White House Statement on the Report of Presidential Emergency Board No. 218 Concerning a Railroad Labor Dispute

On March 8, 1989, the report of Emergency Board No. 218 was submitted to the White House. This Board, which was created on January 6, 1989, by Executive Order 12664, investigated a dispute between the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH) and certain of its employees represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The establishment and activities of the Board were governed by section 9A of the Railway Labor Act of 1926, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 159a. Its members were Robert J. Ables, Chairman; Herbert Fishgold; and Robert E. Peterson.

The same dispute was previously investigated by Emergency Board No. 216, and the task of Emergency Board No. 218 was to select the most reasonable final offer for settlement of the dispute proposed by the parties. The Board selected PATH's offer as the most reasonable. The main features of this offer are 5-percent annual wage increases over the 3-year term of the contract, the addition of Martin Luther King's birthday as a holiday, and increases in insurance coverage and meal allowances.