Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511050006
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Norfolk Southern said Friday that 272 of its salaried employees took voluntary retirement, effective Nov. 1.
They represented 57 percent of the 475 employees of age 55 and older who were eligible for the voluntary retirement package.
Of the 272 salaried employees who retired, 85 live in Virginia, including 19 in the Norfolk area.
The two highest ranking managers in Roanoke taking the buyout were Powell Sigmon and Lynard Whitaker. Sigmon is vice president for research and testing, and Whitaker is assistant vice president-locomotive in the mechanical department.
The 45 clerical workers in Roanoke who applied for the buyout represented only 10 percent of about 450 clerks who were eligible.
The retirement offer for salaried employees went to about 10 percent of the company's nonunion work force. It covered 102 people in the Roanoke Valley, the second largest concentration after Atlanta. The rest were scattered across the railroad system.
It was the fifth voluntary retirement program that Norfolk Southern had offered to nonunion employees since 1987.
The new offer included no reduction in benefits because of retirement before age 65 or for failure to meet minimum service requirements; credit for certain service while employees were represented by a union; payment of railroad retirement supplement benefits; surviving spouse benefits; waiver of certain required contributions for medical coverage; payment equivalent to 1996 vacation; and relocation assistance.
The clerks, whose jobs range from secretaries to accounting staff, were offered $35,000 for voluntary separation. Those who were 60 and older would also get medical care coverage for themselves and their dependents until they are old enough to be eligible for Medicare.
Workers of any age who came to work for the railroad before July 1, 1991, were eligible for the buyout. The applications must be accepted by the company to become effective.
by CNB