Railway Labor Act
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The Railway Labor Act is a
Earlier laws
In 1877, protests broke out in Martinsburg, West Virginia when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut worker pay for the third time in a year. West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent militia under Colonel Charles J. Faulkner to restore order but was unsuccessful largely because of militia sympathies with the workers. The governor reluctantly called for federal assistance, which restored peace to Martinsburg but proved to be controversial, with many newspapers critical of the governor's characterization of the strikes as an "insurrection", rather than an act of desperation. One notable paper recorded a striking worker's perspective that he "had might as well die by the bullet as to starve to death by inches." A day after federal troops had restored order in Martinsburg, similar protests erupted in Maryland and spread to New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri. The strikes, which lasted six weeks, would come to be known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.[1][2]
Congress attempted to correct the shortcomings in the Erdman Act, enacted in 1898.[4] The Erdman Act likewise provided for voluntary arbitration but made any award issued by the panel binding and enforceable in federal court. It also outlawed discrimination against employees for union activities, prohibited "yellow dog contracts" (in which an employee agreed not to join a union during employment), and required both sides to maintain the status quo during any arbitration proceedings and for three months after an award was issued. The arbitration procedures were rarely used. A successor statute, the Newlands Labor Act of 1913, which created the Board of Mediation, proved to be more effective.[5] It was largely superseded when the federal government nationalized the railroads in 1917, after the US entered World War I. (See United States Railroad Administration.)
The Adamson Act, enacted in 1916, provided workers with an eight-hour day at the same daily wage they had received previously for a ten-hour day, and it required time-and-a-half pay for overtime work.[6] Another law enacted that year, amid increasing concerns about the war in Europe, gave US President Woodrow Wilson the power to "take possession of and assume control of any system of transportation" for transportation of troops and war material.[7]
Wilson exercised that authority on December 26, 1917.
The RLB soon destroyed whatever
Passage and amendment
The RLA was the product of negotiations between the major railroad companies and the unions that represented their employees.[10] Like its predecessors, it relied on boards of adjustment, established by the parties, to resolve labor disputes, with a government-appointed Board of Mediation to attempt to resolve those disputes that board of adjustment could not. The RLA promoted voluntary arbitration as the best method for resolving those disputes that the Board of Mediation could not settle.
Congress strengthened the procedures in the 1934 amendments to the Act, which created a procedure for resolving whether a union had the support of the majority of employees in a particular "craft or class", while turning the Board of Mediation into a permanent agency, the National Mediation Board (NMB), with broader powers.
Congress extended the RLA to cover airline employees in 1936.[11]
Bargaining and strikes
Unlike the
The RLA permits strikes over major disputes only after the union has exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures and bars almost all strikes over minor disputes. The RLA also authorizes the courts to enjoin strikes if the union has not exhausted those procedures.
On the other hand, the RLA imposes fewer restrictions on the tactics that unions may use when they do have the right to strike. The RLA, unlike the NLRA, allows
"Major" and "minor" disputes
The RLA categorizes all labor disputes as either "major" disputes, which concern the making or modification of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties, or "minor" disputes, which involve the interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements. Unions can strike over major disputes only after they have exhausted the RLA's "almost interminable" negotiation and mediation procedures. They cannot, on the other hand, strike over minor disputes, either during the arbitration procedures or after an award is issued.
The federal courts have the power to
The federal courts likewise have the power to enjoin a union from striking over arbitrable disputes, that is minor disputes. The court may, on the other hand, also require the employer to restore the status quo as a condition of any injunctive relief against a strike.
Major dispute bargaining is handled through the "Section 6" process, named for the section of the Act that describes the bargaining process. The railroad carriers have formed a coalition for national handling of Railway Labor Act bargaining under Section 6, named the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC). The railroad unions also form coalitions of various unions to increase bargaining power in the Section 6 process.[12]
Discipline and replacement of strikers
Carriers may lawfully replace strikers engaged in a lawful strike but may not, however, discharge them except for misconduct or eliminate their jobs to retaliate against them for striking. It is not clear whether the employer can discharge workers for striking before all of the RLA's bargaining and mediation processes have been exhausted.
The employer must also allow strikers to replace replacements hired on a temporary basis and permanent replacements who have not completed the training required before they can become active employees. The employer may, on the other hand, allow less senior employees who crossed the picket line to keep the jobs they were given after crossing the line, even if the seniority rules in effect before the strike would have required the employer to reassign their jobs to returning strikers.
Representation elections
The NMB has the responsibility for conducting elections when a union claims to represent a carrier's employees. The NMB defines the craft or class of employees eligible to vote, which almost always extends to all of the employees performing a particular job function throughout the company's operations, rather than just those at a particular site or in a particular region.
A union seeking to represent an unorganized group of employees must produce signed and dated authorization cards or other proof of support from at least 50% of the craft or class. A party attempting to oust an incumbent union must produce evidence of support from a majority of the craft or class and then the NMB must conduct an election. If the employees are unrepresented and the employer agrees, the NMB may certify the union based on the authorization cards alone.
The NMB usually uses mail ballots to conduct elections, unlike the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has historically preferred walk-in elections under the NLRA. The NMB can order a rerun election if it determines that either an employer or union has interfered with employees' free choice.
Protecting employees' rights
Unlike the NLRA, which gives the NLRB nearly exclusive power to enforce the Act, the RLA allows employees to sue in federal court to challenge an employer's violation of the Act. The courts can grant employees reinstatement and backpay, along with other forms of equitable relief.
Constitutionality
At least one court has ruled that imposition of railroad contract terms does not violate the Constitution's prohibition in
See also
- US labor law
- History of rail transport in the United States
- Category:Rail transportation labor disputes in the United States
References
- ISBN 978-1-59558-441-0.
- ^ Caplinger, Michael (2003). "The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops. National Historic Landmark nomination" (PDF). pp. 40–45.
- ^ United States. Arbitration Act of 1888, 25 Stat. 501. Approved 1888-10-01.
- ^ Erdman Act of 1898, June 1, 1898, Ch. 370, 30 Stat. 424.
- ^ Newlands Act, July 15, 1913, ch. 6, 38 Stat. 103.
- ^ Adamson Act, Sept. 3, 5, 1916, ch. 436, 39 Stat. 721. 45 U.S.C. § 65 et seq.
- ^ Army Appropriation Act, 39 Stat. 45, August 29, 1916.
- ^ Presidential Proclamation 1419, December 26, 1917.
- ^ "Wages of a Million Railway Workers Will Be Cut July 1" (PDF). New York Times. 1921-05-18. p. 1.
- ^ Railway Labor Act, May 20, 1926, ch. 347, 44 Stat. 577. 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.
- ^ Railway Labor Act, 49 Stat. 1189 (1936).
- ^ "The Future of Labor & Employment Relations in a Global, Knowledge-Driven Economy". 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
- ^ Goodin v. Clinchfield Railroad Company, 125 F. Supp. 441 (E.D. Tenn. 1954)
Sources
- Leslie, Douglas (editor), "The Railway Labor Act", Washington, D.C., BNA Books 1995 ISBN 0-87179-815-8.
- Wilner, Frank N, "Understanding the Railway Labor Act", Omaha, Nebraska, Simmons-Boardman Books 2009, $39.95, or 800-228-9670.
External links
- As codified in 45 U.S.C. chapter 8 of the United States Code from the LII
- Railway Labor Act (details) as amended in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
- National Mediation Board
- Critique of the RLA's election procedures
- Analysis of the RLA's bargaining requirements
- Description of Coalition Bargaining pages 9 to 20