ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
NO NEW LABOR CONTRACTS have been agreed upon after months of negotiations.
A short national rail strike or lockout of union rail members looks like a possibility next month.
Months of negotiations between the nation's largest railroads and some major rail unions, including those representing clerks and workers who maintain track, have failed to yield new labor contracts.
Three special panels appointed by President Clinton are working toward a June 23 deadline to fashion agreements that will be acceptable to both management and labor.
But if those special "presidential emergency boards" fail to produce settlements - and there's reason to think they won't, given the acrimonious history of the talks - then the two sides will be freed after a 30-day, cooling-off period to pursue so-called "self help." In labor's case, that could be a strike,; for railroad management, it could mean an employee lockout.
Don't expect either situation to last long. Congress - rather than have the national economy crippled - traditionally intervenes quickly to put the railroads back to work with imposed contracts.
Susan Creswell, spokeswoman for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, said her union doesn't want a national strike. "We're interested in a good agreement for our members; that's what we're interested in," she said.
But the union's 30,000 members have voted to strike if need be, she said.
"Our members are angry," Creswell said. "They're real angry over the conditions that were imposed on them in the [1991] agreement." One part of that agreement that workers want changed gives the railroads the right to have track maintenance employees - the lowest-paid rail workers - work hundreds of miles from their homes and families for long stretches at a time.
The BMWE tried to gain leverage in the current round of contract talks by negotiating with each railroad separately rather than as a national group. That way, if talks failed with one railroad and a strike was called, the economic impact would be regional and Congress wouldn't be compelled to intervene.
But, in a ruling in late May, the union lost a federal court challenge to local bargaining by the railroads. The carriers "want Congress to impose their agreements; what we want is bargaining leverage," Creswell said.
Joanna Moorhead, a spokeswoman for the railroads, said the industry challenged the BMWE because the negotiations have been conducted on a national basis for the past 60 years and the union has an obligation to negotiate nationally under federal law.
And the railroads have no interest in Congress imposing a settlement, Moorhead said. "Everybody is better served if we can make a voluntary agreement," she said.
The BMWE's local strike vote was overwhelming, said Bill Tipton, assistant BMWE general chairman in Roanoke. Besides travel, union members are concerned about the railroad contracting out work to non-union companies, he said.
The Transportation Communications Union, like the BMWE, awaits the decision of a presidential emergency board and has asked for a $1,000 contract signing bonus and 4 percent raises effective Jan. 1, 1995, 1996 and 1997. That union represents 31,000 clerical workers and freight-car maintenance workers.
While compensation of chief executives of railroad companies has risen 30 percent since 1990, workers' wages have declined 10 percent, both counting the effects of inflation, said TCU President Robert Scardeletti. "The contract terms we seek are fair and just," he said.
Under the federal Railway Labor Act, railroad labor contracts never expire but periodically come up for renewal. The latest negotiations began Jan. 1, 1995, between 13 major unions representing 190,000 workers and the National Carriers' Conference Committee, which bargains on behalf of seven major railroads, including Norfolk Southern, and 28 smaller lines. As a whole, the railroads involved account for 85 percent of the nation's rail business.
So far, the railroads have agreements with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the United Transportation Union and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. The Signalmen's agreement is still being voted on by the union's membership through June 28. The UTU agreement, which covers brakemen, conductors and firemen, was rejected by the rank-and-file but its terms were imposed May 8 by a three-member arbitration board.
Norfolk Southern struck a separate deal with its engineers from the one agreed to at most other railroads. NS' engineers, who, according to the company, received average pay and benefits of about $60,000 last year, will have their future wage increases tied to the company's financial performance.
The 3,000 NS engineers will be paid on the same basis as the company's 4,500 non-union workers. They will receive a cost-of-living increase and be eligible for bonuses of up to 5 percent in 1996 and 1997 and up to 10 percent annually after that, if the company meets its financial goals, which are related to return on invested capital. NS Chairman David Goode has said the agreement will better align the interests of management and labor.
The major issues going into national contract talks last year were wages and job protections for unions and work rules and health care costs for the railroads. Wage increases included in the five-year agreements negotiated so far fall within the 15 percent to 20 percent range over the five-year life of the agreements.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB