(The following story by Joie Tyrrell appeared on the Newsday website on January 27.)
NEW YORK — A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Long Island Rail Road engineers Wednesday night, preventing them from going out on a threatened strike.
Railroad officials sought the court order Wednesday to avert a strike by engineers who threatened to walk if the railroad used nonunion labor to move trains in a maintenance yard.
“We will respect the judge’s order,” said Vincent O’Hara, the engineers’ attorney. “But this is not over until they decide the merits of the case.”
Another hearing is set for Feb. 18, but the railroad can start using non-union labor to move the trains in the meantime. The judge’s action halted the strike before it happened.
Robert Evers, general chairman of the engineers union, said, “We respect the law, we continue to respect the law, and we’ll be guided by the judge’s decision.”
Brian Dolan, a spokesman for the LIRR, said the railroad also will pursue its position in court. “We’re pleased our customers are not subject to any strike threats and that normal operations on the Long Island Rail Road” will continue, he said. Dolan wouldn’t say exactly when Bombardier employees would start moving the equipment, except that it would be “very soon.”
Attorneys for both the railroad and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen argued in chambers for hours in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn before Judge Allyne R. Ross.
The union contends the railroad violated its contract by agreeing to allow employees of Bombardier, the Canadian M-7 train manufacturer, to move trains for warranty work at a maintenance yard in Long Island City.
However, the railroad argued that it has the right to use Bombardier employees to move trains in the Arch Street Yard under a warranty. The railroad leased the yard to Bombardier for the warranty work.
Wednesday the union also sought court action to stop the railroad from using the outside labor.
Evers said it qualified as a major dispute under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, which permits strikes only after extensive mediation.
Union attorneys said Wednesday the judge did not make a determination yet about whether the dispute was major or minor and that the issue would be heard on Feb. 18.
The railroad has requested that the issue go to arbitration, but Evers said the railroad also refused to meet with the union.
“Look at all the time that’s wasted when they could have met with us and worked this out,” Evers said at the courthouse Wednesday as the union’s attorneys continued to talk behind closed doors for more than four hours.
An illegal, one-day wildcat strike by engineers in May 1995 crippled the morning and evening commutes, stranding thousands before engineers were ordered back to work by a judge.
(Staff writer Emi Endo contributed to this story.)