THIS IS NOT A BULLETIN. THIS IS JUST A NOTE TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF WHAT MAY OCCUR ON OUR DISTRICT:

First and foremost: The Company, not the Union, furloughs employees. The following is an estimate of what we may see as to job cuts on the AGS District in 2009. There was no Company input . In fact, Norfolk Southern's response when questioned about furloughs has been "We do no anticipate laying off any employees." The economy is tanking. Our business is in severe decline. In December alone, the AGS saw the elimination of trains 379 and 198. Trains 22R and 22Q were reduced to 3 days per week. Eliminating on-time train schedules and combining some of our 30 to 50 car trains will occur. Some switchers/locals may face reductions or elimination as business continues to decline.  Furloughs are inevitable. The question remains, how many might be furloughed and for how long. We offer our guess as to how many. We cannot attempt to estimate the longevity of any lay-offs. That is dependent upon the economic recovery. Where did these estimates come from? They are based on the state of the world economy, past recessions and the rail industry's reaction to those downturns. The recessions over the past 30 plus years do not compare to this one. This is not a gloom and doom forecast to upset our brothers. It is simply a warning to get prepared. Have been told that NS furloughed 300 system-wide in December alone. Most of those occurred in the northern regions.

First quarter (January through March) furloughs may be suppressed, but, not totally avoided,  on the AGS, due to Safety/Quality and Rule Classes. After that period of numerous vacancies, due to employees marked off for those sessions, the boards may stall severely.

The following are our estimates of reductions we may realize during 2009:

1:00 pm SC schedule  - 2 engineers, 2 conductors

7 NS Pool Turns - 7 engineers, 7 conductors

A58 (Meridian Local) - 1 engineer, 1 conductor, 1 brakeman

2 North Carded Assignments - 2 engineers, 2 conductors

16 extra board engineers

16 extra board conductors

2 extra board brakemen

This totals 59 employees. Seniority dates back to May of 2005. Get prepared. View the AGS conductors roster (code L7, type in AL BI to eliminate disabled and retired conductors). Press F12 for reverse order. Start counting. This is nothing more than an alert to those that may be faced with furlough. This Committee does not want you to be blind-sided by an an abrupt announcement that you are furloughed, as  has been the past practice of this carrier. You deserve forewarning.

The end of February saw a suspension of L.E.T. training sessions in McDonough, GA and the immediate furloughs of all ACTs, system-wide. Most, if not all, furloughs have been occurring in our Northern regions since December. Approximately 1000 T&E employees have been furloughed during that period. The first week of March has seen our guys getting laid off on our Southern properties. Atlanta and Knoxville have both made cuts. Rules classes on our Division are supposed to be finished by the end of March. April and May will not bring good news for our Division's  work force. We, your union reps, have been pushing to speed up implementation of job changes to meet the requirements of the changes in the Hours of Service regulations. We want the carrier to tell us what they want and then we will offer our resolutions to assignment schedules. Please be aware that the revisions of our through freight assignments will have an impact on the number of employees the AGS District must maintain. But, those numbers will not be as significant as many hope. March 6,2009 

Furloughs are getting closer to home. To date, the following furloughs have occurred:

  Knoxville - 53    St. Louis - 30    Atlanta - 21    Bham Yard - 22    N.O.&N.E. - 10    April 1, 2009

AGS - 6    April 8, 2009

Auditors from Norfolk are supposed to be in Birmingham by April 19th. They'll be looking at cuts in officers, trains, train crews, etc. April 12, 2009

Abolished brakemen position on A55 (both sides) and  A39.  April 14, 2009.

Abolished  brakeman position on A52, Attalla Switcher.    April 19, 2009.

NS auditors have come and gone. Officials are waiting on their recommendations, as to cuts. April 19,2009.

Abolished utility position at Vance (Mercedes job). April 24, 2009

5 engineers cut back. On May 1, 2009, cut off  3 pool turns. That means an additional 9 employees added to an overloaded extra board.  May 1, 2009