ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997 TAG: 9703060077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS THE ROANOKE TIMES
A merger between Conrail and Norfolk Southern is going to be good for the railroad, that's certain. But for the workers?
Norfolk Southern Corp. workers in Roanoke said Wednesday that most of what they know about their company's fight with CSX Corp. for Conrail is what they read in the newspapers.
They said they often talk with their co-workers about the merger fight, but the talk doesn't dominate their conversation.
The rumor mill is at work; everybody is speculating about what will happen with the merger, said Art Tatman, a marketing production manager in NS' downtown Roanoke offices. The prospect of change, he said, naturally creates concern.
Some workers worry that a merger with Conrail might cost existing Norfolk Southern jobs; others are fairly confident that NS operations in the Roanoke Valley will not be harmed and may even benefit from a merger.
Longtime workers appear to be taking in stride their company's now apparently successful grab for a chunk of Conrail. They have seen and survived mergers in years past - Norfolk and Western Railway with the Virginian Railway in 1959, NW with the Nickel Plate and Akron roads in 1964, and NW with Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern in 1982.
"We've not worried about it here very much," said Donnie Vest, an employee of nearly 30 years at the NS locomotive shops. "We've been through two or three of them."
Vest thinks the jobs at the diesel shops, which have a backlog of work, are fairly secure. "We've got a good overall record here," he said. "We put out a cheaper [locomotive] overhaul than about any railroad in the United States."
Bill Cole, 54, a supervisor in the accounting department, said employees are pleased that NS and CSX will work out an agreement to split Conrail and that the fighting appears to be over. People are eager to see the final details, he said.
"Everybody is really proud of our management and the way they pulled this thing off," Cole said. "I think it looks good for us. It looks good for Roanoke, too."
Ed Elliott, 52, a clerk in the payroll department and a 33-year railroad employee, said the merger definitely will be good for the railroad but won't necessarily be good for NS' union workers.
Workers may suffer in places where NS and Conrail connect in the North, Elliott said. "I don't see as far as Roanoke is concerned whether it will immediately have an effect," he said.
Others, too, said NS' success in the merger fight may not play out to the benefit of some workers.
"Most people feel like, as in any other merger, they never benefit the working people," said Jim Stephens, 52, of Roanoke, a union clerical worker in the mechanical department.
"You don't put two companies together and keep the same number of employees," Stephens said. NS, he said, has clerks at its shops now with 25 years' experience who are cleaning toilets and doing other janitorial work.
George Garman, who followed his grandfather and father to work on the railroad, said if he were given a vote on the merger, he would have to vote no. Garman, a clerk in payroll, said most of the workers he's talked with think at least 20 percent of NS' jobs in Roanoke will be lost after the Conrail deal goes through.
Billy Quinn, 42, moved to Roanoke after NS closed its Hayne car shops in Spartanburg, S.C., two years ago. He likes it here and is concerned what it will mean for him when NS picks up part of Conrail's system.
"I don't want to move to Altoona, Pa.," he said, referring to the location of some large Conrail repair shops. "I don't want to go farther north."
Union officers representing NS workers in Roanoke said they've not heard much from their members about the Conrail situation. "I haven't had any direct calls to this office," said Jim Nelson, a vice general chairman of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers.
Nelson thinks workers in the East End Shops in Roanoke are fairly safe. At NS shops farther north, that might not be the case, he said.
Union workers generally have job protections built into their employment contracts, but how much and what kind of protection varies with the circumstances, he said.
"You're always concerned that jobs will be lost with any kind of merger," said Paul Paxton, an NS engineer and local chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. "Everybody's just sitting back and waiting to see what's going to come along," he said.
The battle between Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern and CSX of Richmond for control of Conrail, whose headquarters are in Philadelphia, Pa., began in October. First, CSX and Conrail announced plans to merge. NS, which had long had its eye on Conrail's lucrative Northeast routes, responded with its own hostile, higher bid.
NS maintained a higher bid for Conrail going into a crucial shareholders' vote called by Conrail management Jan. 17. The vote was meant to allow CSX and Conrail to complete their merger, but shareholders - eyeing a higher offer by NS - overwhelmingly refused to let the merger go forward.
After that vote and published reports that the federal government would not let a single railroad continue to dominate the Northeast after a merger, the three railroads began discussions that, it now appears, will lead to splitting Conrail between NS and CSX.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA THE ROANOKE TIMES. NS workers leave theby CNBRoanoke shops at the end of their shift Wednesday. 2. (headshot)
Elliott. color.