Announcement of the Establishment of Emergency Board To Investigate a Railway Labor Dispute

The President announced today the creation of Presidential Emergency Board No. 193 to investigate and make recommendations for settlement of a current dispute between the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH) and certain of its employees represented by the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of the United States and Canada (BRC). The President, by Executive order, created the Emergency Board on recommendation of the National Mediation Board.

A strike against PATH threatens substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive a section of the country of essential transportation service. PATH normally handles between 150,000 and 160,000 passenger trips each weekday between New Jersey and New York City, which conveyance represents 75 percent of all rail travelers entering New York from New Jersey; the other 25 percent is carried by Conrail services.

Although it appears that a tentative settlement has been reached in both the New York City transit dispute and the Long Island Rail Road negotiations, those settlements must still be ratified by the unions' membership, and full service may or may not be immediately restored. The impact of a PATH work stoppage would contribute to serious transportation disruption in the metropolitan area.

Consequently, the President invoked the emergency board procedures of the Railway Labor Act, which in part provide that the Board will report its findings and recommendations for settlement to the President within 30 days from the date of the Executive order. The parties must then consider the recommendations of the Emergency Board and endeavor to resolve their differences without engaging in self-help during a subsequent 30-day period.