
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 4, 1995                   TAG: 9504050034
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NS TO CLOSE SHOPS

Norfolk Southern Corp. said Monday it will close freight car repair shops in South Carolina and Tennessee in July, transferring their work to three other NS repair shops including those in Roanoke.

The closings of the Hayne Car Shop in Spartanburg will affect about 200 people. Another 130 work at the Coster Car Shop in Knoxville.

Workers at the two facilities will be offered the chance to transfer to the new locations - in Roanoke, Linwood, N.C., and Decatur, Ill. - or to other available jobs within the company, NS said.

The company cannot yet determine how many jobs will be transferred to each of the three locations, because it has not decided which jobs will be sent to each location, said NS spokesman Bob Fort. It is not necessarily the case that all 330 jobs lost at the two closing facilities will be needed at the new locations, Fort said.

The new jobs, whenever they come to Roanoke, will pay in the range of $9.50 to $15.50 per hour, Fort said.

Relocation of the work was ``vital for Norfolk Southern to better utilize its assets in order to maintain its competitiveness and efficiency,'' Donald Mayberry, NS mechanical department vice president in Roanoke, said in a statement. Mayberry was on the road Monday talking to the employees of the two shops that are closing.

``Our people at both Hayne and Coster are valuable and dedicated members of the Norfolk Southern family, and we want to keep them on the team,'' Mayberry said. ``We want to assure our employees of a smooth transition into their new positions.''

by CNB