In case you work for UP and see this, make sure you have your parachute packed.
I personally have never met Mr. Vena, nor worked for him.
However, I have worked for CN after he retired and his reputation was that of a man who swore, yelled, and was very aggressive. People were happy that he finally left the company, as they were also relieved once Mr. Harrison did the same thing.
Unfortunately, we are clearly entering a period of rampant corporate greed in the railroad sector where the interests of employees and customers are last; with employees being dead last. As someone who has been laid off from an iconic American company, UPRR, it saddens me to see where capitalism is headed in this country and certainly, where it heading for the railroads.
Mr. Vena, like Mr. Harrison, is your typical rags to riches story, but without the class, empathy, and proper treatment of fellow man that ironically, someone with a little more education and a little more wealth up front may have.
I saw a bunch of protesters carrying a sign saying "Abolish ICE, Abolish Profits." They looked young, white, motivated, and in my opinion delusional and dangerous. With every hard working union worker, or so called "management employee"...many of which are simply educated workers, that is laid off from a demanding private sector job on the heels of record profits...every time one of us laid off, the company not only looses a dedicated asset, but makes at worst a bystander to the aforementioned protesters and at worst, someone who will actively join them.
But back to Vena; make no mistake, he is a corporate monster and where Frits started attacking what was left of his in house professional staff, Vena will go after the unionized worker. When a millionaire who was once a brakeman goes after his own people, knowing full well how hard it is for a working man or woman without a whole heck of a lot of education, to make a railroad age, that is despicable.