Unions Oppose Conrail Sale to Norfolk Line

Unions representing more than half of Conrail’s 35,000 unionized employees oppose a sale of the freight railroad to Norfolk Southern Corp., one of the union’s presidents said Friday.

Norfolk Southern is said to be the favorite choice of Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole, although department officials have insisted that no decision has been made on which of three bidders will be selected as buyer of the rail line.

Richard I. Kilroy, president of the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, told reporters that his union is opposed to a Norfolk Southern purchase and that the same position has been taken by three other union leaders involved in Conrail negotiations.

Kilroy is part of a five-member labor task force that has been negotiating with the bidders for Conrail.

Only One Holdout

“I can say unequivocally four of the five members of the task force are opposed to the Norfolk Southern proposal,” Kilroy said. He said the only holdout is Fred Hardin, president of the United Transportation Union, who “doesn’t want to take a position.”

But Larry Freeman, a negotiator for the labor task force, said in a statement that negotiations are still under way with each of the bidders and that the task force “has not yet reached a decision” on whom to support.

Kilroy said he favors a proposal by Conrail Chairman L. Stanley Crane calling for the railroad to be sold through a public stock offering. Dole has opposed that suggestion.

“Despite intensive negotiations with the Norfolk Southern, we have been unable to reach an agreement that fairly protects Conrail employees,” Kilroy told a news conference.

The four unions Kilroy cited as opposing the Norfolk Southern acquisition--the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Maintenance of Way Workers, the Transport Workers Union and his own--represent about 19,000 of the 35,000 union employees at Conrail. Hardin’s union represents about 7,900, with the rest spread among nearly a dozen smaller unions.

Formal Recommendation

The labor task force is scheduled to make a formal recommendation next week to the Railway Labor Executives Assn. on which of the four proposals the 16 unions that represent Conrail workers should endorse.

The government owns 85% of Conrail, a freight railroad that stretches across 15 states from the Northeast to Missouri. It was created by Congress and began operation in 1976 after the bankruptcy of the Penn Central and six smaller rail lines left the region without major rail service.

Dole has said she is close to making a selection from among three bidders: the Norfolk Southern; the Alleghany Corp., a New York holding company, and an investor group headed by hotel executive J. Willard Marriott. That recommendation will be submitted to Congress, which must approve any sale.