(The following story by Dan Eshelman appeared on the Daily Nonpareil website on March 2.)
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Fifteen positions have been added in Council Bluffs as part of a new workforce expansion by Union Pacific Railroad.
The jobs are switchman and brakeman slots, said Mark Davis, company spokesman.
“These are basic, entry-level train service positions,” he said.
The jobs in Council Bluffs are among 117 that Union Pacific is adding statewide in Iowa this year.
Outside of Council Bluffs, 60 positions remained open at the end of February, Davis said, and applications are still being taken for them.
In Nebraska, expected hires during 2004 will total 121 and will be in North Platte, where the railroad’s Bailey Yard is located.
Company officials have cited an improving economy as the impetus for boosting the size of Union Pacific’s workforce.
“The economy is rebounding faster than we anticipated,” said John Bromley, the company’s director of public affairs.
He added that recent retirements have also resulted in an increase in the number of available positions.
Davis said Union Pacific usually hires 2,000 people a year, but the figure has been increased to 3,000 this year.
Projections are for a continued rise in hiring in the near future, he said.
This year, the workforce expansion is being spread throughout 23 states, with concentrations in Iowa, Nebraska, California, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, Bromley said. Conductor positions are to be filled in some locations.
The new employees will join the company’s training program and will then have the chance to move up through the ranks, Bromley said.
Salaries start at $40,000 per year and could rise to $70,000 within a few years based on job performance, seniority, location and work schedule, the company said.
Information about the jobs and application procedures can be obtained at the company’s Web site, www.unionpacific.com.
The announcement of the additional hires follows Union Pacific Corp.’s record-breaking fourth quarter earnings report earlier this year.
The parent company of the nation’s largest railroad reported net income of $551 million, or $2.12 per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That was a 46 percent increase from earnings of $378 million – or $1.41 per share – in the same three-month period in 2002.
Gain from October earnings and the sale of Union Pacific’s trucking unit, Overnite, added 84 cents per share to the company’s stock, exceeding the company’s earlier projections that the sale would add about 75 cents per share.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)