I'd first like to say that I personally have never seen one person that is unanimously hated by an entire working class of people, so congrats to you on that accomplishment. I'm sure you probably think that it doesn't matter what the people in the industry think of you, right? To you, it only matters what the investors think of you. Well I'm here to tell you that that way of thinking is why you're probably the most hated person in the industry. Fritz wasn't a well-liked person either, but his image was further tarnished when you first arrived. You should be aware by now that the industry has had multiple hearings regarding service problems within the industry. You wanna guess what triggered those problems and the subsequent hearings? There's really only three main things that started it. Those three things are the investors, PSR, and YOU!. Mr. Vena, I'd like you to great comfort in knowing that the layoffs you plan on doing will be short-lived. The reason they WILL be short-lived is simply because people won't be sticking around when you show up. We've already worked under you before. Do you really think the rest of us are going to stay and deal with it again? Even if you don't plan on immediate layoffs, you're still planning it at some point. You gotta keep the investors happy right? Maybe you can give the investors a call and have them come moves some trains for you. Aren't they the ones that have operational control within the company? I only say that because it seems like they dictate what goes on in the company and can pick whoever they want to be CEO. It's not all bad though, Mr. Vena. You did in fact help some people move on to better careers after they were let go from the UP the first time. Many of those people didn't come back when called, and MANY more are planning on leaving when you show up in August. So in a nutshell, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME AT THE UP, AND YOU NEVER WILL BE!! Maybe you can print this out and show it off to your subordinates like the self-righteous d1-k that you are. He-l, maybe you could even show this to the investors and laugh it off with them. If I were you, I'd seriously look at this as a very serious warning. We are not going to put up with this PSR nonsense anymore!
29 replies (most recent on top)
Frankly this is a good post. Nobody wants to hear PSR anymore. We are glad that powerful lawmakers and officials are more on our side than executives'.
Mechanical department was just decimated. Some 300+ employees laid off in rocky mountain region week of August 23 2023.
Does Vena care if everyone hates him? Probably not! I'm more interested in knowing what his executive benefit package is for coming back to the UP. I only ask that because he walked away from the CEO spot at the CN, and that was after the board supposedly wouldn't renew his previous contract with the UP. So why walk away from the CEO position, only to go to another CEO position at the very company that reportedly didn't want you to stay the first time? The bright spot in all of this is that when it fails, you'll then have three people to blame instead of one. Those three stooges will be on the hook for WHEN it goes bad.
Vena could care less about how anyone feels about him. He is here at the behest if the large investors to make them money, period. He is a PSR guru and his specialty is downsizing and cutting headcount. He hates hump yards, doesn’t see value in them, so changes to the operation is coming. We have the worst case scenario now as CEO. I hope to make it a few more years to retirement. The people I really feel sorry for are the younger employees. I don’t believe many of you will ever see retirement with this company ( if that was your plan).
I left last year in September best thing I've done. Went out on stress and still got my back pay gave my 2 weeks right after that. Su-ks for the people that railroad is all they know that can't leave.
Here come the "I'm gonna quit people" ......................
At my location nobody has quit since the backpay, but people w/ some decent seniority did quit after venas cuts last time. They just said it wasnt worth it anymore. But what has happened is quite a few of us at our location have started studying the railroad retirement and crunching the numbers. I’m thinking I’ll put in a few more and leave when I have 30yrs but before Im 60. But a coworker who is a great, knowledgeable, productive employee is thinking of leaving in 2yrs when he makes his 20. If we lose him I dont think I’ll stay, no way even 2 or 3 new hires are gonna learn fast enough to do his job and I cant do my work and try to train newbies. I’d rather take my chances starting over somewhere else and not be overtasked w/ the work of 5 men. The govt & public notice the manpower shortage in train service, but no one is paying attention to the lack of manpower in engineering and mechanical.
How many people quit the railroad after they received their back pay when the last contract was forced by Congress ? A lot of guys threatened to quit then. Did this actually happen at any location ?
If you come on here to take shots at the people that are proud of who they work with, then what's that say about you?
If you’re family was your coworkers at UP, you must be a loser.
Fortunate I got out in June. Took a buyout. I'm praying for my former coworkers...they were truly my family for 30 years.
If you were going to leave, you would have left already.
Maybe this hire will be as successful as the Dylan Mulvaney hire by Bud Light. Lol
And when ya die, you can’t take the money with you.
I don't feel sorry for him at all. Life is what you make of it. Everything in his life is his own damn fault. He's the most hated man in the industry, or at least at the UP. Well guess what, HE CHOSE THAT! He decided to follow in Harrison's footsteps in favor of catering to the shareholders and himself. I really don't think he gives a single f--- about the actual business. His wealth doesn't matter when anyone that sees him in public will know what he did to the industry and the sheer amount of lives he ruined to get that money.
I feel sorry for Vena. His life is so bad he can’t retire, a lot like the work force. Only he has millions of dollars so his life prob really su-ks. Pathetic
Not a bad post, but unfortunately the OG poster is prob one of the many mo--ns that signs off 30 hours of work per day.
As Lance would say….. Amen.
Iam one of those people who will leave just waiting for a start date from the other job. 25 years with the up and rather start all over again than work for this fool.
Just when we thought UP couldn't su-k more, then they pull this......
Some most likely won’t leave the day he arrives,but those that can retire have probably moved that date up on the calendar. Once he starts his usual antics they’ll then move on to another job or retire at that point. He probably wont pull his usual games right up front. First will come the propaganda about how he’s looking out for the employees and their safety and for the satisfaction of the customers! Same old cr-p just a different year.
Vena doesn't give a squat about the employees! He cares about the shareholders and the shareholders only. It's going to go very bad and it's just a question of when. Every class 1 that ran with PSR, ended up with a reserved seat in front of the federal government for questioning. Yes the board of directors do in fact sit around a table discussing ideas regarding business operations, but most of them don't even know how the business works, aren't even actual employees, and yet they get to make decisions and recommendations only to enrich their stock portfolios. The UP was starting to heal and get people back. I can't say the rail service was any better though. It's kind of hard to have good rail service if you don't have the people to perform the service. Vena will come in, restart layoffs, close more locations, claim to be a more efficient railroad, drive up the stock price a little, then watch the stock price fall, watch people leave voluntarily, put service issues into overdrive, probably resign the CEO position to avoid questioning by the government, and run off to Canada to avoid a federal subpoena. I want to see how many people leave the day he shows up! That would be a he-l warm welcome for him.
All 5 of the other major railroads are rolling back PSR because they saw what it did to them. Then UP hires someone who is going to double down on it. I want to throw up. I simply can't believe they sit around a big table and make decisions like this. I hope it goes really bad because maybe THEN they'll get it through their heads. They literally picked the most hated man in railroading, but by golly, the investors will be happy... until it goes bad...
It's pathetic how hard he grovels for the shareholders. Vena at the end of the day it doesn't matter how many you fire , layoff , how many jobs you cut. You're NEVER gonna be even avg height. So take your little man syndrome and ride off into the sunset already
No need for a President, the leprechaun will micromanage the company all the way down to the corridor managers.
Will have to see how Beth & Vena are gonna work together. Fritz as an individual had consolidated 3 separate high power roles at UP. Vena only has one of those and traditionally his role is to steer the company long term strategy. Beth’s role traditionally is responsibly for the shorter term day to day operations.
He said in his statement he’s concerned about the safety and well-being of the employees and I chuckled so hard I p’d myself a little
Yep 23 years and I already have 4 resumes out looking to start all over again for another company besides the one that vena is going to be the ceo Iam not going through another one of his layoff companies psr is just another word for layoffs..
Let's all get up and walk out!!