IT contractors have been notified may 9th last day. Contractors make up about 50% or more of all BNSF IT teams.
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140 Employees were let go Wednesday
Remember all contractors on the railroads are SCABS!!!!
Have to DISAGREE. Many contractors hold green cards or citizenships, and agency contracts can be adjusted under certain conditions. There is a strong possibility that some consultants currently leading technical teams may be hired full-time to reduce dependency.
Many hires with CS degrees end up in coordination/Scrum master roles instead of coding. This leads to underutilization of technical talent. New management expects all engineers to code or face termination alongside contractors. Any resulting gaps will be addressed through new hires.
Many employees are coders, the idea to hire contractors came from the top but is not popular under current administration. Most contractors will not be eligible for hire because of their agreement with contract agency or citizenship status. Word is mgmt is next, new plan is higher percent coders.
A friend from BNSF said -
"Non-coders in TS = Full time Engineers/Managers (most of them).
Most full-time engineers are not involved in coding and are largely dependent on contractors. Their primary responsibilities appear to be limited to email communications and testing activities. And meetings with developers chasing for progress. Much of their time is spent following up with contractors to ensure progress. This heavy reliance on consultants and offshore resources may have triggered the CTO and contributed to recent large-scale layoffs of contractors/offshore and subsequent full-time rehiring efforts coming soon with bigger pay. "
True?
BNSF TS employees dressing is all black?
On the CTO call he confirmed that contractors would be out the door. Plans to double headcount of software engineers within a year to improve and build all software in house. Told everyone they can work from home starting Monday but many think that's just a precursor to layoffs, namely of the non-coders in TS.
If only Warren Buffett could lose his billions and be forced to live paycheck to paycheck, then lose his paycheck and be dependent on charities and meager government assistance (instead of abundant government subsidies)!
Was anyone at the CTO call today? Any update?
The meeting tomorrow has nothing to do with layoffs. Per reddit, thats next week with contractors
As info CTO set up a meeting with all of TS department including BNSF law department tomorrow at 10am CST. Something’s about to be announced. Plan on it
There will be a BNSF IT layoff announcement on May 1st before the CEO call next week. All IT employees are in danger of getting picked for the layoff. There are 3 waves : May, in the summer and by December. If you are laid off in the waves, expect a severance. If you are left over, you have to take a tech assessment. If you fail it, you are canned without a severance.
If you are NOT technical, you will be on the chopping block first especially Sal bands 31-33 and also those with manager in the title. If you are technical, they are looking at lines of code but you will still have to take an assessment. IT will be sold to the highest bidder and will not be connected to the RR in the form of benefits. RR benefits will be stopped if you are leftover!!!
BNSF exempt IT layoffs coming next week
FROM REDDIT:
Confirmed today that BNSF is laying off 15-20% of TS exempt employees, management included. If you are not hands on writing code the new CTO doesn't believe you should be in the department. Get your resume updated ASAP.
More rounds of TS contractor reductions will occur throughout the year. 600 to be released on May 9th + 1,000 more likely to be released this year.
All in preparation for the BNSF fire sale when the railroad is parceled out to the highest bidders…
BNSF Allouez Taconite Facility will be laid off effective Saturday, according to the Transportation Communication Union.
Union spokespeople say 31 out of 62 employees will be laid off at the Superior facility.
Sweetwater TYE yard being closed this week, all crew members being displaced, union lease already notified of effective date, but told not to inform their members until day of. Reason was due to contract agreements resulting employees being off too much, and issues with employees in sweetwater actually showing up for work, as well as too many work related issues resulting in excessive investigations and delays for a terminal of its size. Regardless of the reasoning local has already been informed of the closure and date.
Some are going be hired back as full time and probably higher pay than current employees…
No sympathy for scabs
Dang.