Back in the 1870's, railroad strikes were so violent and
ghastly, that federal troops usually had to be called in to restore order. At the time,
employees worked under dangerous conditions, had no sick leave or injury compensation,
and were often overworked and underpaid. So, in 1898, Congress passed the Erdman Act
which helped conditions for the employees, but was far from being a permanent solution
to the problems. It was more like putting a bandaid on the wound, rather than getting
the bleeding stopped! So, in 1913, Congress passed an even better Act--The Newlands
Act. It was more effective and served the Railroad industry up until the federal
govenment nationalized it in 1917. Then, in 1920, Congress established the Railroad
Labor Board which gave control of the railroads backs to the owners. It soon proved it
was a total flop and eventually many railroads refused to have anything to do with it!
Something had to be done! Enter the
RLA.
"The RLA was the product of
negotiations between the major railroad companies and the unions that represented their
employees." It was born out of necessity and trial and error
as to what worked over the years and what didn't. The RLA uses arbitration boards to
settle disputes and it works! In fact, it worked so successfully, in 1936 it was
amended to include the airline industries. Later on, in 1951, Congress legalized the
union shop, which is nothing more than a agreement made by an employer who belongs to a
union that he can hire anyone to work for his company, union or non-union, but the
non-union worker has to eventually join the union to stay
employed.
Many benefits and privledges have come to
railroad and airline employees as a result of this Act, too many to enumerate in this
post. I suggest reading the full text of the articles found at
and
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