Thread regarding Union Pacific Corp. layoffs

I haven’t paid into rr since ‘04. At 62 my rr is larger than my ss at 62. I’ll draw rr retirement at 62 because it’s worth more. You can actually draw ss and rr. Your rr will be reduced by your ss amount. But why bother? You have no gain by doing that. At 67 or 68 I’ll drop tier 1 and draw ss because at that point it’s worth more than rr.

https://rrb.gov/RB-1/Current_Connection

Have to work 12 of your last 30 months. Situations can vary but educate yourself on this.

With twenty years of service your rr retirement doesn’t roll into ss. Or 19. 18, 17, etc.. know your facts.

With over 20 years of service and being furloughed you almost have to find work on the railroad system to protect your railroad retirement. The current connection can not be lost to obtain your pension. My advice for whoever is laid off and to read about the current connections on RRB websites. If it’s lost your retirement rolls into social security. Don’t be misled

Well you stated why people are afraid of losing their jobs very well. They depend on them. It's easy to say to move on and learn something new, but are you aware of how hard it is when you're in your 40's or 50's? For someone that's deep into a career and suddenly cutoff is hard to deal with. Sure they could go back to school, but they'd be taking on more debt that probably will never get paid before they retire. I absolutely agree about learning a new trade, but at what cost to them? Losing a job s—s, but losing one with 20+ years hurts like no other for some. Just something for you to think about before posting about moving on and being happier. It's not that easy anymore

The company doesn’t care at all about your career or how you’ll feed your family. Don’t ever rely on them more than you absolutely have to. You have to have your own back, because they’ll push you out and not think twice.

I went to UP straight out of school and worked as an OMT. Did my year and moved on.

When word got back to the professors and admins at my school about what UP does to their employees and how they abuse OMTs in particular, the school stopped inviting them to career fairs and stopped taking UP sponsorship money.

I'm 1 year away from my Bachelors degree, then I'm on to different things. Keep your options open and work to improve yourself, because the company won't.

You should always be learning new skills, no matter what you do or who you work for. Make it a habit. Then you'll be ready.

the earlier you leave the better. the people that are able to leave the easiest are the young OMTs coming out of college. UP is actually a good thing for them. they get one to two years experience on their resume and get a new job. they also appreciate their next job more due to seeing how horrible a company can be. sorry but if you think you're going to work as a conductor for 25 years and then your last five years transition to a broker on Wall Street and make millions it isn't going to happen.