LABOR STRUCTURE AND PROFITABILITY OF THE UNITED STATES RAILROAD INDUSTRY UNDER DEREGULATION. IN: PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL MEETING, TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH FORUM, OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 2, 1991, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

This paper compares the effectiveness of two philosophical approaches; the "lean and mean" versus the "no layoff payoff", for two samples of large U.S. freight railroads. The "No Merger" sample consists of nine railroads that were not involved in mergers or acquisitions from 1983 to 1988. The "Post Merger" sample consists of four other railroads that were involved in mergers or acquisitions in 1985, and analyzes data on these railroads from 1986 to 1988. The rationale for dividing our data into these two samples is that mergers and acquisitions present special challenges for human resource management.