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29-496: RLA may refer to any of the following: Railway Labor Act , US Ram Lal Anand College , New Delhi, India Risk-limiting audit of election outcomes Robert Land Academy , Canadian military academy Rod Laver Arena , Melbourne, Australia Royal Lao Army Russian Liberation Army (a.k.a. ROA) collaborationist formation, primarily composed of Russians, that fought under German command during World War II. Topics referred to by

58-519: 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

87-477: 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

116-578: 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. Unlike the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which adopts a less interventionist approach to the way the parties conduct collective bargaining or resolve their disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements,

145-475: 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

174-487: 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. It was largely superseded when the federal government nationalized the railroads in 1917, after

203-785: A union while employed), 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. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Newlands Act on July 15, 1913. The law created the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, which was administered by U.S. Commerce and District Court Judge Martin Augustine Knapp and assisted by U.S. Alabama District Court Judge and Commissioner William Lea Chambers . The Board adjusted and arbitrated disputes between railroad companies and their operating employees, where those disputes threatened to interrupt operation of

232-558: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Railway Labor Act 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

261-587: 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. Carriers may lawfully replace strikers engaged in

290-518: The Esch–Cummins Act (Transportation Act of 1920). The RLB soon destroyed whatever moral authority its decisions might have had in a series of decisions. In 1921, it ordered a twelve percent reduction in employees' wages, which the railroads were quick to implement. The following year, when shop employees of the railroads launched a national strike , the RLB issued a declaration that purported to outlaw

319-576: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 . Congress later passed the Arbitration Act of 1888, which authorized the creation of arbitration panels with the power to investigate the causes of labor disputes and to issue non-binding arbitration awards. The Act was a complete failure since only one panel was ever convened under the Act: in the case of the 1894 Pullman Strike , it issued its report only after

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348-592: The Act, and that one, in the case of the 1894 Pullman Strike , issued its report only after the strike had been crushed by a federal court injunction backed by federal troops. Congress attempted to correct these shortcomings in the Erdman Act , passed in 1898. This law 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 (employee agrees not to join

377-589: The Constitution's prohibition in Article I, Section 9 against bills of attainder , because they are not a punishment for specific people. Newlands Labor Act The Newlands Labor Act was a 1913 United States federal law, sponsored by Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada and drafted by Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Charles Patrick Neill . It created the Board of Mediation and Conciliation (BMC). The BMC

406-487: The NLRA. 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

435-559: The NLRA. The NMB can order a rerun election if it determines that either an employer or union has interfered with employees' free choice. 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. At least one court has ruled that imposition of railroad contract terms does not violate

464-472: The RLA specifies both (1) the negotiation and mediation procedures that unions and employers must exhaust before they may change the status quo and (2) the methods for resolving "minor" disputes over the interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements. 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

493-722: 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. 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. Wilson exercised that authority on December 26, 1917. While Congress considered nationalizing

522-505: The carriers to the "serious detriment of the public interest." Voluntary arbitration was also provided for those disputes that could not be settled by mediation . The Board was functionally replaced on December 26, 1917, by the creation of the United States Railroad Administration , although it continued to exist with its activities restricted to short-line railroads . In 1920, the Esch–Cummins Act (formally called

551-419: 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 secondary boycotts against other RLA-regulated carriers and permits employees to engage in other types of strikes, such as intermittent strikes, that might be unprotected under

580-595: 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

609-420: 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 enjoin a strike over a major dispute if the union has not exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures. The Norris-LaGuardia Act dictates the procedures that the court must follow. Once the NMB releases the parties from mediation, however, they retain

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638-422: The power to engage in strikes or lockouts, even if they subsequently resume negotiations or the NMB offers mediation again. 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

667-468: The railroads on a permanent basis after the war, the Wilson administration announced that it was returning the railroad system to its owners. However, Congress tried to preserve, the most successful features of the federal wartime administration, which were the adjustment boards, by creating a Railroad Labor Board (RLB) with the power to issue nonbinding proposals for the resolution of labor disputes, as part of

696-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title RLA . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RLA&oldid=1255976384 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

725-467: The strike had been ended by a federal court injunction , backed by federal troops. Congress attempted to correct the shortcomings in the Erdman Act , enacted in 1898. 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

754-480: The strike, and the US Department of Justice obtained an injunction that carried out that declaration. From then on, railway unions refused to have anything to do with the RLB. The RLA was the product of negotiations between the major railroad companies and the unions that represented their employees. Like its predecessors, it relied on boards of adjustment, established by the parties, to resolve labor disputes, with

783-411: 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. The NMB has the responsibility for conducting elections when

812-740: 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

841-460: Was a precursor to today's National Mediation Board (NMB). In response to railroad strikes during the 1870s and 1880s, Congress passed the Arbitration Act of 1888, which authorized the creation of arbitration panels with the power to investigate the causes of labor disputes and to issue non-binding arbitration awards. The Act was a complete failure: only one panel was ever convened under

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