DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080427

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ANICK JESDANUN, ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   47 lines

UNION LEADERS VOW TO FIGHT BREAKUP OF CONRAIL

Union leaders promised Tuesday to fight a $10 billion plan to carve up Conrail, saying employees' lives are at risk as railroads get bigger and the potential for mishap increases.

At an executive meeting of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, union leaders adopted a resolution opposing a proposal by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. to take over Conrail lines and control virtually all rail traffic east of Kansas City.

Labor is concerned that the two companies project eliminating 2,000 job positions nationwide, but it also is worried that the East will be plagued with the type of safety and service problems that followed consolidations of Western railroads.

``It's a shift,'' said Dan Pickett, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, which wrote the resolution. ``We're seeing, as each merger gets approved, the emphasis has to shift to what happens after the merger.''

The proposed deal, under review by the federal Surface Transportation Board, follows a pair of major mergers in the West, including one last year between Union Pacific Corp. and Southern Pacific Rail Corp.

The Federal Railroad Administration is taking the unprecedented step of setting up shop at Union Pacific headquarters to monitor safety because of violations found after a string of crashes over the summer that killed seven people.

The combined railroad also has faced mounting service complaints from shippers, prompting the Surface Transportation Board to schedule an Oct. 27 hearing on rail traffic in the West.

Pickett stressed that organized labor was not questioning the companies' commitment to safety. Rather, he said, problems were inevitable as work crews get used to new territories and new supervisory cultures. Those problems, he warned, could lead to injury or death.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Robert Fort said: ``We're giving every assurance to the STB that safety and service is what this transaction is going to be about.''

CSX spokeswoman Kathy Burns said her company has been meeting with Union Pacific officials ``to learn from them about the challenges they had to overcome.''

In addition, CSX has hired a pair of Conrail executives and plans to retain Conrail's operating rules and procedures along the routes CSX will take over to ensure a smooth transition.

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