A court order and corporate decisions Tuesday spared thousands of Chicago-area train riders a commuters` nightmare: Most passenger trains should be running Wednesday.
Negotiations between the nation`s railroads and rail unions broke down, and strike pickets were expected to appear outside rail freight operations in Chicago and other cities by 7 a.m. Wednesday.
But a judge late Tuesday ordered the Chicago & North Western Transportation Co. to keep its three commuter lines here operating if the C& NW`s union employees report to run them, as they have promised to do.
Meanwhile, management of the Burlington Northern Railroad voluntarily accepted a union offer to continue its Chicago-area commuter runs.
Further, the public agency that operates the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend line agreed to a similar union offer that will keep commuter trains operating between Chicago and northwest Indiana.
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More than 70,000 people a day use the three railroads.
However, the news was not so good for the 4,000 people who ride the Metra Heritage Corridor and Norfolk Southern lines. Officials believed the strike would stop their operations.
Heritage Corridor crews are covered by contracts good through 1992, but the line runs on tracks owned by the Illinois Central Railroad. Striking IC maintenance workers are considered vital to the safety of the line`s operations.
Norfolk Southern management was reported to be willing to let its passenger trains operate here. However, the commuter line intersects with several other railroads, and it was not known whether workers from those lines would be available to operate switches and perform other necessary work.
But the displaced riders from the Heritage Corridor and the Norfolk Southern have the luxury of a variety of options, including use of the Burlington Northern.
Amtrak service in Chicago also is expected to suffer, with the loss of about 40 trains a day. However, 10 trains are expected to make their normal daily runs between Chicago and Milwaukee, and two trains a day still may be able to operate between Chicago and Minneapolis, an Amtrak spokeswoman said.
The mood of commuters shifted as word of Tuesday`s action filtered out.
Early in the day, commuters at North Western Station pointed fingers at union trainmen as riders faced a service shutdown. But by the evening,
”people were hugging us,” said trainman Tom Gilchrist, a 17-year C&NW employee.
One woman had tears in her eyes as she thanked a group of trainmen for staying on the job.
”We`re going to work for no pay,” Gilchrist said, ”but we`re 100 percent behind it.”
”The strike is over for us,” commented commuter Meredith Martin of Park Ridge as she waited for a train at 11:30 p.m. The unions are ”in it for the public relations, but motives don`t really matter as long as I get home.”
Meanwhile, Congress and the Bush administration were preparing to make any national strike a short one. Legislation ending a walkout could pass in one or two days, according to administration officials and Rep. John Dingell
(D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
A hearing before Dingell`s committee was scheduled for Wednesday.
The congressman hinted that it was likely a settlement would be imposed with terms similar to those advanced by a presidential emergency board. The board in January recommended terms to end a bargaining impasse between the railroads and union workers nationwide.
Union leaders, asserting that their disagreement was with the railroads and not passengers, announced that they would not target commuter operations in a strike. But the railroads, saying they feared sabotage and violence, indicated they would not allow commuter trains to run.
Among the most adamant was the Chicago & North Western, which refused to change its position despite the pleadings of Metra, the Chicago-area`s commuter rail agency.
In an unprecedented action, Metra filed suit against the C&NW Tuesday afternoon, asking the court temporarily to block a commuter service stoppage. The complaint charged that by interrupting service, the C&NW would breach a contractual agreement with the agency to operate passenger trains.
Circuit Judge Sophia Hall entered a temporary restraining order against the railroad a few hours later, citing ”irreparable damage” to Metra if the trains did not run. The order is in force for 10 days.
The railroad`s attorneys argued that vandalism has occurred during previous work stoppages, but James Foote, a C&NW spokesman, said the railroad would comply with the judge`s order if enough workers reported to work to operate the commuter service.
A union official said he expected no problems.
”I anticipate a regular, safe and full schedule of trains,” said Doug Davidson, head of the C&NW`s local branch of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Davidson said, however, that picketing would start at 7 a.m. at several Chicago-area C&NW locations where freight operations are located.
Metra Chairman Jeffrey Ladd had strong words for C&NW at a press conference before the suit was filed.
He scoffed at the railroad`s assertions that its workers might resort to violence or sabotage, saying, ”We think we perhaps know their employees better than they do.”
He also charged the C&NW with ”lack of corporate citizenship” by attempting to break its contract with Metra, and he asserted that the railroad was attempting to use the commuter service as a political trump card.
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”Everyone knows they are simply trying to leverage inconvenience to the commuter, regardless of the economic impact on their home state, into pressuring a reluctant Congress to legislate a solution on labor`s back,”
Ladd said.
Attempts to reach a C&NW spokesman for comment on Ladd`s remarks were unsuccessful.
National union leaders were ecstatic over Hall`s decision, believing it eased pressure on Capitol Hill to impose an unfavorable settlement.
The industry ”wanted Congress to see us as the villains,” said one union official.
After the decision, the Burlington Northern announced it also would continue to operate commuter service here.
”It`s our intent to provide the service that the public expects,” said D.J. Mitchell, assistant to the railroad`s chairman. ”Clearly that is subject to the availability of personnel, but we`ve received assurances that people will be there to work.”
Tuesday`s events promised to avert what some officials feared would be commuter chaos beginning with Wednesday`s morning rush hour. Only about 20,000 of the 75,000 commuters who faced a service stoppage could be handled on remaining Metra lines, and officials braced for major traffic jams and parking lot overflows.
”I`m relieved,” commuter Becky Schaper said at Union Station late Tuesday. ”I don`t believe they should be allowed to strike. They should just work it out at the table.”
”These guys haven`t had a raise in three years,” responded Barb Muelling of Aurora, who said she dates a train conductor. ”And you`re talking about inconvenience?”