Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1948-05-14
Washington
Labor Report
By Bradford v. Carter
LPA Columnist


For years the Railway Labor
Act was hailed as a model"
law in the field of labor rela.
tions. Many a magazine and
newspaper chanted hosannas to
this law for maintaining peace
on the rails" They called for
adoption of similar legislation
to cover all industry.
The Railroad Brotherhods
Z were pictured as the salt of the
eartH-solid, responsible, con-
servative-the kind of unions
that were good for the coun-
try.
What a change today! Now
the Railway Labor Act is being
pounded as a failure, and the
Railroad Brotherhoods - or
some of them at least-are be-
ing lanbasted as anarchistic,
subversiVe, and what-not.
Has the act failed? Have the
Brotherhoods suddenly gone
berserk?
Back in the '80s and 00'S
strikes on the rails were fire.
quent and violent. Many a
pitched battle was fought be-
tween strikers and railroad
guards; car barns and round
|. houses were burned down; To-
comotives were wrecked.
Slowly the railroads came
under more and more regula-
ton by law-both with respect
to labor relations, and rates
and operating practices. On the
labor side, and round of legis-
lation eliminated in the Rail
way Labor Act of 1926.
JOIN HANDS
Management and labor, sur
prisingly enough, joined hands
to put the 1926 law through
Congress. 1t placed a positive
duty on both sides to make and
maintain collective agreement.
1t prohibited interference with
the right to organize. 1t pro-
vided mediation machinery and
voluntary arbitration, and was
capstoned with E m r G n cy
Fact-Finding Boards to settle
that threatened to
lead to strikes.
But the 1926 act lacked
teeth. Some carriers continued
to form company unions" and
to intimidate employees belong
ing to regular unions. To meet
that situation, the rail unions
in 1934-over management op-
position-induced Congress to
enact an amended Railway La
Dor Act, much stronger than
the earlier one.
1t included stiffer curbs
against company unions" 1t,
outlawed yellow dog" con-
tracts. 1t fixed fines and Jail
terms for employers or their
agents who interfered with
workers rights to organize.
That's the act which is on the
books today.
~ Under it, Railroad Brother
hoods made headway. They
wiped out old company un-
ions" by the score. They attain
ed virtual 100b organization
of the Iron Horse" By and
large, their wage scales were
in the vanguard.
In the late '30s a significant
change occurred, as unionism
made tremendous headway in
industries heretofore unorgan-
lied. Steadily, wage scales in
these industries mounted; those
on the railroads failed to keep
pace. The 40-hour week be-
came firmly established in
nearly all industries; but the
48-hour week remained in
most crafts on the railroads.
On top of that, wartime
&Rge freezing put the brakes
S1U efforts of the Brotherhoods
to overcome the lag. Attempts
by some of the Brotherhoods
to moderniZe obsolete working
rules and improve working
conditions have run up against
a stone wall of management
opposition.
AS a result, rail workers
have become more restless;
there is less disposition by
them to accept unfair or made
quat.e recommendations by
Emergency Boards. There is a
constant pressure from under
meath to get more.
That doesn't mean the Rail-
way Labor Act has broken
down beyond repair. Nor have
the Brotherhoods turned viol-
emily radical.
What seems to be needed is
acmore realistic administration
o4 the act; a disposition by
rail managements to do some
genuine bargaining, and a re.
covery by the rail unions of
some of their lost ground. That