Economy, finance and labor

Executive Order 13012: Establishing an Emergency Board To Investigate a Dispute Between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Their Employees Represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

President: Bill Clinton

Created a temporary emergency board for a SEPTA dispute with locomotive engineers that threatened commuter rail service in the Philadelphia region.

Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13012 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13012 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13012 do?

EO 13012 created Presidential Emergency Board 231 under section 9A of the Railway Labor Act to investigate a dispute between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers employees. The order triggered a statutory status-quo period while the board investigated and reported. The National Mediation Board records PEB 231 as closed on August 16, 1996. A later impasse in the same dispute produced PEB 232 in November, which closed in February 1997.

Administration position: The board investigated and recommended terms during a cooling-off period; it did not impose a permanent commuter-rail labor contract.
SignedJuly 18, 1996
BoardPresidential Emergency Board 231
PartiesSEPTA and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

Before and after

Before the order

Mediation had failed and an interruption threatened essential transportation in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

After the order

PEB 231 reported, and a later unresolved stage prompted a second statutory board.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Emergency boardInvestigate and reportWithin the section 9A period
SEPTA and unionMaintain the status quoDuring the statutory process

What happened next

EO 13012 created PEB 231.

PEB 231 closed.

A second board, PEB 232, was created.

PEB 232 closed.