President Obama ordered a presidential emergency board to review a contract dispute between major U.S. railroads and most of their unions, Bloomberg News reported, averting the potential for a nationwide strike.
The widely expected move averts a possible nationwide strike that could have begun just after midnight by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which earlier voted to authorize a strike effective at 12:01 a.m. Friday unless the president intervened.
By creating a review board, Obama would put off any strike or lockout of workers by the freight railroads until at least early December.
That would put it past the peak rail shipping season that is now under way and lasts through autumn, but a major strike at any time could tip the fragile economy into recession.
The largest rail labor group, the United Transportation Union, previously agreed to a contract with the railroads. But train engineers, track workers and many others continued to negotiate for separate contract terms.
Although the White House has not yet announced the board, Bloomberg cited a source familiar with the action. Both industry and labor sources had expected Obama to intervene.
His PEB will have 30 days to report its findings about the contract dispute, but if the two sides reject the board’s recommendations they would face another 30 days of a cooling-off period before they could take labor actions against each other.
— Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/jboydjoc
