Retirements, demand spur railroads to hire

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Off UTU web site

Retirements, demand spur railroads to hire CHICAGO -- While some sectors of the U.S. economy are in the midst of cutting jobs, railroad companies continue hiring people at a rapid clip thanks to retirements and healthy demand for transportation services, according to this MarketWatch report by Desiree J. Hanford.

The industry needs to add about 80,000 employees between 2005 and 2011, requiring the hiring of at least twice as many workers as usual, the Association of American Railroads says. The needs range from locomotive engineers to conductors to track workers.

 

That would represent about a 33% increase from current employment levels and stands in sharp contrast to the massive job cuts seen in the auto industry, for example. Railroads employed 240,000 workers in September, compared with 235,000 in September 2005, according to the Railroad Retirement Board.

 

"With the growth prospects of the industry and our own needs, we don't see an end to our hiring needs," CSX Corp. (CSX) spokesman Gary Sease said, adding that the railroad plans to continue hiring between 1,500 and 2,000 workers a year for the foreseeable future.

 

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), the largest railroad by revenue, expects about 2,650 conductors and 1,060 engineers to complete training this year, spokesman Mark Davis said. Last year just over 2,000 conductors and about 1,700 engineers did so. Union Pacific is still assessing its plan for next year, but the healthy pace of hiring is expected to continue, Davis said.

 

The need for more railroad workers stems, in part, from a change in 2002 that gave workers with 30 years of service the option to retire with full benefits at age 60 instead of 62. In addition, the industry hadn't hired many people in the past decade or so because of consolidation and technological advancements that led to fewer workers being required on trains, said Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.

 

An increase in demand has also spurred the need for more workers. The industry first noticed a worker shortage in late 2003 when business suddenly increased, a rise few, if any, had forecast and so no one had planned for, White added.

 

So far this year through Nov. 11, intermodal volume is up 5.6% and carload volume is up 1.3%, according to AAR. Intermodal is the movement of freight by two or more modes of transportation, such as rail and trucking.

 

Although the need for workers isn't expected to hamper the industry's growth, finding the employees "requires a real effort on our part," White said. The industry's wages and benefits are competitive, but some people don't like the hours, working outside and often being on call, he said. Also, the industry is competing with other sectors for workers, including the trucking industry, which continues battling a driver shortage.

 

Like many other industries, railroad companies are using newspapers, radio and the Internet to help them find workers. Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) ran advertisements on a sports radio station in Chicago recently, looking for potential employees to attend a recruiting session.

 

Norfolk Southern is in the process of filling 15 positions in Chicago, but the workers it hires now won't be ready for about five months because they'll have to complete training first, said Rick Davison, assistant vice president of human resources. The company expects to need about 1,500 additional conductors next year, a level Norfolk Southern anticipates for the next three to five years, he said.

 

In addition to issuing general press releases about employment availability, Union Pacific often targets applicants in regions where job cuts have been announced. The railroad issued a release on Nov. 8, for example, courting workers in Tyler, Texas, where Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) has said it plans to close its tire plant by next year, eliminating about 1,100 jobs.

 

Norfolk Southern has 40 openings in Elkhart, Ind., a location where mobile home manufacturers have experienced a slowdown following fewer orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Davison said.

 

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), which ran advertisements in movie theaters a few years ago in an effort to find employees, will have hired more than 16,000 people between 2002 and 2006, spokesman Richard Russack said. The company hasn't disclosed its forecast for next year.

 

"Our requirements are getting tougher," he said. "We have various screens that make it more difficult for certain people to get hired, so we might have to interview a larger number of candidates to get one good candidate."

 

Burlington Northern Santa Fe and other railroads have reached out to military personnel to fill positions because they have many of the characteristics coveted by the companies, such as being team oriented, safety conscious and reliable, Russack said.

 

(The preceding MarketWatch report by Desiree J. Hanford was filed on Monday, Nov. 20, 2006.)

 

November 21, 2006

 

[frj1983]

Off UTU web site

Retirements, demand spur railroads to hire CHICAGO -- While some sectors of the U.S. economy are in the midst of cutting jobs, railroad companies continue hiring people at a rapid clip thanks to retirements and healthy demand for transportation services, according to this MarketWatch report by Desiree J. Hanford.

The industry needs to add about 80,000 employees between 2005 and 2011, requiring the hiring of at least twice as many workers as usual, the Association of American Railroads says. The needs range from locomotive engineers to conductors to track workers.

 

That would represent about a 33% increase from current employment levels and stands in sharp contrast to the massive job cuts seen in the auto industry, for example. Railroads employed 240,000 workers in September, compared with 235,000 in September 2005, according to the Railroad Retirement Board.

 

"With the growth prospects of the industry and our own needs, we don't see an end to our hiring needs," CSX Corp. (CSX) spokesman Gary Sease said, adding that the railroad plans to continue hiring between 1,500 and 2,000 workers a year for the foreseeable future.

 

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), the largest railroad by revenue, expects about 2,650 conductors and 1,060 engineers to complete training this year, spokesman Mark Davis said. Last year just over 2,000 conductors and about 1,700 engineers did so. Union Pacific is still assessing its plan for next year, but the healthy pace of hiring is expected to continue, Davis said.

 

The need for more railroad workers stems, in part, from a change in 2002 that gave workers with 30 years of service the option to retire with full benefits at age 60 instead of 62. In addition, the industry hadn't hired many people in the past decade or so because of consolidation and technological advancements that led to fewer workers being required on trains, said Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.

 

An increase in demand has also spurred the need for more workers. The industry first noticed a worker shortage in late 2003 when business suddenly increased, a rise few, if any, had forecast and so no one had planned for, White added.

 

So far this year through Nov. 11, intermodal volume is up 5.6% and carload volume is up 1.3%, according to AAR. Intermodal is the movement of freight by two or more modes of transportation, such as rail and trucking.

 

Although the need for workers isn't expected to hamper the industry's growth, finding the employees "requires a real effort on our part," White said. The industry's wages and benefits are competitive, but some people don't like the hours, working outside and often being on call, he said. Also, the industry is competing with other sectors for workers, including the trucking industry, which continues battling a driver shortage.

 

Like many other industries, railroad companies are using newspapers, radio and the Internet to help them find workers. Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) ran advertisements on a sports radio station in Chicago recently, looking for potential employees to attend a recruiting session.

 

Norfolk Southern is in the process of filling 15 positions in Chicago, but the workers it hires now won't be ready for about five months because they'll have to complete training first, said Rick Davison, assistant vice president of human resources. The company expects to need about 1,500 additional conductors next year, a level Norfolk Southern anticipates for the next three to five years, he said.

 

In addition to issuing general press releases about employment availability, Union Pacific often targets applicants in regions where job cuts have been announced. The railroad issued a release on Nov. 8, for example, courting workers in Tyler, Texas, where Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) has said it plans to close its tire plant by next year, eliminating about 1,100 jobs.

 

Norfolk Southern has 40 openings in Elkhart, Ind., a location where mobile home manufacturers have experienced a slowdown following fewer orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Davison said.

 

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), which ran advertisements in movie theaters a few years ago in an effort to find employees, will have hired more than 16,000 people between 2002 and 2006, spokesman Richard Russack said. The company hasn't disclosed its forecast for next year.

 

"Our requirements are getting tougher," he said. "We have various screens that make it more difficult for certain people to get hired, so we might have to interview a larger number of candidates to get one good candidate."

 

Burlington Northern Santa Fe and other railroads have reached out to military personnel to fill positions because they have many of the characteristics coveted by the companies, such as being team oriented, safety conscious and reliable, Russack said.

 

(The preceding MarketWatch report by Desiree J. Hanford was filed on Monday, Nov. 20, 2006.)

 

November 21, 2006

 

I don't think this is any different than any other industry as people reach retirement age or retire early, they need to be replaced. Why do I get the feeling that this is a surprise to the RR's? Don't they think and plan ahead?

 

[gswager]

One year they would hire a large number of employees while other years will be fewer incomings, that's why each year are not level enough to keep steady incoming workforce.

 

[TransAtlantic]

Actually, there has been a difficult-to-forsee situation for both freight and Amtrak, in that both freight traffic (owing to Chinese container ships' being too large for the Panama Canal) and passenger traffic (owing to gas prices, congestion, and many other factors) have increased far beyond projections of a few years ago, while attrition rates have jumped as there was so little hiring going on in the 80's and 90's, so all the railroads are now having to play catch-up.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Off the UTU web site

Short of hands, railroads amp up recruiting The hours are irregular and the work means long days away from home, but 22-year-old Brady Foster of Boone, Iowa, is following in his father's footsteps and signing on with the railroad, Business Week magazine reports.

The need for young workers like Foster is enormous, as thousands of baby boomers retire at a time when railroad companies are seeing a surge in business. The companies are stepping up recruitment, targeting Iraq war veterans and laid off factory workers.

"I saw one of my dad's paychecks and I decided that was for me," said Foster, who chose a career with Union Pacific Railroad Co. over teaching.

(Foster is a member of UTU Local 306 in Eagle Grove, Iowa.)

The pay is good -- up to $40,000 at Union Pacific in the first year.

But workers also must endure never-ending traveling as well as night, weekend and on-call schedules.

Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific, the nation's largest freight carrier, will hire about 6,000 new employees this year, said Roy Schroer, assistant vice president for human resources.

"Our hiring needs have grown dramatically," Schroer said. "I think, generally, forecasts would say assuming a level economy or a strong economy, we're going to have the need to hire at least 5,000 people a year for the next several years."

The hiring is a marked change from the 1980s, when the railroad industry was in a rapid consolidation, combining the work forces of many railroads and prompting layoffs of some employees, usually on the basis of seniority. Union Pacific, for example, is the product of seven mergers in the last 27 years.

As a result, many railroad companies haven't hired many people until the last few years as demand increased and workers neared retirement. They now find themselves with lots of employees in their 40s, 50s and 60s, said James Barnes, a Union Pacific spokesman.

BNSF Railway Co., the nation's second largest freight railroad based in Fort Worth, Texas, faces a similar problem.

"The whole rail industry is an early precursor of the retirement wave baby boomers will cause in many segments of the U.S. economy," said Steven Forsberg, a BNSF spokesman.

By the end of 2006, BNSF will have hired more than 14,000 people over the past four years, he said.

Overall employment has increased from about 36,500 in 2003 to a little over 40,000, he said in a statement.

Most of those hires replaced retiring workers, but some were needed due to record volume on the rail line, Forsberg said. Business has boomed for railroads as many companies shifted transportation from trucks to the more efficient rail, largely due to fuel price increases. In addition, an expanding economy always boosts the need for moving more goods, including coal, food and consumer goods, Schroer said.

The American Association of Railroads said freight demand is expected to drive the need for more than 80,000 new workers over the next six years.

The jobs typically pay well. At Union Pacific, an employee can become a train engineer within three to five years at a salary of $75,000. The unionized industry also offers good benefits, and workers with 30 years of service can retire at age 60.

Many rail workers are hired with little or no education beyond a high school diploma, so many start young and retire early.

Just a few months into his new job with Union Pacific, Foster was training at the company's rail yards in Boone, where 500 of the company's 49,500 employees work.

Training has included several weeks of classroom work and memorizing a 500-page book that includes federal regulations, company rules and safety standards.

To be a conductor, new employees must complete 14 weeks of classroom and on-the-job training. The conductor is the train supervisor, overseeing its crew and ensuring air hoses, braking systems and car couplings are properly attached. The engineer drives the locomotive.

Pat McGovern, a conductor and former manager in Chicago, moved to central Iowa to be an instructor.

(McGovern is a member of UTU Local 577 at Northlake, Ill.)

He said the work isn't for everyone.

"A few people are book smart but they get out here and they're afraid of the equipment. It's huge," he said. "After three weeks, you can tell whether they're going to make it or not."

He said he's seen people at different stages of life take jobs with the company.

In a class earlier this year, he had an 18-year-old high school graduate and a 58-year-old retired bus driver.

Among the new recruits joining Union Pacific are some former workers from the closing Maytag Corp. factory in Newton, Iowa, and several former soldiers who served in Iraq. Railroad companies are aggressively recruiting from many sources, including college campuses, industries facing layoffs and the military.

Union Pacific announced earlier this month that is has expanded recruiting efforts through a partnership with the U.S. Army. Under the Partnership for Youth Success program, Army enlistees interested in gaining specific job skills and qualifications get the training while in the military. As they end their service, the soldier is connected with companies such as Union Pacific for possible employment.

Union Pacific said military veterans make up about 20 percent of its work force.

Instructor Wayne Westendorf helps get new workers accustomed to working around the massive rail cars. On a chilly fall day, he wears a turtle neck shirt, hooded jacket and Big Ben overalls topped off with a baseball cap.

He leads a dozen new railroad recruits carefully around the rail yards, showing them how to connect the hydraulic air hoses and couplers on box cars. He goes over the procedure in minute detail, explaining the dangers and the significance of each step.

Inexperienced around trains, the recruits wear brightly colored caps, vests and a band around a leg, a sign to experienced workers that they are rookies. They will wear the band until they've worked around trains for four years.

In an industry that can be hazardous, safety is a priority.

At a briefing inside a metal maintenance building, Westendorf warns the group that they'll be in areas where trains are moving.

"We will be in the red zone," he says. "Pay attention to one another. Look to see if anyone's in the red zone."

Nationally, the Federal Railroad Administration reported 5,635 deaths or injuries to railroad workers on duty in 2005. That was down 6.3 percent from 2004.

By far, the leading cause was overexertion.

Foster said he'd attended community college for two years and was planning on a teaching career but changed his plans after talking one day with his dad, a railroad engineer for 34 years. Foster, of Mason City, Iowa, acknowledged that his dad was frequently away from home, but he said the family never wanted for anything.

"I was lucky that with my dad's job, I always had new things," he said. "I want to do that for my family."

(This item appeared in Business Week magazine Nov. 28, 2006. Additional information added by UTU editors.)

November 28, 2006