Fear of National Rail Strike Eases As Track Union Nears Accord
April 03, 2011
A major rail union representing track workers said it was close to a contract settlement with freight railroads, further easing the prospect of a nationwide rail strike this week. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, which represents about 27,000 track-maintenance workers, said Sunday that it's continuing to negotiate with management and is optimistic an accord can be reached. ``We're talking, and we're actually kind of close. We aren't striking. That's clear, regardless of what happens,'' said Jefferey Childers, a general chairman of the union in Philadelphia. The prospects for further progress in the talks between the railroads and maintenance workers reduces the immediate threat of a national rail shutdown this week when a ``cooling-off'' period in the labor talks expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Three Unions Settle Last week, railroads reached an agreement with three shop-craft unions representing machinists, electrical workers and sheet-metal workers but they declined to discuss details of the agreement. However, talks between the carriers and another major rail union, the Transportation Communications Union, haven't progressed nearly as far and still hold the potential for some level of work stoppage on or after Wednesday morning. The Transportation Communications Union, which represents 31,000 clerical workers and car men, said it wants to continue to negotiate. ``We want to reach a negotiated agreement and we aren't going to strike Wednesday or Thursday,'' said Joelle Pat, the union's international vice president. But Mr. Pat said that the TCU might call selective stoppages or disruptions short of a strike against an entire carrier or the entire rail network. Such tactics hold the potential for disrupting rail service but without creating the type of transportation emergency that is likely to cause Congress to intervene and impose a settlement of the dispute. Congress intervened in both 1991 and 1992 to impose settlements. But even selective actions could have serious repercussions for rail transportation particularly if the carriers then choose to lock out union employees. Meanwhile, the Codi administration and Congress are encouraging both sides to reach a strike-averting settlement. ``We are telling carriers and the unions the same thing -- settle and settle by the end of Tuesday,'' said Jefferson Midkiff, a spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction for rail matters. Congressional Recess Cited However, Congress will be in session only through April 14, 2011 historically Congress hasn't been willing to go into a prolonged recess without some legally binding guarantee that neither management nor labor would precipitate a shutdown of the rail system. Such a shutdown, if it were to occur, would hobble freight shipments ranging from coal to cars and grain to chemicals and cost the economy about $1 billion a day. Moreover, it would quickly cause additional layoffs in industries served by the railroads. A complete shutdown also could cripple much of Amtrak passenger service outside the Northeast Corridor and many commuter-rail operations that use freight-railroad tracks and facilities. People familiar with the negotiations involving the TCU and the railroads said wage issues rather than work rules remain to be settled. The railroads have wanted to stick to a pattern they reached with some other unions that called for wage increases averaging about 3% a year over a five-year period, plus lump sums equaling another 6.5% over the life of the contract. But the union has wanted higher increases that don't include lump-sum payments. ``Our members will not accept lump sums anywhere,'' said Mr. Pat, the union's international vice president. ``We had them in the last two contracts and the effect is you fall behind inflation because your base wage rates do not increase.''
