Rail Talks Break Down; Congress May Intervene

Hundreds of thousands of Americans ranging from auto workers to urban rail commuters to port managers to farmers girded themselves Tuesday for an anticipated railroad strike that could create traffic chaos and massive job layoffs within a few days.

However, indications were building that Congress would order the strikers back to work by week’s end.

Last-ditch contract talks between unions representing nearly 200,000 rail workers and a dozen major freight lines broke up Tuesday evening, clearing the way for a strike at 12:01 EDT today, when a federally mandated 90-day cooling off period was to expire.

The White House, acknowledging that a strike was inevitable, formally called on Congress earlier Tuesday to rush through legislation imposing a settlement under the Railway Labor Act--the same process used to settle the last national rail strike in 1982 after four days.

The House subcommittee responsible for drafting such a bill scheduled a meeting for 8 a.m. EDT today. “Things are set so that legislation (imposing a settlement) could be on the floor of the House as early as late Wednesday night,” a Democratic congressional source said.

While unions representing engineers, brakemen, clerical workers and other crafts vowed to strike at midnight, it remained unclear whether they would strike coast-to-coast or limit their stoppage to certain freight lines or certain parts of the nation. Some railroads said depending on union tactics, they might be able to continue partial operation with skeleton crews made up of supervisors.

Union officials declined to discuss strategy. But it was learned that the Amtrak commuter line, which carries 2,500 people between San Diego and Los Angeles daily, would become an early casualty of a strike.

Union sources in Southern California said they had been told by their leaders to prepare to strike the Santa Fe Railway, which leases its tracks to Amtrak, at 7 a.m. today. Earlier this week, Amtrak said it would not operate commuter trains on a struck freight line because of safety considerations.

More than 100,000 people--75,000 of them in the Chicago area--commute each day on trains that operate on lines owned or controlled by the freight railroads. While unions have pledged that strikers would not interfere with commuter trains, several major railroads have said in past days that they would not permit commuter lines to operate during a strike, raising the specter of traffic chaos.

But in Chicago Tuesday, a federal judge gave most commuters a reprieve.

U.S. District Judge Sophia Hall ordered the Chicago & North Western Railroad to allow workers to run commuter trains during a strike. The railroad said it would abide by the ruling and three other Chicago-area freight railroads also agreed to continue running full commuter schedules.

Chicago’s regional rail authority, Metra, which sued Chicago & North Western, was so concerned about the loss of commuter service that it had been urging commuters to plan their vacations for this week.

Trains running on track owned by Amtrak and local commuter authorities are not involved in the labor dispute and would not be shut down by a strike. These include most major commuter rail service in the Northeast, such as the Long Island Railroad, the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority and Amtrak service from Washington to New York.

The labor dispute that crested Tuesday night began three years ago, when bargaining first started on a new contract for 235,000 rail workers represented by 11 unions.

Three of the unions, representing about 30% of the workers, tentatively settled with the railroads last week, but the others are deeply split on issues of pay, changes in work rules and increased employee health benefit costs.

The average freight rail worker makes nearly $50,000 a year, according to industry spokesmen.

A three-member board, appointed by President Bush, recommended settlement terms in January. Congress, which has used the Railway Labor Act to intervene in at least 11 rail labor disputes over the past 28 years, can impose such recommendations if it orders strikers back to work. However, in ending strikes it has other options. It can require a longer cooling-off period, require binding arbitration or establish an advisory board to make new recommendations.

Railroad management has encouraged congressional intervention because it is comfortable with the presidential board’s recommendations. Unions contend the recommendations are too stingy. They want Congress to stay out of the dispute and let them use a strike to gain bargaining leverage.

Several key Democrats who consider themselves allies of unions said Tuesday they would push for quick back-to-work legislation. That brought relief to the business community, which viewed a prolonged rail strike as disastrous to railroad-dependent industries such as automobiles, paper, lumber, steel, coal mining, glass, plastics and chemicals.

Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner said Tuesday that the strike could cost the nation’s businesses more than $1 billion a day if it dragged on.

Railroads deliver 37% of the nation’s freight. Up to a half-million workers in a variety of industries would be laid off in the first two weeks of a strike, according to government experts.

In Texas, where railroads haul tons of oil industry and petrochemical products, a strike could drain as much as $70 million a day from the Texas economy, industry officials said.

Thomas Hanna, president of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Assn., said 70% to 80% of manufacturing plants would be affected within 24 hours of a strike. Major auto makers warned they would begin shutting down some plants within two or three days because of greater dependence on more flexible production processes that keep inventories low.

United Parcel Service said it was warning customers to expect delays in shipments if there is a strike. A UPS spokesman said 35% of all its packages are transported by rail, mostly those delivered more than 400 miles.

Port managers were particularly anxious Tuesday. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, between 1/3 and 1/2 of all cargo containers moved through the port are carried by trains.

“It could be a real mess, no doubt about it,” said Al Fierstine, director of marketing for the Los Angeles port.

Paul Brown, the Long Beach port’s managing director, said even a brief strike could paralyze the port, with piles of cargo stacked on the docks and tons more backed up at sea. Meats and frozen food could spoil and consumers could see higher prices if steamship companies are forced to go to elaborate lengths to keep goods moving, Brown said.

Staff writers Eric Harrison, Faye Fiore, Greg Krikorian, Michael Ross and James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.

RELATED STORIES: A3, D2