Ameren offers buyouts to 350, layoffs to follow
Ameren Corp. will offer buyouts to 350 employees and will lay off an unspecified number of others as it responds to a sagging economy that has reduced electricity demand.
Buyouts are being offered to full-time managers and non-union employees who will turn 58 years old by Dec. 31. Senior executive officers and about 60 other employees are excluded from the program because of operational needs, the St. Louis-based company said Friday in a statement.
There will be additional job cuts depending on participation in the buyout program and for "other business reasons," the company said separately in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The job losses announced Friday by Ameren follow the elimination of 140 positions from the company’s merchant generation unit earlier this summer.
"We must build a more streamlined organization that can compete effectively in an environment where costs are rising, demand for energy has softened and prices for our merchant generation power have declined," Chief Executive Thomas R bad credit auto loans. Voss said in the statement.
The 350 positions being eliminated through buyouts would represent about 3.5 percent of Ameren’s 9,870-person work force.
Eligible employees were being notified this week and have until Oct. 22 to decide whether to accept buyout offers. Those who do are expected to leave by Nov. 1.
Employees who accept buyouts will receive Ameren’s usual severance package for managers — two weeks of pay for each year of service with a minimum of 13 weeks’ pay and a maximum of 52 weeks.
Most of the positions that are left vacant following the buyouts won’t be filled, the company said.
Ameren expects the buyout program to reduce earnings by as much as $30 million if all eligible employees accept the offers, the company said in the SEC filing.
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