Anyone else think it is funny that the co-chair for BluePrint Nebraska is Lance Fritz. https://www.ketv.com/article/blueprint-nebraska-report-state-struggles-with-attracting-retaining-young-talent/28557408
13 replies (most recent on top)
Lance: We've been setting profit records for the last several quarters in a row, but since it could hypothetically be more, we're laying people off.
Also Lance: Why aren't young, ambitious college grads moving to Omaha to come work for me? I mean, we've got this retirement plan and everything!
I forgive anyone here that forgot lance was tone deaf
The sh– head was a guest speaker on Blueprint Nebraska here in Western Nebraska as they closed South Morrill Diesel Shop. I did post a comment in the local news paper that covered his present here. Great guest speaker as he closes one of his own shops displacing 68 employees 13 miles away. He's a 200 lb sack of a–holes.
You can send her an email right from the article. I think I might. Thanks for your article, but here’s the irony....
I think everyone in Omaha and Nebraska know the truth about UP now. The small minority that still believe in UP are the Koolaid drinkers that choose to see an alternate reality for purposes of their own self worth.
UPRR hired me and I came to Omaha to work in the engineering design shop. It was small, understaffed, but it was definitely headed in the right direction. Compared to a state level department of transportation, UPRR had 5% of what it ought to have had before the layoffs and was already consulting out an obscene amount of work. Be that as it may, UP was a tight ship in my neck of the woods and my managers were not only trying to bring more work in house, but had worked for years to create some pretty good processes for track design, bridge design, and I'm sure the signals folks were doing a decent job too.
From the sound of it, UPRR's in house design forces had already been smashed in the early 2000s.
During the layoffs, I saw people with over 20 years of railroad engineering experience get thrown out, including the Vice President of design. Most folks went to work for consultants for UP because they were tied down to Omaha. It was pitiful watching former colleagues now compete with each other for work from the monster that UP is. As expected, the workload is coming down, because costs have not actually been cut...they just shifted money from operating expenses to capital expenses which have only grown. Once that happened and is happening, projects will be cut...Brazos Yard being the most obvious.
A lot of people did leave Omaha if they could as did I.
I really loved Nebraska and Omaha. A beautiful place, the right size, and UP was a pretty good company. I would have gladly taken a salary cut or alternative position to stay onboard, but all they wanted to do was k–l.
Today, UPRR, I kid you not, has only TWO engineers in house than can actually design a train track and only one, maybe two, that can design a steel railroad bridge. The OMT's in the field are just glorified foremen with a college degree. UP's engineering department is really just an engineering services procurement department. Due to that fact, poorer decisions will be made in the future.
Lance Fritz eviscerated the healthy future of this company. He is a fraud and a liar who pretends to be a boyscout and for that I hate him.
If I were you, I would email the lady who wrote the article (Ms. Doan at ctdoan@hearst.com) like I did and let her know what you think. The more people do that, the more it will expose it. Won't change much, but at least it'll shift an attitude here and there, and we gotta start somewhere.
You can’t make this stuff up. Lance is so in love with Lance that he probably doesn’t even see the irony of it.
I don’t think UP is interested in young people because they are the future. it is more out of necessity because of the high attrition rate they have a bunch of young managers, and they don’t invest in them either. All are expendable young and old.
"...he wants to talk about attracting a young diverse workforce."
When I went to UP's supervisor school, the teachers bragged that the company was only concerned with promoting the younger generation. They were so happy to announce this. It was as if we were to give 'high-fives' at such a wonderful strategic directive. The reason why? Because they said it was a long term objective. Why invest in someone when they will retire sooner than a high school grad? The return on investment would be worth promoting a younger person. I was actually shocked at this. Since my career was half over, they were telling me to be happy and accept I would be passed over, and be supervised by those young enough to be my kids. When I invested myself at career advancement, it was a waste of time, effort, money, and sacrifice to put myself into a position to increase my work responsibilities. What a bunch of BS! My career is over. Thanks to UP! Their strategic directive paid off, not for us that cared, but for those that are young and in-experienced...thanks UP!
This is almost as good as the executives that pay big money for their fat and ugly daughters to be Aksarben Princesses.
I laughed out loud. How in the hell did they pick the biggest liar of Omaha? He has fired so many people who had to leave Omaha to start a fresh —he would k–l his own mother. And he wants to talk about attracting a young diverse workforce. I could not believe they picked him. The absolute worse. While promoting his political career. He is the real loser!
Funny...Lance Fritz has laid off so many people in 2018 and 2019 but is on a committee that is trying to attract people to Nebraska. He talks about people leaving the state....I wonder how many of those people had worked at Union Pacific.
growing the good life for all Nebraskans. lol. based on their website, it looks like everyone on that steering committee is also a CEO of some company so the whole thing is probably one big joke and propaganda tool. in fact, if lance is in charge we can all but guarantee it.