The 1926 Railway Labor Act and Aviation Legislation

Background of the 1926 Railway Labor Act

The Act became law in 1926 because there was a need to keep "the American economy flowing without the disruption of railway labor disputes" (Bank, 2006). But the Act also related to protecting the rights of railway employees to join a union if they wished to. In fact, the Act has proven to be "one of the most crucial laws passed" in America's economic history (Bank, 2006). At the crux of the matter was the unionization of railway workers, but the Act became a model for other industries where union activities were taking place.

In the book Airline Labor Law: The Railway Labor Act and Aviation After Deregulation, author William E. Thoms, a law professor, writes that the Act was passed ten years before the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Railway Labor Act reflected a "pioneer federal attempt to secure the peaceful settlement" of disputes between employers and employees (Thoms, 1990). In the years before 1926 there had been strikes and lockouts, and other "disruptive forms of self-help." Because the railways were "far and away the primary carriers of goods and passengers," it was vital to address those workers' issues. Interstate commerce would be — and was — impacted negatively when there were work stoppages or violence connected with workers' attempts to join unions (Thoms, p. 4).

Thoms explains that Congress believed the main reason for disruptive strikes was the "failure" of workers and management to agree on contracts that were "fair to labor and management alike" (p. 4). The courts, moreover, were not equipped with the expert knowledge of labor dynamics needed to help parties reach reasonable settlements. The Railway Labor Act therefore established what rights workers had in terms of organizing and joining unions, what rights management held, and precisely what "administrative machinery" was to be put in place to help with the selection of representatives for bargaining procedures.

Core Provisions and Collective Bargaining Framework

The basic provisions of the Act can be broken down into four components: (a) to try and avoid "interruption to commerce"; (b) to make it legal for employees to freely join a labor union; (c) to provide "complete independence of organizations by both parties" to carry out the purposes of the RLA; and (d) to provide a mechanism for the settlement of disputes, whether minor or major (Thoms, p. 5).

The operative concept in the Act is collective bargaining. For minor disputes within the context of collective bargaining, strikes were illegal; the Act called for mediation under the National Railroad Adjustment Board. For major disputes, the Act created the National Mediation Board (NMB), an independent agency appointed by the President of the United States.

Airlines and the Railway Labor Act

There were of course trains well before there were airline companies, but after Charles Lindbergh flew his transatlantic journey to Europe, a great deal more interest was focused on the potential for commercial air transportation. The very first scheduled airline service was launched in 1919 (the Tampa–St. Petersburg Airline), and it was clear that air travel would become a major part of transportation in America and that it needed to be regulated by the federal government (Thoms, p. 7).

In terms of regulating the airlines, first there was the Air Mail Act of 1925, which allowed the U.S. Postmaster General to award contracts to airlines delivering mail in the United States. The Air Commerce Act of 1926 "vested jurisdiction over safety and maintenance of airways and navigation facilities" in the Department of Commerce (Thoms, p. 7). In 1938 the Civil Aeronautics Authority was created and given regulatory authority over the airlines. Two years before that authority was created, however, Congress in 1936 extended the exact "provisions of the Railway Labor Act" to also provide coverage for workers in the airline industry (Thoms, p. 9).

After ten years of success with the Railway Labor Act as applied to railroad companies, unions, and workers, Congress concluded that workers in the airline industry also needed federal protection through statutes allowing collective bargaining. Thoms notes that "many of the same unions active in the railroad industry" became involved in organizing airline employees (p. 10). The need for legislative and executive authority to keep commerce moving throughout the United States was even more pronounced during the Great Depression, when transportation remained among the industries most vital to the country's economic health (Thoms, p. 8).

In 1934 the Black-McKellar Act established the framework for regulating airlines — not merely to ensure fairness during labor disputes — through the Federal Aviation Commission. Thoms identifies two "fundamental ingredients" in that legislation. First, there were "certain minimum standards of equipment, operating methods, and personal qualifications" that had to be met. Second, when any "irresponsible, unfair, or excessive competition" emerged in the airline industry, the Black-McKellar Act would come into play.

Congressman Randolph had no objection to open and fair competition, but he asserted that "unbridled and unregulated competition is a public menace." He was alluding to "rate wars and cutthroat devices" as detrimental to the public — hence the need for regulation (Thoms, pp. 8–9).

Conclusion

The Railway Labor Act has proven to be more than merely regulatory in its application to railroads and airline businesses. It related very powerfully to the rights of employees to engage in collective bargaining and to establish a union — serving as a foundational piece of American labor law whose influence extended well beyond the industries that first prompted its passage.

Works Cited

Bank, B. (2006). Railway Labor Act. Saint Francis University. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from http://www.stfrancis.edu.

Larsen, P. B., Sweeney, J., and Gillick, J. (2012). Aviation Law: Cases, Laws and Related Sources (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

The Railway Labor Act. (1926). Retrieved September 20, 2014, from

Thoms, W. E., and Dooley, F. J. (1990). Airline Labor Law: The Railway Labor Act and Aviation After Deregulation. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group.