There are some changes coming to the Ontario Northland Railway.
“We are relocating six of our locomotive engineers and conductors to our rail headquarters in Englehart this fall,” Communications Manager Renee Baker said.
There is no job loss according to the crown company, just pure relocation but it doesn’t sit well with some of the employees.
“It’s 11 jobs,” said a concerned employee. “When I count the 11 jobs, I’m taking into account that they have already taken off one freight crew so there are less jobs affected. Then they’re moving the other two to Englehart and eliminating seven spare board positions.”
For those who work out of the North Bay terminal, it has come as a bit of a surprise.
According to one employee, the company has made it seem like they either need to move two hours north or find other employment opportunities.
“I see them having to offer to help us move. They’re going to have to be buying people’s houses. I don’t see how they will be saving money here. If I were to stay, I would have to work out of Englehart so it would make sense to move so they would have to buy my house.”
“What’s important to note here is that we cover a large geographic area,” Baker said. “It isn’t uncommon for our employees to travel for work. I know of a few locomotive engineers that travel from Englehart to Cochrane to service the Polar Bear Express between Moosonee and Cochrane every shift so that would be a personal choice up to the individuals who are affected to physically relocate.
“North Bay is our southernmost point of our rail traffic network. Just relocating our rail positions to be in our headquarters of rail in Englehart simply means that the positions will work out of Englehart.”
As for the shops in North Bay, Baker says it is business as usual and this strictly affects the rail division.
