BLET ends Wheeling & Lake Erie strike
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said its November 11 strike against Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway was resolved after the railroad agreed to honor contractual protections and stop using managers in place of union conductors.
In a statement issued that day, BLET National President Mark L. Wallace said members walked off the job at noon and the dispute was resolved without court intervention.
“The railroad agreed to honor our contractual protections and stop using managers in place of union conductors,” Wallace said in a statement.
According to Wallace, an earlier federal appeals court ruling involving W&LE provided the legal foundation for the strike. He said the court had determined that replacing union conductors with managers constituted a “major dispute” and violated the railroad’s obligation to maintain existing working conditions.
Wallace noted that the Railway Labor Act places strict limits on the union’s ability to strike, making the circumstances unusual.
“When we are legally able to exercise our right to strike to defend our agreements, we will not hesitate to do so,” he said.
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