Announcement of the Establishment of Emergency Board No. 212 To Investigate a Railroad Labor Dispute

September 12, 1986

The President announced today the creation of Presidential Emergency Board No. 212 to investigate and make recommendations for settlement of a continuing unresolved dispute between the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and certain labor organizations representing its employees.

The LIRR is a vital link in the mass transportation system of the New York City metropolitan area. Every weekday the railroad carries approximately 280,000 passengers. Over 60 percent of the people who work in Manhattan and more than 20 percent who work in Brooklyn use its service. In addition, the LIRR interchanges traffic with the Consolidated Rail Corporation providing freight service to Suffolk and Nassau Counties. The LIRR employs about 7,200 persons, 6,800 of whom are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Earlier, on May 16, 1986, the President invoked the emergency board procedures of the Railway Labor Act applicable to commuter railroads and created Emergency Board No. 210 to investigate and report on the same disputes. Emergency Board No. 210 investigated the issues and prepared a report and recommendations for settlement of the disputes. Following the release of the report and recommendations by Emergency Board No. 210, the parties unsuccessfully continued their attempts to resolve their differences. The statutory period allotted for this process expires at 12:01 a.m., September 14, 1986.

Section 9A(e) of the Railway Labor Act provides that a party to the dispute or the Governor of any State through which the service runs may request the President to establish a second emergency board if the dispute remains unresolved. Emergency Board No. 212 was created in response to such a request by a proper party pursuant to Section 9A(e) of the Railway Labor Act. The parties will now submit their final offers to the Board within 30 days, and the Board will report its selection of the most reasonable offer within 30 days thereafter. From the time a request to establish a board is made until 60 days after the Board makes its report, no change, except by agreement, may be made by the parties in the conditions out of which the dispute arose.

The following are the labor organizations involved in the current dispute:

ARASA Division, Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees

Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of the United States and Canada

Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL - CIO

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers

National Transportation Supervisors Association

Police Benevolent Association

Sheet Metal Workers' International Association

United Transportation Union

United Transportation Union -- Railroad Yardmasters of America Division