Federal Railway Labor Act

[Jeff Smith]

There's been some talk around certain of the forums recently about labor. I'm going to go a bit far afield, and if the MTUANDREW wants to shut this down, by all means. Intrigued?

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news ... 2012-07-27

Wait for it; this isn't just about Delta and Comair, or really, about Delta and Comair at all.

The head of Comair’s machinist union said he’ll push for severance and other benefits as part of an “effects bargaining” process mandated by the federal Railway Labor Act.

Come again? The Railway Labor Act affects airline unions?

Let's keep the topic on railroads, of course. No worry if it spreads to freight; I can always move to Class I.

[DutchRailnut]

Correct the Railway Labor Act was created for railroads but extended to Airlines.
for answeres to your questions see:
http://railwaylaboract.com/

[gokeefe]

I'm mildly surprised this thread has not seen more discussion but that is likely a function of the forum itself and not the topic.

I consider the Railway Labor Act to be one of the more if not the most unique pieces of labor legislation in the United States. The most significant part of the Railway Labor Act is perhaps what is not in there. In particular the RLA has no prohibition on the use of "secondary strikes" in the event that a union covered by the act is entitled to strike. These secondary strikes can take place against any company employing members of the union and not just the company with which the union is negotiating. The significance of this provision is very difficult to overstate but its effect is to make the railroad crafts (and by corollary the airlines) among the single strongest forms of organized labor in the United States.

Of these kinds of events the 1986 Strike by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) against the Maine Central Railroad (under ownership of Timothy Mellon's Guilford Transportation Industries) was one of the single largest railway labor events of the late 20th century and was easily comparable in scale and significance to the 1963 Strike by the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees against the Florida East Coast Railway.