Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991 TAG: 9104150276
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"A rail strike could potentially idle hundreds of thousand of workers and would affect virtually all Americans in one way or another," Bush told a business group at the White House.
Bush stopped short of indicating that he would ask Congress to intervene and head off the strike, saying, "It is always better for labor and management to resolve their differences and produce an agreement."
Still, the president clearly was seeking to exert pressure on both sides to head off the strike.
Most of the nation's 235,000 freight line workers have promised to walk off their jobs at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if no breakthrough in the 3-year-old dispute is reached. Wages and health benefits are at the heart of the disagreement.
Aides to Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner said Skinner was to meet with the unions today after marathon bargaining sessions convened over the weekend by the National Mediation Board proved fruitless.
Bush called the dispute "a situation which affects the entire country."
He said the strike "could severely disrupt the economy just as the economy in our view is trying to turn around and get out of this recession."
With Skinner at his side, Bush told the Association of General Contractors: "The rail industry is absolutely critical and it is critically important to the United States economy, moving more than a third of all goods shipped in the United States."
Bush noted that a board he had appointed eight months ago to recommend ways of ending the dispute had produced a report with "dozens of recommendations."
"Because of the potential economy-wide disruption, it would be prudent that all efforts and actions be taken to avoid the strike. And our administration is willing to work with the parties to help in any way possible," Bush added.
by CNB