Statement by the President Upon Receiving Report of Emergency Board Investigating a Railway Labor Dispute.
I HAVE RECEIVED the report of Emergency Board No. 172. I established this Board on November 6, 1968, under the National Railway Labor Act, to investigate the dispute between the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Louisville & Nashville, Chicago Belt, and Illinois Central Railroads.
Under the National Railway Labor Act, the parties are not free to strike for an additional 30 days.
During this period, I urge the Brotherhood and the railway management to use every effort to resolve their differences through the free process of collective bargaining.
Note: The White House Press Office also made available the following information on the Board:
Emergency Board No. 172 today recommended to President Johnson that three railroads and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen "immediately resume negotiations on their respective properties in a conscientious attempt to resolve..." their disputes over the number of conductors and brakemen to be used on train crews.
Appointment of the Emergency Board on November 6 ended a 101-day strike against the Belt Railway Company of Chicago and a one-day stoppage of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The appointment also postponed any strike against the Illinois Central Railroad.
The Board members--Monsignor George G. Higgins, Chairman, and Byron R. Abernethy, and A. Langley Coffey--concluded after extensive examination of the hearing record "That the parties have not, as the Railway Labor Act contemplates . . . bargained responsibly and creatively in a conscientious attempt to resolve these disputes for themselves."
The Board pointed out that 85 of the Nation's major railroads and switching and terminal companies or their divisions had adjusted and settled their own crew consist disputes without outside intervention at the time the Board's hearings were held.
The Emergency Board set forth in its report eight suggestions to assist the carriers and the Brotherhood in their negotiations.
The Emergency Board was established by Executive Order 11433 of November 6, 1968 (4 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1578; 33 F.R. 16379; 3 CFR, 1968 Comp. p. 140).
The President's statement was released at Austin, Texas.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Receiving Report of Emergency Board Investigating a Railway Labor Dispute. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236454