Via Rail is temporarily laying off about 1,000 unionized employees across the country.
The company announced the temporary layoffs in a statement issued late Wednesday.
“We have made every effort to protect our employees to the best of our abilities against the impacts of the service reductions,” said Cynthia Garneau, president and CEO, in a statement.
“Unfortunately, as we don’t anticipate ridership to be back to pre-COVID-19 levels in the foreseeable future, we have had to make difficult decisions to deal with the situation as we gain a better understanding of the impacts of the pandemic on our operations.”
Via Rail says while it has been able to restart some services, many routes are still interrupted due to the pandemic.
The affected employees will receive a temporary written layoff notice, which will take effect on July 24.
No word on how many of the affected employees are in the Maritimes.
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