CONGRESS INTERVENES IN STRIKE; CONTRACT MAY BE LAST ONE ON NATIONAL LEVEL

SCOTT CITY -- Congress voted Wednesday night to put a quick end to the nationwide strike by 235,000 rail workers that threatened an already weak economy and left area rail employees walking the picket lines in Scott City, Chaffee and Cape Girardeau.

A bill establishing a new emergency board to resolve the remaining disputes and impose a settlement in 65 days was approved under special parliamentary procedures without dissent by the Senate after passing the House 400-5. President Bush was expected to sign the bill.

The general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for the St. Louis Southwestern "Cotton Belt" Railroad predicted Wednesday that "revolutionary changes" are ahead for the railroad and its employees when the current nationwide strike is resolved.

"This may be the last contract under old work rules and negotiations on a national level," said D.E. "Gene" Thompson. "I believe this is the last contract that will be settled on the national level. The next time contract talks are held, they will be handled individually by each railroad."

Thompson also predicted the day may not be far away when locomotive engineers, conductors, and brakemen become salaried employees, thus eliminating millions of dollars in expense to the railroad and time consumed by employees while using a complicated method to compute their pay.

Thompson made the predictions during an interview Wednesday as railroad employees walked the picket line at the Cotton Belt rail yard in Scott City, and at Burlington Northern Railroad facilities in Chaffee and Cape Girardeau.

The nationwide rail strike entered its first full day Wednesday, prompting the quick action by Congress.

Freight trains ground to a halt Wednesday in the first nationwide railroad strike in nearly a decade, halting rail shipping of everything from coal to car parts and interfering with most Amtrak trains and some commuter services.

In El Segundo, Calif., a freight train blocked an intersection for nearly 30 minutes after its crew stopped the train and walked away, police said.

But freight trains continued to move after the walkout started at 7 a.m. Wednesday in Cape Girardeau, Chaffee and Scott City. Union officials explained that train crews that left their terminals before the strike began were instructed to bring their trains in to the next terminal.

Congress and the Bush administration sought a quick end to the strike, with talks focusing on a cooling-off period that would allow a new emergency board to make recommendations for settlement on a contract to replace one that expired in 1988.

Freight carriers and unions scheduled no new talks after last-ditch bargaining failed to produce a settlement before the midnight Tuesday expiration of an initial cooling-off period. The strike waged by eight unions and honored by three others against 10 companies, started at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

The strike was prompted by a labor-management dispute over wages, work rules and health care costs.

Thompson said the impasse that caused the current strike goes back to 1982 and 1986, when Congress stepped in and imposed a settlement on the unions.

"The carrier's position is, well, if Congress did it for us in 1982 and 1986, they'll do it for us again in 1991," he said. As a result, Thompson said, the railroads have not bargained in good faith for the past three years, "knowing that we would be forced to strike and that Congress will eventually force us to accept a settlement."

Thompson said the rail unions right to strike is only a toothless tiger. "Sure, we have the right to strike, but we do not have the right to conclude that strike. We do not have the right to decide our own fate," he said.

Commenting on the coming changes, Thompson said that under the present contract, the Cotton Belt and the Southern Pacific are part of a national negotiation committee that bargains on behalf of all the member railroads with the 11 rail labor unions.

Before the strike began, he said, talks were already under way between rail management and the unions for the Cotton Belt and Southern Pacific on the idea of withdrawing from the national negotiation committee. This would allow railroad management to negotiate "on the property" directly with their employee unions.

"Considering how things have gone during the last three contracts that Congress has stepped in and imposed a settlement, we believe this will be the last contract handled on the national level. After this, we'll handle the issues on the property," Thompson said.

Had it not been for the strike, Thompson said the change could have already taken place.

"The carrier and the unions sent their proposals to each other as to what it would take to settle the issue," he said. "If the strike had not occurred, we would be meeting this week to finalize the change."

Thompson said the locomotive engineers do not oppose changes in the outdated way in which pay for the engineers and other crewmen is determined.

He explained engineers are now paid by the number of miles traveled and the weight of the locomotives on their driver wheels. Conductors and brakemen are paid by the number of miles traveled and the number of rail cars in the train. Both methods date back to the era of the steam locomotive.

"The present system is antiquated. It is based on the steam-engine day philosophy. If we're going to change it, and make the locomotive engineers salaried employees, based on the number of trips per month, or week, or half of that ... we're not opposed to it, and have told the Southern Pacific that," he said. "There is some reception to the change from the carrier. Given a chance, this change can take place (on the Cotton Belt-Southern Pacific).

"The locomotive engineers are in favor of it. I can't speak for the conductors and brakemen, but I'm sure if there is anything that can be done to cut down on the paper work, and stop the pay grievances, they would be receptive to it."

Thompson also said any further reductions in the size of crews should be based on attrition, not layoffs.

He said changes such as these will make the Cotton Belt and Southern Pacific a more viable, competitive and profitable railroad.

"Let's face it. We're not stupid. If the railroad doesn't make a profit, none of us will have jobs. If we can't provide the kind of dependable service the shippers expect and demand, neither union nor management will have jobs," Thompson said.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.