The 1992 United States railroad strike was a strike by railroad employees between June 24 and June 26, 1992. The strike was launched by the International Association of Machinists, a union representing employees of

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

. Due to the interconnectedness of the United States railroad system, the strike caused railroads across the country to shut down their operations. The impact of the strike and subsequent shutdown was so severe that the federal government swiftly intervened to end it. The House and Senate passed a bill on June 26 banning both strikes and lockouts, which was then signed by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

the same day.

Background

In June 1992, tensions were high between railroads and organized labor. A number of unions threatened to launch a strike if their demands were not met by the end of the day on Tuesday the 23rd. However, most unions agreed to extend their deadline amid negotiations with railroads such as Amtrak and

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

. Early newspapers on the morning of Wednesday the 24th ran headlines reporting a potential strike by Amtrak employees had been averted. President Bush warned ahead of a potential strike that because of the potential for extreme disruption to the nation's economy, "it ought to end the day it begins".

The strike

The strike began just after midnight on Wednesday June 24. It was launched by the International Association of Machinists among members who worked for

. The union defied the extension of the strike deadline, and no other unions joined in the strike as a result. Even though the strike was confined to just one railroad, 40 railroads in the United States all responded by halting their operations, which unions said was an attempt by the railroad industry to force government intervention in the strike by instituting a lockout. As a result of the strike, virtually all freight railroad transport ceased at once. Passenger service along freight lines was also suspended. The only trains that continued operating were passenger trains on lines owned by Amtrak or other passenger railroads. Service along the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

was largely unaffected by the strike, as Amtrak owned the railroad line in question. The Bush administration asserted that the strike and its effects cost the nation $1 billion per day as a result of lost wages and industries that relied on rail transport being forced to shut down.

Government intervention

Congress reacted rapidly to the strike and subsequent industry lockout. In what the Los Angeles Times described as "with rare speed", the House and Senate both passed a bill in the evening of Thursday June 25 which contained a ban on both strikes by railroad workers and lockouts by railroads against their employees. The bill was passed shortly before three Amtrak unions had threatened to begin a strike, with a deadline of 12:01 AM Friday morning set for a walkout to begin. President Bush signed it into law shortly after it cleared both chambers of Congress. The law created by congress required mandatory arbitration in disputes between railroads and their employees.

Reactions

A number of members of Congress criticized the bill as being unfriendly to workers. Representative Pat Williams of Montana described the bill as "a fundamental mistake that will haunt railroad workers for decades". In the Senate, Howard Metzenbaum reacted to the bill by saying, "Workers are getting the short end of the stick". Other members of Congress asserted that the magnitude of the railroad shutdown demanded immediate action, including those traditionally perceived as being pro-labor. Defenders of the bill included senator Ted Kennedy and representative Al Swift. The latter defended the bill, saying "It's a new idea and it treats organized labor better than anything Congress has ever done before."

Alexander Cockburn Alexander Claud Cockburn ( ; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together ...

harshly criticized the government response in an op-ed, asserting that "capital has gone on strike" and comparing it to Italian Fascism.

References

{{Reflist Rail transportation labor disputes in the United States 1992 in rail transport 1992 labor disputes and strikes June 1992 events in the United States 1990s strikes in the United States

Background

The strike

Government intervention

Reactions

See also

References