1962, the expanded Cuban embargo added to the woes. Labor conflict Having gained total control of the FEC by 1960, Ball sought to make the railroad profitable again by holding down wages and eliminating featherbedding. Despite the recommendation of a National Mediation Board convened by President Kennedy in 1962, Ball refused to grant FEC workers a 10-cents-an-hour raise, accepted by 192 other railroads, claiming that the FEC could not afford to raise wages. This led to a prolonged work stoppage by non-operating unions, beginning January 23, 1963, and whose picket lines were honored by the operating unions (the train crews). Because the strike was by the non-operating unions, a federal judge ordered the railroad to continue observing their work rules, while the railroad was free to change the work rules for the operating unions, who were technically not on strike and thus had no standing in the federal court regarding the strike. Ball's use of replacement workers to keep the railroad running during the strike led to violence by strikers that included shootings and bombings; a number of freight trains were derailed or blown up. Eventually, federal intervention helped quell the violence, and the railroad's right to operate during the strike with replacement workers was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. As the strike continued, the FEC took numerous steps to improve its physical plant, installed various forms of automation, and drastically cut labor costs. Most of the nation's other railroads did not match these achievements for several years; some still had not as of 2010. The strike continued until March 1, 1974, after a court-ordered settlement between the railroad and the unions. According to historian Burton Altman: After the settlement, workers were earning at least one dollar an hour less than their counterparts on other railroads. Wages were well below the industry’s scale and the work force had been cut in half. When the strike began, 1,600 walked out. In time, 900 went back to work on the company’s terms; others found employment elsewhere. Only about 100 stayed out until the end, and many of them could not return to work because they could no longer pass the required physical examinations or were too old to work. The end of the strike also ended their meager benefits that had enabled members to survive. After Ball's death in 1981, Raymond Wyckoff took the helm of the company on May