Laid off from Union Pacific.

What Union Pacific layoffs have meant for employees

By 2023, Union Pacific was running with far fewer people than before its 2018 operating overhaul, and the two sides told that story differently. Labor unions have said the deeper cuts left workers spread too thin for preventive maintenance and inspections, while the railroads said they needed fewer people because they used fewer locomotives and railcars to haul a similar amount of freight, as the Associated Press summed up the argument in 2023.

When Union Pacific reduced seasonal track maintenance positions in late 2023, it described a furlough to FreightWaves as a temporary stop when there's no work and said it intended to bring furloughed workers back. It also said not every affected job would end in a furlough, since remaining paid time off, open jobs and personal preference all played a part. The maintenance-of-way union didn't expect everyone to come back, its spokesman said, because people can't sit in limbo for months with bills to pay. If you're furloughed, the stretch between a recall the company intends and the bills that arrive anyway is the hard part. It's worth asking your local how recalls get called in your craft and how long you'd have to answer one.

The shop and yard closures asked more of people. At Hinkle, Union Pacific said it would move some of the yard's work to Portland, Spokane, Ogden, Pocatello and Nampa and that some employees could apply to transfer, the East Oregonian reported, while Hermiston's mayor expected 40 to 45 jobs to remain at a yard the city had estimated at about 500. In Palestine, per the Dallas Morning News, seniority decided who could move into other jobs. Moving a household across state lines to keep a railroad paycheck is its own kind of loss. If a move to another yard comes up, it can help to know whether your seniority would travel with you before anything is decided.

Union Pacific's 2017 management reorganization came with termination benefits, according to its 8-K, while in 2023 managers losing jobs were encouraged to apply for work operating or maintaining trains or to join special projects, as the Associated Press reported. If you're a manager encouraged to apply for craft work and you've also been offered severance, consider asking whether applying for or accepting another job would change that severance.

The pending Norfolk Southern merger draws the same line. Union Pacific's human resources chief wrote in Union Jobs for Life that every union employee with a job at the time of the merger will continue to have one, adding to the standard labor protection, which he described as up to six years of income protection for employees who can prove the deal hurt them, and less for anyone with shorter service. The revised application, as the board summarized it in the Federal Register, says management reductions would involve administrative jobs at Norfolk Southern's Atlanta headquarters, gives estimates for Union Pacific's offices too and expects changes over three years primarily through attrition. For craft employees, it says reductions would come through attrition or by relocating employees to other jobs. The Allied Rail Unions and the locomotive engineers' union filed comments raising prima facie issues with the application, the board's September 2026 decision records. If you're union-represented, it's worth asking your local whether your union is among the six with a preliminary job-preservation agreement, and whether keeping a job could mean relocating. If you're a manager outside the unions, the pledge as written doesn't reach you.

If a furlough looks possible, it can help to set up a myRRB account while you're still working, which the Railroad Retirement Board says speeds up a later claim. It can also help to keep the Form BA-6 the board mails each June, since a field on it shows whether you're eligible to claim.

A sourced history of Union Pacific layoffs

• Late 2023, seasonal track maintenance furloughs

  Union Pacific said it was temporarily reducing some seasonal track maintenance positions, FreightWaves reported, and the BMWED union told the STB in two letters that the railroad was eyeing between 1,180 and 1,350 furloughs.

• November 2023, management cuts announced under CEO Jim Vena

  Union Pacific said it was eliminating fewer than 275 of its roughly 5,600 management jobs, according to the Associated Press, and encouraged those losing jobs to apply for work running or maintaining trains or to stay months on special projects.

• April 2021, Palestine, Texas, car facility closure announced

  Union Pacific set its Palestine Car Facility to close June 14 and eliminate up to 57 positions, the Dallas Morning News reported, and affected workers had the right to bid and bump for other positions, filled by seniority.

• May 2019, Hinkle yard layoffs in Hermiston, Oregon

  Union Pacific filed notice with Oregon, the East Oregonian reported, that it would lay off up to 195 employees at the Hinkle Rail Yard, cuts it expected to be permanent. Some workers could apply to transfer to other yards.

• August 2017, management and administrative staff reorganization

  Union Pacific began reorganizing management and administrative staff in a plan expected to affect up to 750 employees, its 8-K said, and expected a pretax charge of about $90 million for employee-termination benefits.

What to do if you're laid off from Union Pacific

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Union Pacific's biggest hubs: Nebraska, Texas, Oregon, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Union Pacific's hub states run: Nebraska, Texas, Oregon, California, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.