DETERMINATION OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING REPRESENTATIVES

Section 2(3) of the act states that collective bargaining representatives shall be designated by the respective parties without interference, influence, or coercion by either party over the designation of representatives by the other; and neither party shall in any way interfere with, influence, or coerce the other in its choice of representatives.

It is specifically provided that employee representatives for collective bargaining shall not be required to be employees of the employer. The act states that the majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the class or craft (sec. 2(4)). While the Board has no power to establish crafts or classes of employees, it may designate who may participate in representation elections. Such determinations are usually made in the light of accepted practice in employee self-organization over a period of years.

Where any labor organization, committee, or employee representative asserts that a dispute exists concerning representation of employees for the purposes of the act, it is the duty of the National Mediation Board to investigate such a dispute and conduct an election by secret ballot or any other suitable method to determine who is the collective bargaining representative of the employees (sec. 2(9)). If a majority of the employees in a craft or class chooses an individual or a labor organization, the Board then issues a certification of that fact to the parties and the carrier.

The act was amended in 1951 to specifically provide (sec. 2(11)) that carriers and labor organizations may negotiate union shop and checkoff agreements.

Interference by carriers in the designation of employee representatives is a misdemeanor. Employees may also appeal to the Federal courts for an injunction to restrain the carrier from violating the act.

DUTIES OF CARRIERS AND EMPLOYEES TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY

Section 2(1) states: It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, in order to avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier growing out of any dispute between the carrier and the employees thereof.

Every carrier is required to file with the National Mediation Board a copy of every contract with its employees, as well as all changes when made.

PROCEDURE IN MAKING AND REVISING AGREEMENTS

The act provides for the following procedure in making and revising agreements:

a. Notice.-Carriers and employees alike are required to give at least 30 days' notice of any intended change in their collective bargaining agreements regarding rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, and within 10 days the time and place for a conference shall be agreed upon.

b. Mediation.-In case of a dispute not settled in conference, either party may request the mediation services of the National Mediation Board. The Board, at its discretion, may also proffer its services without a request.

c. Arbitration.-If mediation is unsuccessful, the Board shall endeavor to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration. However, the act does not compel the parties to arbitrate. Arbitration boards, when agreed upon, may consist of 3 or 6 members, one-third of the number being appointed by each party to the dispute, who must then choose the remaining members. If they fail to do so within a time limit specified in the act, the Board appoints the neutral members. At the request of either or both parties, any arbitration board so established shall also have authority to pass on any dispute over the meaning or application of its award.

d. Emergency Boards.-Should arbitration be refused by either party and the dispute remain unsettled, and should it, in the judgment of the National Mediation Board, threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential transportation service (sec. 10), the National Mediation Board is required to notify the President. The President may then, at his discretion, appoint an Emergency Board to investigate and report within 30 days. During this period, and for 30 days after the Board has made its report to the President, no change may be made in the conditions which gave rise to the dispute except by mutual agreement of the parties.

PROCEDURE IN DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF EXISTING AGREEMENTS ON

RAILROADS

The National Mediation Board, on request of either party, will give interpretations of agreements reached through mediation. The following procedure is prescribed for all other instances of disputes arising out of agreements.

a. When disputes arise growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements, they shall be handled through the regular grievance procedure in the contract, up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier.

b. If no adjustment is reached, either or both parties may petition the appropriate division of the National Railroad Adjustment Board, submitting a full statement of the facts and supporting data. The board is divided into four divisions, each representing the carriers and the labor organizations equally. Divisional jurisdictions are: First Division-train, engine, and yard service employees. Second Division-shop crafts.

Third Division-station, tower, telegraph, dispatching, clerical, store, maintenance-of-way, sleeping car, and dining car employees and signalmen.

Fourth Division-Marine service employees, and all other employees not included in the first three divisions.

c. The appropriate division may hold hearings if requested by either party and make an award.

d. If the division fails to agree and cannot itself agree on a referee, the National Mediation Board is required to appoint a referee to sit with the division and make an award.

e. Awards of the Adjustment Board are final and binding. If a carrier fails to comply with a money award, such as the payment of back pay, the employee or labor organization in whose favor it is made may apply to a United States district court for enforcement.

PROCEDURE IN DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF EXISTING AGREEMENTS ON

AIRLINES

Airline carrier and their employees are required by the act to establish machinery for the adjustment of grievances as a part of their collective agreements.

MAINTENANCE OF THE STATUS QUO

While conferences on making or revising agreements are being held and while the National Mediation Board is acting in any dispute, the carrier may not alter rates of pay, rules or working conditions.

POSTING NOTICES

All carriers covered by the act are required to post notices specified by the National Mediation Board stating that all disputes will be handled in accordance with the act, and reprinting sections of the act relating to the rights of employees.

PENALTIES

Violation by a carrier of the provisions outlined above regarding rights of employees, determination of collective bargaining representatives, giving notice of intended change of agreements, and posting notices, is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $20,000, imprisonment, or both. Claims of violations should be filed with the United States district attorney in the area where the violation occurred.

Railroad Adjustment Boards

Act of June 20, 1966, Public Law 89-456, 89th Congress, Second Session

In order to reduce the large backlog of cases pending before the N.R.A.B., Congress in 1966 amended section 3 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 153 to provide that special boards of adjustment may be established upon request of the carriers or of representatives of employees to resolve minor disputes under collective bargaining agreements and disputes thereunder undecided for twelve months after their referral to the National Railroad Adjustment Board. Awards of the Board and of the special boards of adjustment are made conclusive on questions of fact but a losing party is given a limited right of review by a federal district court on questions of law.

Railway Labor Dispute-Compulsory Arbitration

Act of August 28, 1963, Public Law No. 108, 88th Congress, First Session

Prohibited any carrier which served notices on November 2, 1959 and any union which served notices on September 7, 1960, to change, except by agreement or by arbitration under the resolution, rates of

pay, rules or working conditions or engage in any strike or lockout over any dispute arising from such notice during the 180-day life of the act. The effect of these provisions was to prohibit a strike during the next 180 days over the primary issues in the dispute and this marked the first time compulsory arbitration was imposed by Congress in peacetime in a major labor dispute. A 7-member arbitration board was established which was to render a decision binding on all parties with respect to the use of firemen on diesel locomotives and the size of road and yard crews. An award made by the arbitration board on these issues was to remain in effect for two years during which time strikes and lockouts over these issues were forbidden. The secondary issues in the dispute were not subject to arbitration but a strike over secondary issues for the 180-day period after the act's enactment was forbidden.

Anti-Injunction Act (Norris-LaGuardia Act)

Act of March 23, 1932, U.S. Code 1952, Title 29, Sections 101-115, as modified by Act of June 23, 1947, U.S. Code 1952, Title 29, Sections 141–168 (Labor Management Relations Act, 1947)

The Anti-Injunction Act declares it to be a public policy that the worker shall have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, free from employer interference in these or other concerted activities for mutual aid or protection. The act defines and limits the powers of the Federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes, in conformity with this policy.

YELLOW-DOG CONTRACTS

Employment contracts whereby a worker agrees not to join a union, or to resign if he is a union member (yellow-dog contracts), are declared contrary to public policy and unenforceable in Federal courts.

WHEN INJUNCTIONS MAY NOT BE USED

No Federal court may issue an injunction, temporary or permanent, in any case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, to prohibit any individual worker or group of workers acting in concert from doing any of the following acts, except as modified by the Labor Management Relations Act.:

1. Ceasing or refusing to work.

2. Joining or continuing membership in a union.

3. Aiding or refusing to aid financially or by other lawful means any person participating in or interested in a labor dispute. 4. Giving publicity to the existence of or the facts involved in any labor dispute whether by advertising, speaking, patrolling, or by any other method not involving fraud or violence.

5. Assembling peaceably to act or to organize to act in promotion of their interests in a labor dispute.

6. Advising or notifying any person of intent to do any of the above, agreeing or refusing to do any of the above, or inducing others to do any of the above acts, without fraud or violence.

The act defines a labor dispute as any dispute over terms and conditions of employment or matters of employee representation in collective bargaining, even though the persons involved are not in the relation of employer and employee.

WHEN INJUNCTIONS MAY BE ISSUED

Except as otherwise indicated below, a Federal court may issue a temporary or permanent injunction in cases involving or growing out of a labor dispute only after hearing the testimony of witnesses in open court with opportunity for cross-examination. Such hearings shall be held only after personal notice to all known persons involved including the public officers responsible for protecting the complainant's property.

The court must also find that

1. Unlawful acts have been threatened and will be committed unless restrained or have been committed and will be continued unless restrained;

2. Substantial and irreparable property damage will follow; 3. Greater injury will result to the complainant from denying the injunction than to the defendant from granting it;

4. The complainant has no adequate remedy at law;

5. Public officers are unable or unwilling to furnish adequate protection;

6. The complainant has complied with every legal obligation involved in the dispute and has made every reasonable effort to settle the dispute by negotiation or with the aid of available governmental machinery.

The injunction or temporary restraining order may be issued only against the person or persons, association, or organization making the threat or committing the unlawful act or actually authorizing or ratifying the act.

Exception. Under special circumstances a Federal court may issue a temporary restraining order for a maximum of 5 days without an open court hearing, on the basis of sworn testimony sufficient to sustain a temporary injunction issued on hearing after notice, and on condition that the complainant posts a bond.

ISSUANCE OF INJUNCTIONS IN SPECIAL CASES

Temporary or permanent injunctions may be issued by Federal courts without regard to the above provisions of the act, even though a labor dispute may exist, in the following instances: (1) Where an injunction is properly sought by the National Labor Relations Board pending the determination of an unfair labor practice proceeding, (2) in cases where the Board seeks to enforce an order issued by it or an aggrieved party desires to contest the Board's order, or (3) where, in the case of a threatened or actual strike affecting an industry engaged in interstate commerce which would imperial the national health or safety, the Attorney General of the United States requests an injunction. The act does not affect the jurisdiction of Federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes between the United States and its employees.