(The Associated Press distributed the following article on August 9.)
OMAHA, Neb. — The nation’s largest railroad is hiring train crews as people retire and the economy picks up.
Union Pacific Railroad added about 1,000 conductors and engineers to its 46,000-person work force through August and plans to hire 1,000 more by the end of the year, company spokesman Mark Davis said Thursday.
“Because the economy and our traffic began to pick up a little bit, we are trying to hire,” Davis said.
Up to 3,000 workers could be hired next year for positions across the railroad, in large part to fill spots vacated by people retiring and other factors, Davis said.
The railroad, owned by Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp., had announced in January that in the face of higher fuel prices and wages, as well as increased health care and insurance costs, it would lay off 300 people this year and not fill 700 more positions as people left or retired.
Many of those layoffs involved management workers and were largely unrelated to the current hiring of train crews, Davis said.
Other factors involved in the current hiring push include positions temporarily left by people on military leave for service in Iraq, quickened retirement rates as workers with 30 years of service are allowed to retire with full benefits at age 60 instead of 65, and workers taking advantage of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, Davis said.