Union Pacific cuts 250 employees, most in Omaha; another 450 employees are furloughed

When Union Pacific executives said they would try to run a more efficient railroad, they weren’t kidding: Barreling down the track is a plan to improve the company’s operating performance.

As part of that plan, the company said Tuesday it would cut its workforce by about 250 people, according to a memo it sent to employees obtained by The World-Herald.

The company also said it had furloughed about 450 employees in the railroad’s mechanical department as more than 1,000 locomotives recently have been idled. When a worker is furloughed, it’s a kind of temporary layoff, under which he or she is put on “inactive” status.

The railroad said the cuts were necessary to improve “efficiency and productivity.”

Read more: https://www.omaha.com/money/union-pacific-cuts-employees-most-in-omaha-another-employees-are/article_87119a00-ebd2-5811-962f-691d097bfbe5.html