Gov't intervention deals blow to railworkers' strike

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CHICAGO-Congress, which has special powers over the rail industry, imposed a settlement on Sept. 9 ending the strike by United Transportation Union (UTU) members against the Chicago Northwestern (CNW) railroad.

While senators, congress members, and the CNW called the settlement a compromise, the imposed Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) findings gave the railroad all it wanteddealing a blow to rail labor as a whole.

As UTU General Chairman Don Markgraf said, "They put railway labor back 100 years and, consequently, the little man has been beaten down again through the corporations by the politicians."

The UTU, however, was not beaten by lack of militancy or solidarity, or by CNW's running trains with scabs. We were beaten by the strike-breaking role of Congress, which unanimously voted for the PEB with the active collaboration of the UTU international leadership. We didn't lose because of our own forces-but because we weren't allowed to use the force we have.

A new pattern for the industry Congress imposed the PEB finding drawn up by three "neutral" Reagan appointees after a strike deadline in April was postponed. The PEB terms, called horrifying by Markgraf, don't call for the reduction of crews—as is the pattern on the other major railroads-but for the elimination of the ground crew (700 immediately and the rest through arbitration by another "neutral" party) and the establishment of engineer-conductor crews.

The PEB grants no attrition, no job protection except first chance at the gate, no train-length limits, and no productivity pay. It offers only the elimination of jobs, and a $50,000 buy-out. Even that has a loophole, as the establishment of guaranteed extraboards allows the CNW to "regulate" the size of the workforce without paying a penny.

The PEB granted the CNW relief because, it claims, since it didn't have time to check on the railroad's finances, it would simply back them up.

But the Emergency Board and Congress weren't interested in knowing the special conditions of the CNW. They were setting a new pattern for the industry. Every major carrier will immediately be clamoring for equal concessions.

A candidate for union-busting For various reasons-the perceived weakness of its unions, its anti-labor reputation, and its sky-high debt-Chicago Northwestern was a good candidate to carry out the first broadside in the industry's union-busting campaign.

CNW threatened bankruptcy and breakup, although its August 1988 figures boast a 1000 percent increase in net income to $20 million in the second quarter, from $2 million a year ago. It carried out an aggressive campaign to recruit scabs, through Railfinders and its own ads, and bragged it would run 80 percent of normal traffic during a strike.

President James Wolfe said, "We're not going to back away." CNW waged a campaign to get other unions to scab. It attempted to get the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) to sign a "scab clause," an agreement to cross picket lines—which BLE members rejected.

CNW sent a ballot to all union and non-union employees two days before the August strike to vote on crossing the picket line. Only 49 out of 7000 ballots were returned.

As events unfolded, it became clear that the railroad was incapable of weathering any serious strike. In April, it was the CNW which appealed to Reagan to set up the Emergency Board. When the Board made its findings, the CNW had only to go 4 SOCIALIST ACTION through the motions of negotiation, confident that Congress would back it.

Congress backs the railroad On Aug. 4, Congress intervened to back the railroad. As the midnight deadline approached, Sen. Paul Simon (D.-III.) worked out a deal; the CNW and the UTU would postpone the rules change and the strike until 9 a.m. to avoid inconveniencing the commuters.

By the time pickets went up, Congress was already in session passing a cooling-off period, sending the union back to work. But Congress' command performance was still to come.

On Sept. 9, the CNW again delayed implementing its rules. The UTU didn't strike until 9 a.m., allowing the morning commuter rush and the day shift to go in.

Even though the postponements and the common belief that we were about to be ordered back to work discouraged some, the ranks wanted a serious strike. The papers said the Aug. 4 strike had cost the company $1 million. This one would be more effective, we hoped.

The PEB breezed through the Senate the night before, spearheaded by Sen. Simon, with unanimous bipartisan support. But the bill didn't come up in the House until the early afternoon. When news hit the radio that one congress member, Charles Hayes, had objected, a ripple of hope went through the picket lines. If the.objection stood, we were out till the following Wednesday.

Hayes's objection, however, lasted exactly 20 minutes. He'd had it "explained" to him again, and the vote for the bill was unanimous.

Five-hundred-thirty five members of the House and Senate, led by Paul Simon, Illinois co-chair of the Mike "good jobs at good wages" Dukakis campaign-followed closely by all the Kennedys, Quayles, Hydes, and Conyers-had all fallen into line to strikebreak.

"Friends of labor?"

This put to a clear test the bankrupt strategy-pursued for decades by the union's misleaders-of relying on the politicians instead of our own capacity to shut down transportation to defend ourselves. With one of the largest legislative departments of any union giving away thousands of dollars of members' money to candidates, the UTU had been unable to secure the vote of a single "friend of labor."

Congress members who experienced momentary electoral discomfort for voting OCTOBER 1988 Tina Beacock/Socialist Action against labor were given cover by the UTU international officers.

At the last UTU convention, while campaigning for re-election, President Fred Hardin had promised the moon and stars to the UTU members on the CNW, including the authority to extend the strike to secondary pickets, shutting down a railroad a day if necessary. But as the deadline approached, it became clear that the international mis-leadership would prefer any solution to an effective strike.

When asked at a regional UTU meeting to mobilize the national legislative department against the imposition of the PEB, Hardin refused, saying the state-legislative departments, scattered around the country, could lobby if they wished.

When asked about mounting an effective strike, Hardin said secondary pickets would only cause Congress to pass a law against them—which is like saying, the donkey won't get hit as long as it doesn't bray.

Why follow a suicidal course?

Why did the UTU international officers take this suicidal course when it will clearly be faced with the demands of every major railroad to match the terms of the CNW settlement?

In the first place, UTU members now have the right to vote on contracts. Any such outrageous settlement as the PEB would have been turned down flat by the UTU ranks. Imposed by Congress, no vote was necessary. Hardin's hands are clean.

Secondly, the only serious alternative to for list of 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, SF, CA 94110 accepting the CNW's demands would involve the mobilization of the membership to strikenot just for a few hours, and not just against the CNW, but against Congress. This would necessitate the mobilization of the union's members, and a mobilized and educated membership does not tolerate ineffective or treacherous leadership for long.

Many UTU members were frustrated when the bill passed and they were ordered to take down the pickets. As one member, Gerry Muntges, told the press, "Everytime we try to get something done, Congress steps in and kills it."

We must recognize our power! What happens on the CNW now depends on what happens on the other major railroads. It's clear we have the power to defeat the settlement, as even the short strike on the CNW demonstrated. While some say, the CNW didn't run trains because they expected the settlement, the opposite is true: The CNW had to get the settlement because they couldn't run trains. Unlike the airline industry, where PATCO was isolated and smashed, railroad unions have a strong tradition of solidarity. Even with very little maneuvering room, pickets in the brief strike were able to shut down the railroad from stem to stern for hours.

One can only imagine the electrifying effect it would have had if instead of pulling down the pickets, the union leadership had refused to recognize Congress' strikebreaking law.

Some UTU members compared the imposed settlement to the Polish government's suppression of Solidarnosc. The other side of that comparison is that the recent strikes in Poland offer a powerful example of how to answer undemocratic anti-union laws!

There will continue to be those who insist we must lobby more politicians. The unanimous bipartisan rush of the politicians to oppose us gives a deafening answer to this proposition. We can only rely on our own forces.

The treacherous role of the UTU International officers demands their replacement. But we need to assure that we don't get other "go-fers" for the railroads in their stead.

To do this, the rank and file of the UTU and the other railroad unions have to organize. We have to organize all those who agree that it is necessary for the unions to recognize the power we have in the strike weapon and that we are prepared to use it.

We have to organize to defend ourselves against the corporations, the politicians, and all those who would aid them in "setting back rail labor 100 years." And we must be organized to win the democratic control of the unions by the rank-and-file membership.

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workers work LInda Eber/Impact Visuals utoworkers

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