ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230057
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Journal of Commerce
With one labor agreement nearly complete and last-minute negotiations continuing on another, prospects of a nationwide rail stoppage are receding.
The latest development was a partial agreement between the carriers and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, reached after a marathon session ended at 5 a.m. Monday. The BMWE deal with the carriers, represented by the National Carriers Conference Committee, hinges on resolution of job security issues for workers on Conrail. Meanwhile, separate negotiations resumed late Monday between the railroads and the Transportation Communications Union, the only other union without a new contract.
Though a work stoppage could occur as early as Wednesday, BMWE and TCU pledged in a letter to Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena there would be no job action before July30.
Contract talks have been tense because a 30-day cooling-off period that blocks a strike or lockout ends Wednesday morning. The cooling-off period began June 24, when three emergency boards, formed on direction from President Clinton, issued recommendations to resolve the 20-month-old contract disputes between major railroads and five unions.
Three unions representing shop workers settled last week, using the Presidential Emergency Board recommendations as a framework for a five-year agreement. Earlier, three other unions reached contracts with the NCCC member carriers: Norfolk Southern, Conrail, CSX, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe's two rail carriers, and Kansas City Southern.
Congress continues to weigh its options with no sign lawmakers would intervene provided rail service and contract talks continue.
During the last round of rail contract talks in 1992, Congress imposed a settlement after lawmakers decided a strike and subsequent lockout would constitute a massive threat to interstate commerce. Based on the direction of negotiations over the last 24 hours, Congress may be able to stay on the sidelines altogether this time.
The outstanding issue between BMWE and Conrail is whether a 1965 job security agreement applies to Conrail. The union says it does; the carrier says it doesn't.
Other portions of the BMWE agreement closely follow recommendations of the emergency board covering that union's issues, which offered a skill differential that the union was seeking.
The BMWE deal reflects the wage schedule carriers have portrayed as a pattern with other unions. That includes three years of 3.5 percent raises, two years of lump-sum payments, a cost of living increase and a signing bonus.
The TCU returned to the bargaining table late Monday after talks were suspended Sunday afternoon. Joel Parker, TCU vice president, said the carriers presented a proposal Sunday that could be the framework for an agreement.
The proposal was abruptly taken off the table.
According to Parker, the carriers offered to augment the TCU's emergency board report with wage provisions from the shop workers' agreement. The shop workers' agreement converted the lump sum increase into a smaller general wage hike.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB