees, not the role of employees to support management.

I wholeheartedly concur, Dash9cw!!

This has not been a case of the "good ol' boy" system. Some of the biggest hatchet men on the system were cut loose Thursday. Many with some MAJOR good ol' boy connections did not survive. They cut guys I previously thought untouchable. CSX is not playing around right now. This is the real thing.

As much as I get nauseous over Mike Ward's lack of ability to communicate to the employees in the field in a no-BS manner, his actions certainly show he means business. Firing Al Crown was just the shot across the bow. The firings of Thursday show they are willing to cut QUALITY personnel and "my sisters husband" from the payroll. In my territory, no favorites we played. It was a cold, calculated job based on salary, age, and to a significantly lesser extent, job performance.

How 'bout the golden parachuts?

Yeah, golden when you're 45yo and still have a ways to go before retirement. You can either get a lump sum payout or continued pay for a determinate period, which is calculated on the length of service. Trust me, it is not "golden". Golden was for the guys much higher up. We're talking middle class and upper middle class folks now.