
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991                   TAG: 9104140078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

RAILROAD TALKS ORDERED

Federal mediators called labor and management negotiators back to the bargaining table Saturday in an effort to head off a threatened mid-week Roanoke merchants not panicking. E1. nationwide railroad strike.

Ten unions representing a quarter of a million workers on the nation's major railroads will be free to strike when a federal "cooling off" period expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

National Mediation Board Chairman Josh Javits has threatened to force negotiators "to bargain around the clock for 24 hours a day if that's what it takes" to avoid a rail shutdown that he said would deal the economy "a significant blow."

Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner has said a two-week strike would idle a half million workers in key industries such as automobiles, paper, lumber, steel, glass, plastics, chemicals and coal mining, in addition to the 250,000 rail workers.

Skinner said Friday that if no agreement is reached this weekend, he will ask Congress to impose a settlement before a strike begins.

by CNB