Rail Talks Break Down; Unions Set Walkout

By BOB BAKER

April 17, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES LABOR WRITER

Negotiations between a dozen major freight railroads and eight unions representing nearly 200,000 workers broke off late Tuesday night. Hours later, as a federally mandated 90-day cooling-off period expired, two of the largest unions said they would begin a strike at 7 a.m. local time today. The remaining unions were expected to follow.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans, ranging from auto workers to port managers to farmers, on Tuesday were girding themselves for business crises and massive job layoffs likely to occur if the strike lasts more than a few days. The nation’s freight rail system hauls 37% of the goods shipped around the country.

However, fears of a national economic disaster were mitigated by growing indications that Congress will order the strikers back to work by week’s end.

None of the unions went on strike immediately after the cooling-off period ended at 12:01 a.m. EDT today. It remained unclear whether unions, which represent engineers, brakemen, clerical workers and other crafts, will strike coast-to-coast or limit their stoppage to certain freight lines or certain parts of the nation.

“We do not apologize to anyone for what we have to do,” said Mac Fleming, president of the 55,000-member Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, in announcing strike plans.

No new negotiations were scheduled.

Earlier Tuesday, the White House, acknowledging that a strike was inevitable, formally called on Congress to rush through legislation imposing a settlement under the Railway Labor Act--the same process used to settle the last national rail strike in 1982 after four days.

The House subcommittee responsible for drafting such a bill scheduled a hearing for early this morning, with labor, management and Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner set to testify on the impasse. “Given the nature of the economy, it is important to act in a timely fashion,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Education and Labor Committee.

Many railroads planned to shut down as soon as picketing began. Others said that depending on union strike tactics, they may be able to continue partial operation with skeleton crews made up of supervisors.

One early casualty of the strike will be Amtrak’s San Diego-to-Los Angeles commuter line, which uses Santa Fe Railway tracks to carry 2,500 people daily.

The 70,000-member United Transportation Union, which represents conductors, brakemen and yardmen on the Santa Fe and other railroads, instructed its members to walk off the job at 7 a.m. today. The unions have said they would not interfere with commuter trains--part of their strategy to secure public support. However, Amtrak, citing safety considerations, said earlier in the week that it would not operate commuter trains on the tracks of any struck freight lines.

If not for a federal court order issued Tuesday, that same kind of policy would likely have caused a commuter nightmare in Chicago today, where 75,000 people commute daily on trains that operate on tracks owned or controlled by the freight railroads.

U.S. District Judge Sophia Hall ordered the Chicago & North Western Railroad to allow its workers to run commuter trains during a strike. The railroad, which had earlier declared its refusal to continue commuter service despite union promises of non-interference, promised to abide by the ruling. In response, three other Chicago-area freight railroads also agreed to continue running full commuter schedules.

Chicago’s regional rail authority, Metra, which sued Chicago & North Western, had been so concerned about the loss of commuter service in a strike that it had been urging commuters to plan their vacations for this week.

Another 25,000 commuters in San Francisco and Maryland still figure to be stranded by a strike.

Trains running on track owned by Amtrak and local commuter authorities are not involved in the labor dispute and would not be shut down by a strike. These include most major commuter rail service in the Northeast, such as the Long Island Railroad, the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority and Amtrak service from Washington to New York.

The labor dispute that crested Tuesday night began three years ago, when bargaining first started on a new contract for 235,000 rail workers represented by 11 unions.

Three of the unions, representing about 30% of the workers, tentatively settled with the railroads last week, but the others are deeply split on issues of pay and management demands to limit the size of train work crews and to make employees pay for a share of their health benefits.

The average freight rail worker makes nearly $50,000 a year, according to industry spokesmen. The union says the average is closer to $40,000.

A three-member board, appointed by President Bush, recommended settlement terms in January. Congress, which has used the Railway Labor Act to intervene in at least 11 rail labor disputes over the past 28 years, can impose those recommendations if it orders strikers back to work. However, Congress has other options. In ending the strike, it can require a longer cooling-off period, require binding arbitration or establish an advisory board to make new recommendations.

Railroad management has encouraged congressional intervention because it is comfortable with the presidential board’s recommendations, which limits wage increases to 10% over four years and requires that some employee cost-of-living increases be used to help management pay health costs. Unions contend the recommendations are too stingy. They want Congress to stay out of the dispute and let them use a strike to gain bargaining leverage.

Kennedy and several key Democrats who are considered allies of unions said Tuesday they would push for quick back-to-work legislation. That brought relief to the business community, which viewed a prolonged rail strike as disastrous to railroad-dependent industries such as automobiles, paper, lumber, steel, coal mining, glass, plastics and chemicals.

Transportation Secretary Skinner said Tuesday that the strike could cost the nation’s businesses more than $1 billion a day if it dragged on.

Up to a half-million workers in a variety of industries would be laid off in the first two weeks of a strike, according to government experts.

In Texas, where railroads haul tons of oil industry and petrochemical products, a strike could drain as much as $70 million a day from the Texas economy, industry officials said.

Thomas Hanna, president of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Assn., said 70% to 80% of manufacturing plants would be affected within 24 hours of a strike. Major auto makers warned they would begin shutting down some plants within two or three days because of greater dependence on more flexible production processes that keep inventories low.

United Parcel Service said it was warning customers to expect delays in shipments if there is a strike. A UPS spokesman said 35% of all its packages are transported by rail, mostly those delivered more than 400 miles.

Port managers were particularly anxious Tuesday. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, between 1/3 and 1/2 of all cargo containers moved through the port are carried by trains.

“It could be a real mess, no doubt about it,” said Al Fierstine, director of marketing for the Los Angeles port.

Paul Brown, the Long Beach port’s managing director, said even a brief strike could paralyze the port, with piles of cargo stacked on the docks and tons more backed up at sea. Meats and frozen food could spoil and consumers could see higher prices if steamship companies are forced to go to elaborate lengths to keep goods moving, Brown said.

Staff writers Eric Harrison, Faye Fiore, Greg Krikorian, Michael Ross and James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.

AT RISK IN THE RAIL STRIKE

H ow critical is rail to freight?

WHO CARRIES FREIGHT

Railroads: 37%

Trucks: 25%

Pipelines: 22%

Inland Ships: 15%

Airlines: 1%

WHAT IS CARRIED BY RAIL

Coal: 39%

Farm Products: 11%