On Monday the national railroad agreement brokered by the White House was rejected by members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) representing the smallest of the 12 craft unions in the industry. Although with only 500 members, this is the third union consecutively to reject the deal, following workers in the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) late last month. Momentum is clearly building for the defeat of the deal, with less than a week left in voting by 60,000 engineers and conductors, who have been the center of opposition. Moreover, a strike even by the 500 IBB members would be the equivalent of a national strike of 120,000 railroaders, because workers in other crafts would honor the picket line.
