White House Statement on the Report of Presidential Emergency Board No. 216 To Investigate a Railroad Labor Dispute

October 26, 1988

On October 21, 1988, Presidential Emergency Board No. 216 submitted its report to the President concerning a dispute between the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

The three-member Board was established on September 9, 1988, by Executive Order 12650, at the request of PATH. The Board was chaired by arbitrator Arvid Anderson of Fort Myers, FL. Arbitrator Thomas N. Rinaldo of Buffalo, NY, and arbitrator Irving T. Bergman of Lawrence, NY, were appointed as members of the Board.

After a formal hearing and review of the written submissions and data, the Emergency Board made the following recommendations for settlement of the dispute between the parties. The Board suggested that the parties follow the wage pattern of 5 percent each year for 3 years accepted by six other unions on PATH (the United Transportation Union, the Transport Workers Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the American Railway Supervisors Association-Division of the Transportation Communications Union, and the American Train Dispatchers Association). The wage increases would be effective in each of the 3 years September 1985 to September 1987. The Board, after considering the other issues in dispute, recommended the granting of the Martin Luther King holiday, an improvement in meal allowances, and an improvement in major medical and group life insurance.