THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270446
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Norfolk Southern Corp. is offering early retirement to 475 employees, or about 10 percent of its non-union work force.
The Norfolk-based railroad announced the voluntary program Tuesday. Employees who will be 55 or older this year are eligible for the early-out.
The retirement program is designed to make the railroad ``a little more efficient,'' said railroad spokesman Robert Fort.
Sixty-two employees at the railroad's headquarters, switching yards, coal pier and cargo docks in Norfolk are eligible for the program.
The program, similar to others the railroad has offered, allows employees who accept it to start drawing their retirement benefits with no penalty as if they retired at 65.
Eligible employees will be notified by letter in the next few days, Fort said.
Norfolk Southern is offering the program to ``enhance our efforts at better asset utilization, strengthen our business initiatives and intensify our customer focus,'' wrote Paul Austin, vice president of personnel, in the letter to eligible employees.
Fort wouldn't estimate the cost of the program or say how many acceptances the railroad wants from the program.
This is the third general early retirement offer the railroad has extended since 1987, when 999 of 1,249 eligible employees accepted it. In 1993, 381 of 680 eligible took early retirement. Two smaller programs targeted at specific departments were offered in 1990.
``This is a nice trimming down, but it's not all that significant in terms of the scale of the organization,'' said Renee D. Weaver, a railroad stock analyst at the Richmond brokerage Wheat First Butcher Singer.
Norfolk Southern employs about 24,000 people. Of those, about 4,800 aren't unionized.
To qualify for the program, employees must have worked the five years necessary to vest in the pension plan. Eligible employees have until Oct. 27 to apply for the program. Some highlights of the program include:
Immediate retirement with no reduction in benefits.
Waiver of required payments for post-retirement health care.
Payment for 1996 vacation time.
Benefits for surviving spouse.
Relocation assistance.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP.
by CNB