Letter to Congressional Leaders Urging Enactment of the Emergency Public Interest Protection Act of 1970.

ON February 27, 1970, I proposed to the Congress enactment of the Emergency Public Interest Protection Act of 1970 to protect the public against the damaging effects of strikes in the transportation industry. Despite the high priority assigned to this proposal, there has been no action by the Congress to create an effective alternative to work stoppages in this vital industry.

Since I offered my proposal, two disputes involving the nation's railroads and labor unions have reached a crisis point. In the first of these, all mechanisms of the Railway Labor Act have been exhausted, and the nation this week barely averted a shutdown of the rail transportation system. If negotiations in the next two weeks prove to be fruitless and a strike occurs, the only remedy at hand will be special legislation by the Congress addressed to the specific issues involved in this case. In the second dispute I exercised last week the authority conferred upon me by the Railway Labor Act to delay work stoppages when essential transportation services are in jeopardy. I appointed an emergency board to investigate, thus achieving an automatic stay of action by parties to the dispute for a period of 60 days.

When that period ends, it is likely that the Congress will no longer be in session, and the nation's rail transportation might be totally halted. Once again events have revealed the deficiencies of existing legislation for handling labor disputes in the transportation industry. This is precisely the kind of situation I sought to prevent when I proposed emergency legislation seven months ago.

Now, I urgently ask the Congress to give immediate priority to my proposed Emergency Public Interest Protection Act so that in the future transportation services essential to the well-being of the American people will not be subject to the threats and strains of recurring crises.

Sincerely,

RICHARD NIXON