Thread regarding Union Pacific Corp. layoffs

I've seen a signifigant downturn in new hire quality. UP now uses a 3rd party gatekeeper for it's initial hiring process, the folks that are making it thru are subpar at best, at least in my service unit.

Current employee recommendations don't appear to count for much anymore. If a current employee is willing to recommend someone in this current environment you can rest assured it's someone that is fully aware of the lifestyle that the job demands.

@1rxu LOL you're funny! Yes the companies do care about profits, so I'll agree with you there. Can you tell me what the current stock price is at, and what it's yearly high was? If you need a better example of how strong the economy is, then just go look at the Dow Jones and Nasdaq tickers and see the yearly trend of both. The economic downturn isn't suggestive, is actual. The company does care who's doing the work, especially when they can't hire enough people to do the work. Do you know how much money has been spent on derailments? How about how much money was spent on lawsuits? You can hide yourself from the facts all you want. If the company is doing so good as you suggest, then why were ALL of the class 1's involved in government hearings involving business practices? The UP has been losing money recently, and yes the economy isn't so hot right now. I just haven't heard anything from the corporate elites about how the profits are doing lately. The company may not be falling apart, but it isn't doing very good at all. I didn't understand your statement about the better new hires. If the economy has a downturn, then most companies will be less likely to hire more people when profits shrink. The UP has resorted to hiring convicted felons to fill the open spots. Are those the better new hires you're talking about? Just like the other poster stated, the profits don't mean a thing if you don't have the employees. I don't care if the company falls apart or not. PSR was bad idea from the beginning. The employees knew it was a bad idea and expressed their feelings towards it. UP corporate didn't LISTEN to its own employees, and now it can't even hire the people it needs to fill the positions left by the people who had enough and left. Still think the company is doing great?

The companies ONLY care about profits. They don’t care who is doing the work as long as the are taking in record profits year after year. If he economy has a downturn as some have suggested, it will actually become easier to recruit better new hires. For the past three years, everyone has been saying the company will fall apart, start losing money, fire the CEO, etc,. and none of this has occurred.

Uh oh are you saying this place is falling apart and the poor shareholders are going to suffer? If you are then I would say I agree… I know of none of my coworkers that are happy right now in a decent sized terminal/territory I think it’s going to implode at some point I know one of my coworkers who is 49 with 30 yrs and is quitting after he gets his back pay. Says this place is going to put him in an early grave if he doesn’t leave said he’ll figure it out till he’s 60. Wow I have ten years and can’t imagine another 20 years of this grueling punishment. I think I’ll join him on the departure. After the back pay of course. I’m 33 yrs old and feel like an old man due to the stress, fatigue and lack of sleep.

The idea of this post has already been mentioned several times since the start of PSR. Yet you had many people on here say that PSR wasn't all that bad. I even saw some people say that it could be beneficial in the long run. Those same people said even said that the companies don't care as long as they're making money. I'll bet the companies care now, especially when they can't even get felons to work for them in many cases. Profits don't mean sh-t and will be short lived if you don't have the people to do the work.

Gee wizz, where is Jim Veno when you need him to cut leaner and make more money.