THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250349
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 70 lines
For the first time in more than a decade, the rail industry and its labor unions may have agreed on contracts without an economy-damaging strike and the intervention of Congress.
The last union reached agreement with the industry on a tentative contract a little after 9 p.m. Tuesday, three hours before the end of a cooling-off period mandated by President Clinton.
After midnight, the Transportation Communications International Union and its 32,000 members could have gone out on strike or been locked out by the railroads.
Any strike would have a devastating impact on the economy. A presidential panel has estimated that nationwide interruption in rail service costs the nation up to $1 billion a day.
The only unsettled issue remaining is a dispute between Conrail Inc. and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees.
The Maintenance of Way union reached a tentative agreement on Monday with other railroads including Norfolk Southern Corp.
The agreements with these unions and three others last week most likely avert the prospect of a damaging rail strike.
``That's good news,'' said David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern's chairman, chief executive and president. ``It's good news for labor; it's good news for the rail industry, it's good news for the economy; and it's good news for the country.''
The Norfolk-based railroad has 19,000 employees covered by collective bargaining agreements with 11 major unions. About 4,650 Norfolk Southern clerks, car men and dispatchers are represented by the Transportation Communications union.
``There really has been an improvement in labor relations in this industry,'' Goode said.
Now maybe management and labor can focus ``on the one thing that will make this industry grow, and that's customer service,'' he added.
There's still a slim possibility that the dispute between Conrail and the Maintenance of Way union could undercut the union's agreement with rest of the industry.
Negotiations between Conrail and the union continued Wednesday and the union has pledged not to strike before July 31.
The two sides are at odds over the issues of job stabilization and work rules.
``It would be insane to let these issues hold the national agreement hostage,'' said Joanna Moorhead, spokeswoman for the National Railway Labor Conference, the organization that represents most of the nation's railroads in labor talks.
Moorhead called the issues ``small, but I'm sure they're not small to the parties involved.''
Both Conrail and the union have said that they will make a strong effort to settle, Goode said.
The last time the railroads and their 13 major unions were able negotiate contracts without Congress intervening to stop a strike was 1984. Since then there have been two rounds of contract talks that ended in strikes and settlements imposed by Congress.
The latest round of talks began in November 1994. Several unions reached agreements this spring, including the large United Transportation Union and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
In May, President Clinton intervened in talks with five unions, appointing several Presidential Emergency Boards to avert threatened strikes and propose settlements. The 30-day cooling-off period required after those boards report ended at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The tentative contracts with the five unions were settled within the parameters set by the presidential panels, Goode said. MEMO: Bloomberg Business News and The Associated Press contributed to
this report. by CNB