Hotline #714-A

President Bush appointed a Presidential Emergency Board yesterday to prevent an Amtrak strike this weekend. The National Mediation Board had announced it could not settle outstanding contract disputes in early March, which started a 30-day clock ticking through April 3. The board has 30 days to recommend settlement terms and then management and labor have 30 more days to accept or reject the terms. Therefore, no strike can happen legally before May 31. If there is a strike, Congress may elect to step in and legislate a settlement, as they did a year ago with the freight railroads. Two other Emergency Boards were appointed yesterday -- one for Conrail and its unions still without contracts, and one for the Machinists union, which was not part of last year's strike. Amtrak has new contracts with 54% of its unionized workforce.