Background Information Regarding Strike Aversion and PEB

The BLET, along with 10 other rail labor unions representing 75% of all rail workers at major U.S. railroads, have been in an ongoing dispute with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee over wages and health care benefits since early 2009 when negotiations began for a new collective bargaining agreement. The main sticking point has been the issue of health care benefits for rail workers and their families. The carriers want to shift health care costs to those members and their families who get sick – in other words, those who can least afford it. The United Transportation Union reached a tentative agreement with the carriers in June; however the other rail unions have rejected the deal’s wage and health care terms. The UTU agreement includes a 17 percent wage increase; however it also includes huge concessions in health care benefits for its members. Under the UTU agreement, their members will pay a larger share of each health care service and includes new programs that will lower the quality of health care by transferring selection of prescription drugs from one’s doctor to an insurance company. The carriers have called the UTU deal a “pattern agreement” that the other crafts must accept; however, the BLET and the other rail unions find this unacceptable given the record profits that the railroads have enjoyed in recent years.

The National Mediation Board had overseen the rail negotiations for over a year and, on September 6, 2011, the Board released the BLET and the other unions from mediation, thereby triggering a 30-day cooling off period, which expired on October 7, 2011. According to the Railway Labor Act, self-help would be available to the parties (i.e., the unions could strike or one or more of the carriers could order a lockout, or a unilateral promulgation of carrier Section 6 notices could occur) if President Obama failed to issue a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB).

During the 30-day cooling off period, the BLET activated its mobilization network and conducted a strike authorization vote on those railroads where the dispute exists and the BLET has representation rights for their craft. After the votes were counted on October 3, BLET National President Pierce announced that an overwhelming 97 percent majority of BLET members voted to authorize the strike. Locomotive engineers were prepared to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. EST on October 7 if President Obama did not appoint a PEB.

On the afternoon of October 6, 2011, President Obama announced that Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 243¹ had been established to investigate and propose a solution for settlement between the NCCC and the six rail unions remaining (those who comprise the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition²) in the dispute. The five-member PEB now has 30 days to issue their recommendations to President Obama. At the conclusion of that 30-day period, another mandatory 30-day cooling off period will begin while the two sides consider the PEB recommendations and seek a voluntary settlement based on those recommendations. If no settlement can be reached during that cooling off period, which ends at midnight on December 5, the parties are again free to engage in self-help. At that point, Congress can step in and impose a third-party settlement on the involved carriers and their unions.

1. The members of PEB No. 243 are: Ira F. Jaffe, Chair; Roberta Golick; Joshua Javits; Gil Vernon; and Arnold Zack.

2. The RLBC is comprised of: Teamsters Rail Conference members, the BLET and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers of the Service Employees International Union; and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.