Mr. JAVITS. We are at 14th and K Street, in what is called the Passport Office Building, or people know it as that. That is where people go to get passports. The State Department's office is there. Senator HARKIN. I understand your lease expires this year and you are planning to move to a different location. Where are you going, and what is the status of that?

Mr. JAVITS. I believe our fate is in the hands of GSA as to where we will be going, but we intend to be in Washington, preferably in downtown Washington, since that is where the parties tend to congregate and we are an agency that has considerable interaction with the parties we deal with.

In addition, we have an office in Chicago which arbitrates minor disputes and railroad grievances under the Railway Labor Act and is headquartered in Chicago. However, because our computers are located in Washington, DC, and we have centralized much of the clerical duties associated with grievance handling, we intend to bring much of that activity to Washington, DC, when we move. Our lease is up next summer, the summer of 1992, and we hope to move at that time.

Senator HARKIN. Mr. Javits, thank you very much. Do you have anything else that you want to give us a heads-up on that might be coming up in the next year?

Mr. JAVITS. If we get by the railroad problem we should have relatively clear sailing except for the fact that the industry, as I say— the airline industry-is in such economic trouble that it is a constant source of work and attention to us. It is a tough time for the transportation industry and we are certainly seeing the fallout, but we appreciate the committee's support and we will do our best to keep stability in the two industries.

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE

Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much. There will be some additional questions which will be submitted for your response in the record.

[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but were submitted to the Board for response subsequent to the hearing:]

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE

NATIONAL BARGAINING

Mr. Harkin: It seems that some of the most contentious issues throughout this round of national bargaining have been health and welfare issues, just as they were back in the 1984-85 round of bargaining. What specific steps did the Board take to ensure that there would be timely resolution of these benefit issues?

Mr. Javits: The health and welfare issues in this round of national railroad bargaining are, in part, those that had been left unresolved after the 1984-85 round of bargaining. Those cases are identified by NMB case numbers.

In the negotiations of this current round, the parties agreed that the health and welfare issues would be resolved in this round. The parties also agreed that the health and welfare issues were included in the resolution of negotiations of wage and rule issues. The health and welfare issues were the first issues addressed in mediation and, with the agreement of the parties, were the first issues addressed by the Presidential Emergency Board. Full resolution of the health and welfare issues is expected as a result of the mutually agreed to process for resolving this round's disputes. At the present date, three unions have agreed to full settlements with the carrier including health and welfare issues. The parties may engage in self-help as of 12:01 a.m., April 17 if the remaining eight unions have not come to agreements.

SPECIAL BOARDS

Mr. Harkin: Over the past few years, the NMB has attempted to reduce the caseload and increase the possibility of cost-savings through periodic reviews of the existing Special Boards of Adjustment. One of the new ways you are suggesting to reduce the number of incoming cases is through a pilot program to test the viability of a special tribunal in 1992. Can you describe this project and also elaborate on the other ways you have attempted to increase the effectiveness of the Special Boards of Adjustment?

Mr. Javits: The pilot program proposed for 1992 attempts to reduce the number of incoming cases by creating a special panel for deciding the more difficult issues. As proposed, this pilot program would require the parties to sign an agreement prior to filing a claim to be heard by a three-arbitrator panel. The agreement would provide that, if the three arbitrators issued a unanimous decision, that decision would establish a precedent between those two parties on the issue or issues involved, which would be in force until the collective bargaining agreement would be amended.

This pilot program is designed to complement the on-going NMB programs that encourage parties to consolidate claims and resolve issues on their own. Currently, the NMB requires that the parties

number and code all cases before they are submitted to a section 153 tribunal. This has forced the parties to meet, discuss, and group cases by issue. As this process continues, it should reduce the number of claims filed and expedite the decision process.

When the last phase of NMB's database project is completed, the additional information on issues and their disposition will also help the parties resolve disputes. The Board will use the subject and decision codes to provide the parties with an issue index, which can be used as a basis for deciding claims without resorting to binding arbitration.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Mr. Harkin: What improvements do you expect to see in the future when the last phase of the database project is completed in 1991?

Mr. Javits: When the last phase of the database project is completed the NMB will have the ability to track all arbitration cases filed under section 153 of the Railway Labor Act from filing through final disposition. This complete tracking of cases as they move through the arbitration process has not been possible before.

The NMB's automation system has improved management control of the railroad grievance adjustment program. Heretofore, the Board and the parties had no accurate data on the number or identity of the cases in the system. The automation system helps the parties to manage their own grievance settlements more efficiently. Using an issue index (developed by the NMB with the cooperation of the parties), the parties can identify cases with similar or identical issues. These cases can be grouped and resolved as one case, which may be used as a precedent. This consolidation process, facilitated by the NMB's issue index and case tracking system, will eliminate the need to arbitrate each case.

Mr. Harkin: Although the Board's information systems improvement effort was not classified as a "major" system acquisition when it began in 1990, I am interested in hearing how your automation plan allowed the Board to increase the efficiency of its operations. What have been the measurable benefits of this upgrade to date?

Mr. Javits: The Board's operations have been enhanced in several ways by its automation efforts. Areas of measurable benefits involve: the mediator scheduling system, which is used to track cases docketed by the Board and improve mediator utilization; the Federal Financial System (the standard general ledger) which the Board has accessed through timesharing with the U.S. Treasury; and a local area network which the Board has installed to improve office/field communications.

The area of greatest benefit has been the tracking of railroad grievance cases. Through our automation efforts, the parties have been able to identify and go forward with significant railroad grievance cases and to withdraw a large number of claims that involve issues similar to those already resolved or under review.

Automation has helped improve the efficiency of other NMB operations as well. The NMB was one of the first agencies to use integrated communications systems to facilitate communications both externally (with systems at the offices of airlines, railroads, unions, and law firms) and internally. Voice messaging simplifies internal communications without the limitations of time-of-day, dayof-week, time zones, and locations of staff. The Board has also been at the forefront of end-user computing through the widespread use of

PCs.

Other topics on the Board's agenda for office automation include: creation of a network facsimile capability to provide direct computer access to the fast-growing area of fax communications; automated telephone call management; desktop publishing; and end-user database management.

ADJUSTMENT OF RAILROAD GRIEVANCES

Mr. Harkin: I see that you have requested approximately $1.6 million to fund the National Railroad Adjustment Board whose members are required to hear and settle disputes involving railroad employee grievances. Over the past few years, the Board has attempted to streamline the grievance adjustment process by gradually implementing the suggestions of a bipartisan committee that was created in the mid1980's to advise the Board. Why, then, are we seeing neither a decrease in the number of cases pending at the end of a given year nor a smaller budget request for this set of activities?

Mr. Javits: The request of $1.6 million will finance salary and travel for arbitrators working on the three tribunals: the National Railroad Adjustment Board, Special Boards of Adjustment and Public Law Boards. The total railroad grievance cases pending before the tribunals at the beginning of FY 1990 was 16,885 and 10,752 were pending at the close of FY 1990, a decrease of 36% in the pending backlog. This backlog reduction was in addition to 4,589 cases resolved by the referees.

The budget request has not been reduced so that prompt disposition of disputes can be continued, as required by the Railway Labor Act. Unfortunately, although more cases have been more inexpensively and more speedily resolved each year, the total number of cases filed for adjustment, the filing of which the Board does not control, have not appreciably decreased during the past five years.

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

STATEMENT OF GLEN L. BOWER, CHAIRMAN

ACCOMPANIED BY:

ANDREW F. REARDON, MANAGEMENT MEMBER

JAMES C. BOEHNER, ASSISTANT TO THE LABOR MEMBER

BUDGET REQUEST

Senator HARKIN. Next we will hear from the Railroad Retirement Board. The Board has the responsibility of administering railroad retirement benefits and unemployment and sickness benefits. In accomplishing that mission the Board pays over $7 billion each year in benefits.

The fiscal 1992 budget request is $315 million for the dual benefits account, $74 million for limitation on administration, $17.2 million for limitation on railroad unemployment insurance and $13.9 million for a special management improvement fund.

I note that the Board is requesting that funding provided for the special management improvement fund be available through fiscal year 1996, and that a number of legislative proposals are included in the request submitted to this committee. These legislative proposals shortly will be addressed by the authorizing committee and not by the appropriations committee.

Mr. Glen Bower, the Chairman of the Board, is here today, and Mr. Bower, welcome to the subcommittee. Your statement will appear in the record in its entirety. Please proceed to summarize your statement.

INTRODUCTION OF ASSOCIATES

Mr. BOWER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Glen Bower. I am the Chairman of the Railroad Retirement Board. The Board's membership also includes Andrew F. Reardon, who is seated to my right and who is the management member, and C.J. Chamberlain, the labor member who is not present today but is represented by his assistant, Jim Boehner, who is seated to my left.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

I am pleased to be here today to present the administration's budget proposal for fiscal year 1992 for the Board. I respectfully request that the statement be put in the record as you have already indicated it will be.

During fiscal year 1990, the Board paid $7.2 billion in retirement and survivor benefits to about 950,000 annuitants and $95 million in unemployment and sickness insurance benefits to about 55,000 beneficiaries.