(The Omaha World-Herald posted the following article by Grace Shim on its website on February 27.)
OMAHA — Union Pacific Corp. will cut 1,000 administrative jobs, with most people to lose their jobs in the first three months of 2003, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad, said in a 10-K annual report that the 1,000 jobs will be eliminated through attrition and firings. The company will take an estimated $45 million pretax charge in the first quarter to pay severance costs.
The annual report offers more details about previously announced plans to cut costs at the Omaha company by up to 20 percent. Union Pacific executives had said the reductions would include layoffs but not how many.
U.P. spokesman Bob Turner said Wednesday that the job cuts detailed in the filing include 400 administrative jobs, most of which are in Omaha, and 600 train jobs, mostly engineers. The train jobs are being cut as U.P. uses more remote-control devices in its locomotives, he said.
Some of the targeted jobs could include 139 crew management and timekeeping positions at the Harriman train dispatching center in Omaha. According to internal U.P. documents obtained by The World-Herald, those jobs could be eliminated as early as this spring. Crew managers schedule train crews.
John Lydon, general chairman of the Transportation Communications International Union in Omaha, said he expects 139 crew management workers to be laid off this spring and summer. About 330 employees currently work in crew management in Omaha, he said.
Lydon questioned why train workers would be classified as “administrative jobs” since they generally aren’t office workers.
Lydon said administrative jobs typically refer to some type of office worker, such as crew management workers.
Turner said many of the train jobs that will be affected are in administrative areas.
Lydon said the affected crew management workers are being replaced by a computer system that schedules train crews and calls them to work.
He said the technology may increase efficiency, but it won’t improve working conditions.
“They can’t tell the computer that their kid is sick,” he said.
U.P.’s Turner acknowledged that some crew management positions would be eliminated because of technology but did not provide further details.
“We for years tried to make production improvements through the use of technology,” he said, adding that this includes crew management. “As opportunities come along . . . we’re going to use them.”
Last week, Union Pacific said it had signed a contract with Satyam Infoway Ltd. of India, to handle some information technology services. The company did not provide specifics.