Union Walks Out Against Guilford Over Work Rules
Rail workers struck Guilford Transportation Industries Inc., the regional railroad company that last year weathered a strike in an effort to free itself from costly work rules.</br></br>Striking members of the United Transportation Union blamed the walkout on unsafe conditions. But F. Colin Pease, a vice president of Guilford, said the union is protesting the company's recent attempts to make significant improvements in labor productivity.</br></br>Although North Billerica, Mass.-based Guilford operates mainly in New England and is closely held, it has become a pioneer on labor issues. It has launched a campaign to confront the railroad industry's archaic, inefficient work practices and to change federal laws that perpetuate them.</br></br>When track workers struck Guilford in March 1986, the railroad assigned supervisors and nonunion employees to run trains with smaller crews and without expensive work rules. President Reagan two months later created an emergency board to look into the strike, but Congress imposed a settlement favorable to labor.</br></br>Guilford has since made other efficiency moves. Despite fierce opposition from labor, it has transferred much of its system to Springfield Terminal, a small Guilford subsidiary in Springfield, Vt., which employs members of the United Transportation Union but has flexible work rules and lower wages.