Question

Describe some provisions of these major labor laws: Railway Labor Act, Norris-LaGuardia Act, Wagner Act, Taft-Hartley Act, Landrum-Griffin Act and also their impact on organizations as well as the union-management relationship. Please give some references where you located it at. At least 3 pages, please.

Answer 1

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Provisions of Railway Labor Act (RLA)

• Contracts do not expire, instead they become amendable
• A Union cannot go out on strike before the Contract becomes amendable nor can an airline lock out members before it becomes amendable (meaning both sides must maintain the “status quo” until certain conditions occur after the contract becomes amendable)
• Negotiating steps:
  • Section 6 notices: proposals from both airline and Union to amend the CBA
  • Unlimited negotiations (duration ends when one side asks for mediation)
  • Mediation: NMB-supervised, mandatory, and can last for a long period of time (“interminable”)
  • 10 day window
  • Release
  • Proffer of arbitration
  • 30 day cooling-off period
  • After the 30 day cooling-off period fails to result in an agreement, the President of the United States can summon a Presidential Emergency Board (“PEB”) and prohibit the parties from resorting to self-help. Only if the President does not do so can the parties resort to Self-help (Union can strike/”CHAOS” or use other economic warfare tools, and Company can lock out workers, hire replacement workers, etc.)

Provisions of the Wagner Act

These include: Interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their rights (including the freedom to join or organize labor organizations and to bargain collectively for wages or working conditions) Controlling or interfering with the creation or administration of a labor organization.

Unlike the Wagner Act that it modified, the Taft-Hartley Act was an omnibus bill of four titles. Title I contained most of the modifications to the Wagner Act. It changed the administrative structure of the National Labor Relations Board, as well as some of the procedures of the board as it was described in the Wagner Act. Taft-Hartley changed the definition of "employee" to exclude supervisors (in response to management fears over the proliferation of foremen's unions in the postwar period), and emphasized the rights of employees to decline to participate in collective activity. Title I also attempted to define "good faith" in collective bargaining, and therefore what would constitute an unfair labor practice, and it required both parties to give notice of any intention to terminate or modify their contract. Section 9 of Title I required unions to register with the secretary of labor and to file annual financial reports. Moreover, all officers of unions were required to sign affidavits proclaiming that they were not members of the Communist Party in order to use any of the NLRB apparatus. (This provision is the only part of the Taft-Hartley Act to be eventually overturned, owing to its blatant unconstitutionality.) Finally, Title I restricted state jurisdiction over labor relations except in union security matters, and it banned the closed shop (which required that employees in an establishment belong to the union before they could be hired to work there) within the area of federal jurisdiction. It also required the majority of employees in a unit to approve any attempt to negotiate a union-shop contract.

Title II endorsed enhanced federal aid to conciliation, mediation, and voluntary arbitration, encouraged labor and management to develop grievance procedures for the settlement of disputes, and outlined procedures for the restraint of strikes considered to present a threat to the national interest. Title III declared certain categories of union and employer behavior illegal and established procedures to regulate union welfare funds, to facilitate private suits for damages arising from breach of contract, and to restrict political fund expenditures by unions. Finally, Title IV provided for joint committees of Congress to study and produce reports on problems affecting friendly labor relations and productivity.

Provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act

The Taft-Hartley Act made major changes to the Wagner Act. Although Section 7 was retained intact in the revised law, new language was added to provide that employees had the right to refrain from participating in union or mutual aid activities except that they could be required to become members in a union as a condition of employment.

Taft-Hartley defined six additional unfair labor practices, reflecting Congress' perception that some union conduct also needed correction. The Act was amended to protect employees' rights from these unfair practices by unions.

The amendments protected employees' Section 7 rights from restraint or coercion by unions, and said that unions could not cause an employer to discriminate against an employee for exercising Section 7 rights. They declared the closed shop illegal, but provided that employers could sign a union shop agreement under which employees could be required to join the union on or after the 30th day of employment.

The amendments also imposed on unions the same obligation to bargain in good faith that the Wagner Act placed on employers. They prohibited secondary boycotts, making it unlawful for a union that has a primary dispute with one employer to pressure a neutral employer to stop doing business with the first employer.

Unions were prohibited from charging excessive dues or initiation fees, and from "featherbedding," or causing an employer to pay for work not performed. The new law contained a "free speech clause," providing that the expression of views, arguments, or opinions shall not be evidence of an unfair labor practice absent the threat of reprisal or promise of benefit.

Several significant changes were made for representation elections. Supervisors were excluded from bargaining units, and the Board had to give special treatment to professional employees, craftsmen and plant guards in determining bargaining units.

Congress also added four new types of elections. The first permitted employers faced with a union's demand for recognition to seek a Board-conducted election. The other three enabled employees to obtain elections to determine whether to oust incumbent unions, whether to grant to unions authority to enter into a union shop agreement, or whether to withdraw union shop authorization previously granted. (The provisions authorizing the union shop elections were repealed in 1951).

Provisions of Landrum-Griffin Act

Title I of the Landrum-Griffin Act details a Bill of Rights for members of labor organizations. The five rights enumerated are the following:

• Equal Rights: Every member of a labor organization has equal rights to nominate candidates, vote in elections, and attend and participate in membership meetings.
• Freedom of Speech and Assembly: Every member has the right to meet and assemble freely with other members, and to express views to others and at meetings of the labor organization.
• Dues, Fees, and Assessments: Provides rules for setting rates of dues and fees.
• Protection of the Right to Sue: No labor organization may limit the right of a member to bring a lawsuit, although members may be required to exhaust internal procedures first.
• Safeguards Against Improper Disciplinary Action: No member may be fined, suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined except for nonpayment of dues, unless the member has been served with specific charges, given reasonable time to prepare a defense, and afforded a full and fair hearing.

Provisions of Norris-LaGuardia

The Norris-LaGuardia Act was part of this change in labor relations. Even before the New Deal began, Senator George William Norris from Nebraska and Congressman Fiorello H. LaGuardia from New York City, both progressive Republicans, introduced new labor reform legislation, the Norris-LaGuardia Act. With passage of the act, the groundwork was laid for an even more important labor bill, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, called the Wagner Act. The Wagner Act continued the mission of reforming labor relations. It set out to regulate the nation's labor relations. It granted unions fundamental rights and powers, including the right of collective bargaining, defined unfair labor practices, and established penalties for violating them. Passed in 1932, the Norris-LaGuardia Act marked a profound change in U.S. government oversight over labor relations. It was the most favorable legislation to date for a U.S. labor movement that had always had to fight for its very existence.