The Alaska Railroad Corp. says it will have to lay off more than two dozen people and leave a similar number of positions unfilled, due to budget shortfalls that have forced it to restructure the organization.
The move comes after what the railroad described in a Thursday statement as “a $45 million negative swing in finances from 2011 until now.” ARRC has seen an $8.5 million increase in its expenses for wages, benefits and Federal Transit Administration grants’ matching funds since 2011, coupled with a $20.4 million fall in revenue from export coal and petroleum and FTA funds in the same time period.
Some 25 of the 54 positions affected have been left unfilled, which means only 29 actual layoffs will occur. The railroad listed 20 of the total positions involved as non-union jobs, with 16 part of the American Federation of Government Workers/Alaska Railroad Workers Local 183, 11 with the United Transportation Union Local 1626 and seven with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 959.
“It is very difficult to ask members of the railroad family to leave jobs that they love and need,” Chris Aadnesen, the railroad’s president and CEO, said in the statement. “Our human resources department will work closely with every affected employee, offering all the support possible.”
Previous Alaska Railroad layoffs have included 191 positions laid off in 2008 and 2009 during the global economic downturn, as well as 52 positions lost in early 2012 after the Flint Hills refinery in North Pole stopped producing refined petroleum products.
In late 2012, Alaska Railroad said it anticipated significant decreases in 2013's capital budget due to freight reductions. Market changes have slowed traffic for the railroad at Flint Hills and the Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy.
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