BRUCE J. DOUGLAS 20-Cylinder EMD’s Return to the Rails Amid Labor Unrest
ELECTRO-MOTIVE DIESEL’S LONDON, ONTARIO, PLANT re- leased seven 5300-h.p. SD80ACe’s to be numbered 101-107 and pow- ered by 20-710G3B engines for Brazil’s 5′−3″ gauge Estrada de Ferro Carajas in late December 2011. The ’80ACe’s are distinguished from the 4300-h.p. SD70ACe’s by their longer frames, extra engineroom doors (required by the longer prime mover), and larger radiators with a third cooling fan. While EMD literature says all 710-series engines meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tier 2 emissions standards, it’s not clear whether the SD80ACe could be adapted to meet EPA Tier 3 standards for new locomotives, which go into effect this year, for operation in the United States. On December 24, Nos. 104 and
105 sat on temporary standard gauge trucks at Stratford, Ontario, (above), awaiting movement to Canadian Rail Collision & Refur- bish, located in the VIA Rail Mim- ico maintenance facility in Toron- to, where they would be finished and painted. That same day, truckless Nos. 102 and 103 were already at CRCR, loaded aboard KRL heavy duty flatcars (right). While 20-710 engines have
rushed out of the plant in late December 2011 while EMD parent Elec- tro-Motive Canada Co. and employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers headed toward a showdown after their contract expired on December 31. The contract had expired at the end of May 2011 and was extended through December 31 as negotiations continued. On December 27, the CAW rejected the new pact and authorized a strike, but instruct- ed its members to report to work. EMCC then instituted a lockout of the CAW, erected a fence around the plant and stopped production. EMCC is a subsidiary of Progress Rail Ser- vices of Albertville, Ala., which purchased the company in August 2010, and Progress is a subsidiary of Caterpillar, Inc. The press had reported that
been routinely built for use in sta- tionary power plants, drilling platforms, and marine applications, the last EMD locomotives to use 20-cylinder engines were Conrail’s 28 5000-h.p. SD80MAC’s Nos. 4100-4127, built in 1996. CR also bought SD80MAC demonstrators 8000-8001 in 1997 and renumbered them 4128-4129, for a total of 30 units. The railroad intended to buy another 108, but the company’s takeover by CSX and Norfolk Southern in 1999 ended those plans. CSX inherited 13 SD80MAC’s (Nos. 4590-4602) in the Conrail split, and NS got the rest (Nos. 7200-7216). All but two are still running for their new owners. The big ore haulers were overshadowed by labor strife as they were
ERIC PORTELLI 22 MARCH 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
EMCC had offered the union a 55 per cent cut in pay and benefits, quoting a $16.50/hour pay rate. In response, the company released a letter it sent to CAW members out- lining its offer, which includes a five-tier pay scale ranging from $16.50 to $34.00 an hour. (EMCC also asserted that United Auto Workers members employed at EMD’s LaGrange, Ill., facility are paid considerably less than the London workers.) The company
also will terminate its defined benefit pension plan at the end of 2012 and replace it with an employee-funded retirement savings plan, while at the same time rescinding many fringe benefits including childcare coverage, the skilled trades training fund, an income benefits mainte- nance plan, and retiree life insurance and medical coverage. In November 2011, Progress opened a new EMD locomotive assembly
plant in Muncie, Ind., which is staffed by lower-cost, non-union work- ers. Since then, many observers have pondered what the future holds for the London plant. At press time in early January, the answer to that question was still unclear as the standoff continued. —WALT LANKENAU
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