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              Congjressional                                                    ____
          ~ ~Research Service






President Forms Emergency Board to Resolve

Rail Labor Dispute



Updated July 18, 2022
Effective July 18, 2022, President Biden created a three-person Emergency Board to resolve a labor
dispute affecting six major railroads and many smaller ones. All three members are attorneys who have
served on prior Emergency Boards. Depending on what actions the board and Congress take, and the
ongoing bargaining between railroads and 12 unions, the dispute could still lead to a work stoppage later
this summer.
Negotiations have occurred against a backdrop of declining railroad employment, a trend that began well
in advance of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Since November 2018, railroad
employment has shrunk by some 40,000 jobs, or by over 20%, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Some of these job losses can be attributed to the decline in the transportation of coal, while
others may have been due to new approaches to staffing and asset use within the rail industry.
After more than two years of bargaining, the unions requested the assistance of the National Mediation
Board (NMB)-a   federal agency responsible for facilitating labor negotiations in the railroad and airline
industries-in January 2022. On June 17, the NMB announced that both sides would exit mediation
without a new contract in place. Since then, the parties have been in a federally mandated cooling-off'
period during which no action may be taken that would result in a work stoppage. If an Emergency Board
had not been formed, this cooling-off period would have expired after 30 days, after which the railroad
companies could have begun a lockout or unions could have gone on strike.


Overview of Rail Labor Law

Labor disputes in the railway and airline industries are governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA). If a
dispute is not settled through RLA-prescribed negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and if the NMB
determines that the dispute threatens substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to
deprive any section of the country of essential transportation service, the law authorizes the President to
establish an Emergency Board to investigate and issue a report. The Presidential Emergency Board's
recommendations are not binding on the parties, and either party may reject them.



                                                                Congressional Research Service
                                                                https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                     IN11966

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