(The following story by Joie Tyrrell appeared on the Daily News website on December 31.)
NEW YORK — Unhappy with the prospect of non-union labor moving trains within a Queens yard, the Long Island Rail Road’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has voted to authorize a strike within the next two weeks if the railroad allows others to operate trains within the maintenance facility.
Union general chairman Robert Evers said yesterday the railroad has authorized Canadian company Bombardier, which manufactured the LIRR’s new M-7 train cars, to move equipment in the Arch Street yard in Queens for work on the cars covered under warranty. He said the LIRR plans to start the work the second week of January.
Evers said that violates the contract the union has with the railroad and that “if and when a Bombardier employee moves an M-7 car anywhere on the property … engineers will walk off the job.” A wildcat strike by the engineers in 1995 stranded thousands of commuters.
“We received the letter and obviously it’s a labor matter and we will be meeting with the union,” said LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan. “We are certain our employees will abide by the law.”
The engineers are covered under the Federal Railway Labor Act, which permits strikes only after extensive mediation. Evers said, however, that the railroad would violate the law’s provisions if it allowed nonunion and uncertified Bombardier workers to move trains.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority earlier this month approved leasing the Arch Street yard to Bombardier to perform a retrofit program on the new M-7 cars. Commuters have complained that the cars sway and railroad officials have said that a retrofit program, covered by warranty, would correct the problem.
Evers said he understands that the work is under warranty and needs to be done.
“We don’t dispute the fact that they are entitled to enjoy the benefits of the warranty,” he said. “But there is nothing in their warranty that allows unqualified and uncertified people to move them on LIRR property.”
The union represents 440 locomotive engineers.