(The following article by Richard Piersol was posted on the Lincoln Journal Star website on September 25.)
LINCOLN, Neb. — The calamities in the domestic auto industry don’t appear to have diminished employment so far among the many Nebraska companies that make parts for automobiles, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor’s labor market information group.
But at least one employer based in Nebraska is scouting for help among those losing automotive jobs.
With nearly 40 percent of its workforce reaching retirement age in the next ten years, Union Pacific Railroad says it is doing all it can to replace those employees.
It’s even lurking around the suffering auto industry, and inviting those who are losing jobs or being paid to leave jobs to consider coming to work for the railroad.
“Obviously it’s unfortunate,” said UP spokesman James Barnes, about the auto industry’s troubles. But it can be an opportunity for the railroad and the people working for the industry.
So what does a railroad that runs trains across the Continental Divide in the dead of winter do to get people used to working in a warm factory?
“Probably a good question is, what are we not doing,” said Barnes. “There’s such unprecedented demand … we’re doing a lot of awareness raising on opportunities at our company.”
Union Pacific said it is hiring several thousand new employees in 2006, at all levels, from train service and railroad track maintenance to management positions. The company employs about 8,000 people in Nebraska.
The railroad has been doing postcard drops to recruit new help in some markets.
It’s also scouting far from the industry’s Detroit homeland, in other places where there are auto assembly and manufacturing operations, like Kansas, Minnesota and Oklahoma, where employees may have an opportunity to consider a buyout to take up a second career, Barnes said.
“We’ve had interest,” he said. “I’ve actually had calls directly to me. I direct them to our Web site where there is an application online.”
UP likes auto industry workers because they are accustomed to learning and retooling, they understand labor agreements and they often have experience working, as Barnes described it, “with a safety mindset” around heavy equipment.
Friday and Saturday, UP ran a job fair at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte, where Barnes said they were expecting interested people from far beyond that railroad hub.
That fair focused on hiring for jobs at Bill, Wyo., a rail yard for handling coal out of the Powder River Basin, at North Platte, home of UP’s Bailey Yard, the largest railroad classification yard in the world, and South Morrill yards.
Opportunities at the fair included train service, mechanical shops, track labor, diesel mechanics, electronic technicians and others.
UP is promoting itself among auto industry recruits and others for winning awards as a good, healthy place to work from Working Mother magazine, LATINA Style magazine, G.I. Jobs magazine, which named the railroad its most military-friendly employer and the National Business Group on Health.
And the railroad isn’t just looking for the rank and file, Barnes said. They’re also recruiting college graduates and people with management training who want to learn about railroading.
“They can be among the future leaders of our company,” Barnes said.
Meanwhile, UP’s big competitor, BNSF Railway, isn’t making the same concerted effort, but it’s interested.
“We have not targeted that group, but we are always on the lookout for talent,” said spokesman Steve Forsberg. “We would be most interested in skilled crafts such as machinists.”
Forsberg said they usually work through job fairs and would welcome these workers interested in relocating to areas where BNSF does business.