Union Pacific to cut 'several hundred' management jobs in Omaha, elsewhere

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Russell Hubbard

Union Pacific said Wednesday it plans to eliminate “several hundred” management jobs in Omaha and elsewhere in the coming months, as the largest U.S. freight railroad faces slumping cargo volume.

The job cuts will come from “terminations and attrition,” said Omaha-based Union Pacific, employer of about 8,000 Nebraskans and almost 50,000 people nationwide.

The railroad in the depths of the economic crisis in 2009 slashed its employment rolls as revenue fell sharply. The company at the time said it would cut up to 350 of its 6,000 management jobs across the 23-state region where it operates.

By 2011, with the global economy coming back to life and a boom in U.S. shale oil — which needed to be transported — U.P. was hiring again, announcing a plan to bring 4,500 new workers aboard.

FULL story at link.





Read more: http://www.omaha.com/money/union-pacific-to-cut-several-hundred-management-jobs-in-omaha/article_3a1de250-413e-11e5-8e3d-87bb56d2f5ec.html

[Gore1FL]

1. Spent about 14.5 years working for UP. They made the same "this made sense once" mistakes then too

They forgot how to grow, so they went on a merger-consolidate binge. Wehrn they weren't doing that, they were on a consolidate binge.

If they really looked at the math, fuel cost is killing them. If they powered the main-line with utility power, augmented by wind and solar on the right-of-way where appropriate, and added solar to some of the rolling stock, they could easily reduce the fuel used in the diesel-electric fleet.

They wouldn't have to overwork their remaining employees and actually make long-term infrastructure investments, or they can go with the old favorite of holding steady with less.

[elleng]

2. Cargo volumes at the railroad fell 6 percent in the second quarter of the year from 2014. Coal and

crude-oil volumesell especially hard, with drops of 26 percent and 29 percent, respectively. Lower oil prices led to reduced production from the shale fields served by Union Pacific.

“Energy is proving to be a royal pain in the butt for North America’s largest rail franchise,” stock analysts at BB&T Capital Markets said in late July, after U.P. reported the sharp declines in oil and coal shipments.

Demand for freight hauling has slumped not just at Union Pacific. The Association of American Railroads reported this week that weekly U.S. carloads fell about 1 percent for the week ended Aug. 8.