OMAHA, Nebr. - Union Pacific is accelerating the pace of its train-crew hires as the economy picks up, according to a story from Associated Press. UP added about 1,000 conductors and engineers to its 46,000-person work force through August and plans to hire 1,000 more by the end of the year, company spokesman Mark Davis said Thursday. Up to 3,000 workers could be hired next year for positions across the railroad, in large part to fill spots vacated by people retiring.
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(NOTE TO ANY HIRING MANAGER IN ANY BUSINESS: it isn’t how many you hire, it’s how many you keep…) 99.9% of ‘newbies’ hired by up won’t have any prior experience in r.r.-ing… despite best efforts thru interviews, training, mentoring, etc., a lot of those crewpersons will not stay with the r.r. culture… there are many reason, good or bad, that will drive otherwise good workers from staying on as conductor, engineer, whatever… my personal peeve is the aggressive nature of the extra board and the feelings that result from it… i have no experienc e with r.r.-ing, but have spoken with a number of r.r. workers about this… many have said it’s a deal-breaker for themselves and family, if they have one… i can’t solve all their problems, but i believe a partial solution is a longer recovery period after completing a run… if a conductor knows there will be enough time for sleeping, handling personal obligations, etc., there would follow a belief that the r.r. is doing all it could to insure employee welfare… i dont know how many workers who are subject to “extra-board” assignments resign over stress due to working too many hours, or too many runs spaced too close together… i have read newspaper accounts of engineers conducgtors, brakemen, etc., who fell asleep or were on drugs while on-the-job… i believe stress from not enough recovery time between runs contributes to these problems…
I didn’t have any relatives working for the UP and I got hired. While it’s true a lot of new hires have known people who already work for the RR, related or otherwise, that alone won’t get you in.
It’s not a waste of time.
BTW, yesterday I was told they hired a 63 year old guy for train service on our district. You suppose he’ll put in his 30 years?
I have to agree with Cabforward about the hours of service and allowed time off is major negative issue. I was one of those who hired out and then quit shortly after. It was for many reasons but the hours were a big problem. I don’t care when I work, as long as I can be rested for it! They cannot expect people to go back to work for 8-12 hrs after only having 7 off and stick around for 30+ years. Only two hours notice is a joke, even though I understand why it is so short. With all the sleep and rest studies that have proved railroaders hours are terrible they don’t seem to care. Railroads are all about safety, but yet expect people to work with 3 hours sleep- come-on! They need to allow more time off. I have thought about this and here are my ideas. Spareboard are allowed up-to 12 hours undisturbed rest and then are subject to call. Main-line pools are allowed up-to 36 hours off before being subject to call. I think with 12 hours off, that gives 4 hours of personal time for what-ever and 8 hours sleep. Your 2 hour call time is on top of that. Main-line pools having 36 hours may sound like too much time but lets break it down. Normally, (with CP) you get up to 24 hours off. Most people are already tired once they get home so they sleep for 8 hrs. Then you are up for 16, (8 hrs rest for every 24 hrs). You are naturally ready to go back bed when the phone is ringing for work! Does this make any sense? So allow another 12 hours for the person to get a full 8 hours rest before hand at least! This also prevents workers from getting in a bad routine of working a day shift, then night, then day and so-on, which really screws you up. If they want to work again right away, they book off what ever time up to the limit or no time. I have also heard of certain spareboards that cover specific times. For example the “A” board can only be called from 0700 to 1859 and the “B” board can only be called from 1900 to 0659. Other than those hours you will not be called to work so your rest is a little more p