Running Header: A CAREER ON THE RAIL

Introduction
A career working for a railroad is not a profession that most know much about. I decided that I
wanted to look into what it might take to work for a company revolving around the rail; to do so
I researched the largest corporation for locomotive transportation in the United States, Union
Pacific. Union Pacific can be considered a monopoly in the freight transportation industry; they
span the majority of the continental United States with more reach than any other competitor.

Union Pacific was foreign to me; typically, rail yards are in locations that most people do not like
to hang around, and when you do see a train, it is usually passing by, or off in the distance
outside of major cities. I wanted to know what it was like to be on the train, what kind of person
would thrive in this career, and more importantly, who would not. Union Pacific Railroad is a
very old American company dating back to 1862; they have been around for over a hundred and
fifty years which is why they have taken on the slogan Building America. This statement is
backboned by the fact that U.P. has been around for nearly every major event this country has
encountered in the last century and often became the primary mode of transportation for people
and goods as America grew into the nation it is today.

I have gathered information that is important for those interested in what this company has to
offer, such as what working for a union is like, compensation, atmosphere, and major factors that
influence the job. All this information is vital when deciding if this career path is worth your
time.

Methodology
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As I decided to investigate Union Pacific; the first stop that I made during my research was at the
company website. You can tell a lot about what a company deems important based on what their
website caters too. This can sometimes give insight on how an employee will be taken care of
depending on the information available, like benefits and job opportunities. I also gained
valuable information through an interview, where I shadowed an employee of Union Pacific for
an entire shift. I looked into the history of Union Pacific and the railroading industry in general,
through a website, railroad.lindahall.org, filled with old articles and pictures documenting the
growth of the railroad industry.

Discussion
Unions
Once you become a member of a union, the possibility to get fired is extremely hard. Jared
Hodges, the conductor I shadowed, explained that they can fire you, but it is almost never
permanent; what it means to get fired is more like suspended temporarily without pay, however
most union members have job insurance; this acts as a pay supplement in the event of being
fired. He then went on to explain how stressful and frustrating it can be in a system like this.
Everyone is in the union except for management, and management is not there to assist you like
in most businesses; they are there to ensure no one is cutting corners and to enforce punishment
when someone is doing anything that might breach a rule. The company appears to have separate
sides, constantly battling each other.; this could easily create a lot of stress in the work
environment.

Advancement Opportunities and Compensation

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Another issue with a union that most would agree is the limited possibility to advance in your
career. Unions are based on seniority; meaning if someone was hired before you, whether they
are a good employee or not, they have privilege over you for a job, a promotion, shifts, and even
holidays off; this can pose a significant problem for motivating new employees to want to stick
around or put forth more effort to exceed expectations as there is no incentive for excelling. It
becomes a waiting game as the new employees wait for the older ones to retire or quit. This
however, might not be a bad thing for some employees; those that like the security of a job once
you have made it past your first few years might thrive in this type of situation because you will
never need to worry about someone stepping over you for advancement.

The opportunity for advancement however, is very slim; you start out as a conductor and once
you gain enough seniority you then receive an opportunity to become an engineer. To clarify,
conductors for union pacific are in charge of the cargo in the train, and also for building and
separating the train when needed. Engineers are the operators of the locomotive; in simple terms,
they make it go forward and back. Aside from these two positions, there is no other option for
advancement unless you go to the management side, which is not really a promotion but more
like a lateral move.

For those of you who someday want to be a CEO of a company, this career might not be for you;
the benefit to this lack of advancement is that you start off making great money early on in your
career, but you dont see much of a pay increase regardless of how long you work there. It is
typical for your first five years to make anywhere from 50,000 a year to 85,000 a year depending
on how busy the company is. Your five year mark is your last pay bump, and on average you will

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make 80,000 to 100,000 yearly with little to no fluctuation in pay the remainder of your career
aside from inflation raises.

Work Environment and Dress Codes

If you like being outside in the elements and the occasional rain storm or blizzard does not
bother you, then this is the place to be; your working environment is not in an office or inside of
a shop, you will be working outside or in the locomotive for the duration of your career. This can
be a great thing if you dress appropriately; the winter months will always have their downsides,
like walking in the snow or making sure your hands dont get frostbite, but those are the
extremes. The weather is usually mild, especially during the spring and fall. Working outside all
the time can be quite enjoyable and you will never get bored of your working environment.
Traveling on the road will bring you through parts of the country that most people will never get
to see or experience; all of this said, dress code will rely heavily on the type of weather you will
be facing. There are certain requirements for safety; no shorts or shirts without sleeves; wearing
gloves, safety glasses, and of course hearing protection are all required to avoid personal injury.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere was noteworthy during the time I spent with Jared while he worked; it was a
very relaxed and casual outward experience but I got a strong sense that everyone had to walk on
eggshells around the managers because they were just waiting for someone to mess up. The
setting felt very much like two opposing sides and if you were a union employee you had to be
very cautious with what you were doing; the idea that people make mistakes and learn from them
did not seem to apply in this atmosphere. If you made a mistake and happened to get caught, you

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were getting heavily disciplined. This causes lots of issues because instead of notifying
management of a safety issue or a problem, nobody wants to tell for fear of being disciplined;
everyone just turns their head to the problems around them. On the plus side, if you do not ever
break any rules, it will be nearly impossible to fire you.

Communication Style
It is important to bring up the communication style in this work environment; if you are one to
shy away from paperwork or formal documents then this just might be a perfect setting for you.
Union Pacific is generally a one way street of information starting from higher level management
down to the lower level employees. As a conductor, you rarely have to communicate formally
with anyone; your job is to get a train from point A to point B. Almost all of the communication
you will be doing with your co-workers will be through a hand held radio or through a
communication system inside of the locomotive.

The paperwork that you do have to deal with will not be viewed by other people in the workplace
and is more for the record of work completed. The information you receive directly relating to
your job is sent out in a memo format; employees are required to review and print off these
memos, mainly consisting of safety information. They carry the memos on their person
throughout the day for reference. The communication done while working is very casual; format
or templates are not needed in the written portion of this job, however, talking over the radio has
a very specific set of guidelines. Stating who you are and who you are trying to speak with are
required. Safety also comes into factor through this communication, stating clearly over the radio
that you are clear of any rails or more importantly, if you are not clear. You are sent through

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classes solely to teach you the correct way to speak over the radio to ensure clear communication
and to avoid any misinterpretation, some might find this intimidating at the start of their career.

Conclusion
There are so many different aspects to this career field to take into mind when deciding if this is
the path for you; if you like the security of a job that will always be around, without the
possibility of being surpassed by a younger generation, this will be a great place to get started in.
Another thing to point out is this field seems to be male dominated. Though women are just as
capable of performing the work, and equal opportunity is a big push from Union Pacific; I am
simply saying that the type of environment I found myself in during my visit was primarily male;
from the conversations in the break room, to the type of work involved, it catered to a masculine
personality.

Lastly, I want to bring up that the schedule can be a huge factor in determining whether a job
works for you or not; Union Pacifics jobs do not have any schedule and are all based upon an
on-call list. Holidays and weekends are not in Union Pacifics vocabulary; you will most
certainly find yourself working during major holidays like Christmas or thanksgiving, working
all hours of the night and sleeping during the day, in any kind of weather. If you decide that
having a social life is important to you, this might not be a good fit as it would be extremely
difficult to make any plans. Remember there are lots of things to consider going into any career
field. A railroad worker is not your typical business to walk into but it can be rewarding if your
lifestyle fits.

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References
Keller, L. (2012, April 10). The Pros and Cons of Union Jobs. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/pros-cons-union-jobs-1.aspx

Cultural Impact of Building the Transcontinental Railroad. (2012). Retrieved October 4, 2015,
from http://railroad.lindahall.org/essays/cultural-impacts.html

Building America. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://www.up.com/