Union Frahmentation: A Major Cause of Transportation Labor Crises Labor Relations in Transportation 25 Industrial and Labor Relations Review 1971-1972

25 Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev. 32 (1971-1972)
Union Frahmentation: A Major Cause of Transportation Labor Crises

handle is hein.journals/ialrr25 and id is 34 raw text is: UNION FRAGMENTATION: A MAJOR
CAUSE OF TRANSPORTATION
LABOR CRISES
EDWARD B. SHILS

N THE past decade, there has been in-
creasing evidence that labor laws and
the present pattern of bargaining in the
transportation industries have not con-
tributed to labor stability. Railroad and
airline labor unions are under the juris-
diction of the Railway Labor Act (RLA)
of 1926 as amended. Maritime, long-
shore, and trucking unions fall within
the jurisdiction of the Taft-Hartley Act
of 1947, as amended. In addition to the
several laws which cover labor aspects of
transportation, the multiplicity and
rivalry of unions in the rail, airline, and
shipping industries contribute to labor
unrest, crippling strikes, and work stop-
pages harmful to the economy.
President Nixon, weary of the load of
appointing emergency fact-finding boards
in rail and air and of the frequency of
Seventy.seven unions are active in the field of
transportation. This large number of labor
organizations with competitive and often an-
tagonistic interests contributes importantly to
labor unrest and strikes. While proposals to
alter procedures for dealing with labor disputes
in transportation have merit, they will not solve
the transportation labor crisis unless there is
substantial change in the structure of the
transportation unions and in the pattern of
bargaining.
Edward B. Shils is professor and chairman of
the Department of Industry, Wharton School of
Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsyl-
vania.- EDITOR

employing the eighty-day cooling-off
period in disputes in shipping, long-
shore, and trucking, advised Congress on
February 27, 1970, of the Administra-
tion's desire for enactment of the Emer-
gency Public Interest Protection Act of
1970.
The primary purpose of the proposal
was to join rail and airline labor unions
under the same jurisdiction as maritime
and trucking unions. This would result
in a more comprehensive National Labor
Relations Act by further amending Taft-
Hartley and discontinuing the emergency
procedures of the Railway Labor Act.
Use of Emergency Procedures
The President, in evaluating the two
national labor laws, took the position of
a plague on both their houses. The
emergency provisions of the Railway
Labor Act had been invoked 187 times
from 1927 to February 1970-an average
of four times per year. Work stoppages
in the rail and air industries, following
the end of the sixty-day status quo
period, had occurred at the rate of more
than one per year since 1947. In addi-
tion, Congress had to pass legislation
five times since 1947 to terminate major
railroad disputes.
While admitting that the Taft-Hartley

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.

Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

What Is HeinOnline?

Purchase Access

Contact Us

Log In

NEED HELP?

CONTACT US

Get started

Subscribe to our Newsletter