Canadian Pacific to Cut Jobs

Canadian Pacific is a name that many of you are more than likely to have never heard before, unless you spend a lot of time thinking about rail travel. That is why, before we talk about the job cuts that the company is making we are going to take a look at how the company has chosen to describe itself, “Canadian Pacific (TSX:CP)(NYSE:CP) is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to eight major ports, including Vancouver and Montreal, providing North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is a low-cost provider that is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of Canadian Pacific.”

Sadly the company is getting ready to cut back on about 23 percent of the its workers as part of a larger plan to change the way that the company is working. Here is an excerpt from the release put out by the company about the changes, “Canadian Pacific (TSX:CP)(NYSE:CP) President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison today outlined CP’s go-forward plan for change that will greatly improve service, increase the railway’s efficiency, lower cost and grow the business. “Momentum is building at Canadian Pacific and the organization is driving to a culture of intense focus on operations.  Service will be what drives this organization, by providing a premium, reliable product offering through a lower cost operation,” Harrison said.  “We have initiated a rapid change agenda and have made tremendous progress in my first 160 days, and we are only getting started.”

The company also went on to outline a lot about the job cuts that the company is making and how they are set to impact workers in more than one nation, “New executive leadership team now in place including a new Senior Operations lead team with a mandate for centralized planning and decentralized execution, to eliminate bureaucracy and have service decisions made faster and closer to the customer; Revamped intermodal and merchandise train service resulting in faster transit times for customers –  example of new intermodal services connecting Vancouver to Chicago or Toronto; Closure of hump-switching yards in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Chicago – producing significant cost savings and more efficient operating practices; Closure of intermodal terminals in Milwaukee, Obico (Toronto), and Schiller Park (Chicago) – reducing footprint and operating expenses while also facilitating efficient operating practices and reduced end-to-end transit times; Improved train service and network velocity resulting in the need for 195 fewer locomotives and 3,200 fewer leased rail cars – current stored, year-to-date lease returned and declared surplus locomotive units total 460.”

As you can see the job cuts are set to be fairly sweeping in nature. For the time being the company has not set out information about specific job titles to be cut back on, any more details on location or information about the kind of severance that they may be offering to the soon to be displaced workers.