Evening star., 1948-07-11
Compulsory Arbitration
Suggested for Railroads
Amendment of Law to Strengthen
Mediation Board Advocated
Bv Gerard d. Reilly


By Gerard d. Reilly
One statute which should receive q thorough
overhauling when Congress meets again Is
the Railway Labor Act. The final settlement
Of the l4-month rail wage controversy should
emphasize rather than obscure the fact that
in recent years the operation Of the act has
proved . dismal failure.
This Is the third occasion within five years
that the archaic character OF the statute has
made 1t necessary for the Government to take
over the carriers In order to avoid Nation
wide interruption OF transportation. Yet IN
each instance the complicated procedure OF
the act was followed by the parties That
disasters Of national proportions were averted
was not due to its provisions. but to the 1or-
tunate accident that the President has ex-
traordinary powers under the National Defense
Act of 1914 as long as he can maintain the
legal fiction that state Of war exists.
Although the statement of policy contained
in the Railway Labor Act conveys the impress
sion that 1t provides methods for bringing
about the orderly settlement of all disputes
it does not make strikes which occur over
the unsuccessful negotiation of new contracts
unlawful What the act did was to create a
system for enforcing arbitration of disputes
arising under existing contracts vesting this
function in a board made up Of carriers and
union representatives called the National
Adjustment Board.
1t also established the National Mediation
Board consisting OF three full-time members
appointed by the President but limited its
authority to conducting representation elections
and engaging in mediation. 1t has no power
to compel the submission of all disputes to
arbitration, but merely to designate arbitrators
once a voluntary submission has been agreed
upon In fact the act expressly states that
It creates no legal obligation to refer contro-
versies to arbitration.
In addition to these duties, the Mediation
Board was also given some minor functions
analogous to those subsequently conferred by
the Wagner Act upon the National Labor
Relations Board, namely the determination OF
appropriate bargaining units and the conduct
of elections. But jurisdiction over unfair labor
practices was placed in the courts rather than
the board.
With respect to disputes which could not be
settled by mediation and where one or both
parties objected to arbitration, the Mediation
Board under the act is directed to inform the
President of threatened interruption of in
terstate commerce. thus giving the President
authority to appoint an emergency board. Such
boards investigate and make recommendations
to the President 80 days after their establish
ment Two waiting periods were prescribed. ID
the 30-day period in which the emergency
board is considering the case and CD an ad-
ditional 3O-day period after its report Is flled
OF course, the sponsors of the statute as
sumed that the occasions in which the Presi-
dent would appoint emergency boards would
be rather rare believing that most difnculties
occurring in contract negotiations could be
ironed out by the Mediation Board before an
impasse was reached which would threaten an
interruption in service. These hopes were not
fulfilled, although the membership OF the
Mediation Board has at different times included
such experienced conciliators as Otto Boyer,
William M Leiserson and the present chair
man, Frank P. Douglass.
As the unions always felt that they could
get more from the temporary emergency ooaros
by threatening to strike than through the
process OF bargaining and mediation, scarcely
a year has gone by without the appointment OF
a Presidential committee. For long period,
however, the findings and recommendations OF
the board we're accepted by both the carriers
and the unions, although neither party was
under a legal duty to do so. Thus system
of quasi-compulsory arbitration developed,
much as the British custom OF having the ma
jority party in Parliament select the Kings
ministers evolved without any legislation limit
ing the powers OF the crown
During this period, the system acquired
cumbersome protocol Of its own. The carriers
and unions met for industry-wide bargaining
conferences, the unions presented their de-
mands and refused to recede from them. thus
bringing the Mediation Board into the picture.
Then each union would poll its membership
to obtain authority to strike, which was always
eiyen on the plea that it was merely vote to
strengthen the hand of the union in bargaining
negotiations The results of these ballots then
created the emergency pursuant to which
the President appointed an emergency board
or committee.
These committees usually conducted them
selves In the time-honored manner OF arbi-
traitors by granting the unions about half OF
what they were requesting. irrespective OF the
merit, or lack of merit, Of the proposals After
the report Of the board was filed there was in
evitably grumbling, principally from union
sources, but before the 30-day period was up
the little drama ordinarily reached climax
when union officials after White House inter-
view would solemnly announce as they were
leaving that they were going to accept the
emergency boards recommendation because
of the Presidents appeal to their patriotism.
~
This creaking system first showed signs OF
collapse in 1914 when one OF the emergency
boards recommended q generous wage increase
without much seeming regard for the Wage
Sterilization Act. When the proposed new
scale was cut by the then Economic Stabilfzer
Fred Vinson, the unions revolted, the Govern
ment seized the roads, and q bill was pushed
through the Senate overruling Mr.. Wilson's
action. In the face of this blow to the adnini-
STATIONS prestige, President Roosevelt stepped
in and gave the unions approximately what
they had wanted.
In 1916 two Of the operating brotherhoods,
the Locomotive Engineers and the Trainmen.
delivered what In retrospect appears to be