CANADIAN VIA RAIL LAYS OFF STAFF DUE TO DROP IN RIDERSHIP AND REVENUE

The corana virus pandemic has truly had its adverse effect on the world. Businesses have continued to count huge losses world over. Some have even shut shops.

VIA Rail in Canada last week announced plans to lay off it's unionised, management and professional staff due to a plunge in ridership and revenue.

"To help manage the pandemic’s financial impacts, it has taken these measures, among others: temporarily laying off unionized, management and professional employees; reducing “certain operating expenses in proportion with the level of operations,” publicity and advertising activities, and in-station services; and reducing administrative costs and postponing non-essential initiatives."

The Chief Financial Officer of the Canadian Rail Corporation however says the decision to lay off  is not a total termination of appointments“We have had to make tough decisions over the past few months, and we recognize that these are difficult times for our employees, but our objective remains to reintegrate them as soon as customer demand allows it,” Chief Financial Officer Patricia Jasmin said.

VIA Rail Canada’s third-quarter 2020 results include an 86% drop in rider revenue and 82% decrease in ridership from the same period last year due to the pandemic. Total revenues for 3Q20 fell 84%, on a 79% reduction in capacity as travel demand plummeted. Although the total operating expenses decreased by 27.5%, the VIA Rail authorities explain that the savings from this and other cut cutting measures are not enough to maintain the current wage bill.