Jim,
The management structure in mechanical could be further streamlined and I have an idea that might hold some merit. When we went through our first major restructuring in 2019, all mechanical foreman positions were eliminated to retain managers on the UP team. I understand that was done in order to facilitate for the changes in the department. Down the line we eliminated the director level to further cut unneeded positions. Now here we are six years later and we have created director positions again to oversee the management of locomotive and car departments combined.
The restructuring of the mechanical department is now complete (or this phase), eliminating the need for managers in the foreman position. Isn’t it time that we reposted manager 1 jobs as foreman positions with wages reflective of the work that is being done? A stake holder sees no value in paying extra wages, vacation and bonuses to a group of employees that were previously paid at a lower rate. It is not cost effective for the company to continue wasting resources when we should be returning that money to the stake holders. The few management tasks that the people in these positions are performing can be easily handled by the newly created directors. These directors got a pay raise so a little extra responsibility should not be a problem for them. Also, as mechanical staffing levels continue to decline a foreman can come outside and fill in the gaps in servicing when needed where a manager would not be allowed to. They can also be held over like the crafts are on forced overtime. This would further ensure that our product is provided to our customer on time. I obviously can’t send this as an email because it would end my career.
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The previous post isn't wrong. Glad I'm out and I'm sure it's more rampant at the several locales I know were bad offenders. One location in particular made up way over half of playing such games deleting scheduled maintenance that was only supposed to be able to be removed by engineering with leadership approval if a sutuation warranted.
They won't go back to foreman. These managers are paid well to lie and manipulate the numbers so everything looks good on paper. Let alone it would probably tick off individuals enough to rat on the pulling of codes, lying on cancellation of repair tasks, manipulation through MCS parent program to release engines that can't be done in ILP, forge or doctor reliability documentation, bully employees into doing what they want, and write b.s. coachings to keep a minimum unofficial 30% qouta in addition to new criticals. They're not paying high salaries and bonuses for menial work, they're paying for protection and the appearance of viability. The better you are at that, the higher you rise.
The CEO of most companies care about the shareholders and themselves, that's IT. You think he cares if you get cut, abolished, demoted??? Please, They Spend millions to save a dollar and somehow it's justified in their eyes
Get rid of directors. Most of them manage from their keyboards and hide in their office. They are reactive and not proactive. Unless they can do the job of the people they manage, they are not an asset.
Dear CEO and board of directors, all UP managers should be capped at $30,000 a year salary with no bonuses. All UP managers should be fined at least $1,000 for each time they are found to be lying, to be wrong, when they make a mistake or an error. This will no doubt lead to an incredible improvement for the operating ratio, quarterly dividend, and boost the stock price. These changes will also allow UP to attract and retain better managers who will be far more beneficial to UP and all stakeholders than current managers are.
I must be reading this letter wrong or something. They got rid of the management level foreman positions, then you're asking to repost the same positions due to short staffing levels? I'm trying to figure out why you'd want those positions to be reposted for filling. They got rid of those positions for a reason. Here's a better idea! Let's repost positions that actually have a chance of being productive in terms of railroading. The UP needs less management, NOT MORE! The UP has thousands of management personnel that sit in an office ALL DAY LONG. At least leave the current mechanical employees alone, so they can do the job that they were hired to do! The mechanical side has way too many managers as it is, with many of them never handling tools. These are the same managers that are forcing some people to quit now because of all of the BS. No one wants to be at the UP anymore. It's not cost-effective for the UP to paying be any wage or bonus to any management personnel that just sits in an office barking on a telephone all day earning six figures. The UP mechanical department personnel knows what their job is and how to do it. I'm sure you meant well in your open letter to Vena, but you're sort of asking for the same hot garbage that got the UP where it is today. Let's figure out what exactly what those managers do on a daily basis, and figure out a way to see if their duties are even necessary for daily operations. If the UP did that, then you'd see a major change in how a lot of the management treats employees. Yelling and swearing at someone on a telephone or pounding away on a keyboard isn't railroading. Less management and more workers=more productivity. More management and less workers=less productivity. It's really not that hard to understand and I didn't need a math degree to figure that out.
I’ll send it I don’t work there