Nothing But Trouble

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, a dwindling union that takes in annual dues totaling $612,000, was bringing on troubles it could ill afford. Its outlaw strike against eight U.S. railroads elicited a contempt citation from U.S. District Judge Alexander Holtzoff in Washington, who ordered the brotherhood to meet a return-to-work deadline or be fined $25,000 a day. Only after the four-day walkout ground to a halt last week did the full magnitude of the railway union's troubles come into focus.

As a starter, it appeared that the brotherhood had missed the deadline by several hours; so the railroads decided to press Holtzoff to levy the threatened fine. In Georgia, a federal judge who had imposed his own deadline went ahead and fined two union officials $25,000 each. The railroads meanwhile were plotting damage suits on losses that could total up to $20 million. Nor did the union win any concessions on the issue over which it had struck: its demand for the restoration of 18,000 firemen's jobs eliminated as obsolete under a federal arbitration ruling. Said Railroad Negotiator J. E. ("Doc") Wolfe: "That issue has been permanently laid to rest."

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