Time to Change the Railway Labor Act!

[strikeforce]

§ 151a. General purposes

The purposes of the chapter are: (1) To avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier engaged therein; (2) to forbid any limitation upon freedom of association among employees or any denial, as a condition of employment or otherwise, of the right of employees to join a labor organization; (3) to provide for the complete independence of carriers and of employees in the matter of self-organization to carry out the purposes of this chapter-, (4) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions; (5) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.

this is a paragraph from the Railway Labor Act........

Can someone please explain what "prompt" means in (4) and (5) above.

UPS went 6 years of negotiations......we've been at it for 3 years. Prompt?

I think it's prudent that ALL airline labor organizations converge on Washington and demand Congress change the Act to more level playing field. Labor should withhold political contributions, as leverage, to amend the ACT!

One change would be to monitarily penalize the carriers with a COLA wage adjustment per year during negotiations. This is similar to the wage adjustment included in the latest union proposal rejected by the company. I think this is absolutely required to move negotiations along. If this provision is incorporated into the act....I will assure a "Prompt" and orderly settlement.

The most challenging aspect of this idea is to get ALL the unions to withhold the paychecks to Congress!

 

[NYer]

§ 151a. General purposes

The purposes of the chapter are: (1) To avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier engaged therein; (2) to forbid any limitation upon freedom of association among employees or any denial, as a condition of employment or otherwise, of the right of employees to join a labor organization; (3) to provide for the complete independence of carriers and of employees in the matter of self-organization to carry out the purposes of this chapter-, (4) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions; (5) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.

this is a paragraph from the Railway Labor Act........

Can someone please explain what "prompt" means in (4) and (5) above.

UPS went 6 years of negotiations......we've been at it for 3 years. Prompt?

I think it's prudent that ALL airline labor organizations converge on Washington and demand Congress change the Act to more level playing field. Labor should withhold political contributions, as leverage, to amend the ACT!

One change would be to monitarily penalize the carriers with a COLA wage adjustment per year during negotiations. This is similar to the wage adjustment included in the latest union proposal rejected by the company. I think this is absolutely required to move negotiations along. If this provision is incorporated into the act....I will assure a "Prompt" and orderly settlement.

The most challenging aspect of this idea is to get ALL the unions to withhold the paychecks to Congress!

You'd need to convince the Republicans on that idea. Good Luck!

 

[Frank Szabo]

You'd need to convince the Republicans on that idea. Good Luck!

Where did you get the idea the Democrats are our friends? Demos and Reps both work only for the highest bidders - that DOES NOT INCLUDE those who elected them.

The D'rats have done themselves much damage this go-round thanks to their blind support of Ogabe.

The tipping point was the continuance of the Bush programm to bail out the bankers that wrongly bet against the country - the subsequent run of the Federal Reserve's printing presses due to this bailout has cut the value of our currency nearly in half as is shown by the near doubling of the price of gold (in dollars).

Neither Democrat, Republican, or any other name over the door are our friends, nor are they the friends of the American citizen, not just union people.

 

[strikeforce]

You'd need to convince the Republicans on that idea. Good Luck!

I didn't say it was going to happen overnight. At some point in the future....the democrats will have the majority. Money talks...Labor contributes to republicans too....when their wallets are light....you will get their ear!

Labor needs to start spending the hoards of cash in the vault, on something vital to Labors' survival.

How many members did Labor lose in the last 10, 20, 30 years?

 

[eolesen]

I didn't say it was going to happen overnight. At some point in the future....the democrats will have the majority.

Based on the track record of the Democrats in holding onto control, you might have to wait until at least 2018 for control to swing back....

You'd have better luck asking for taking airlines out of the RLA.

They're simply not the monopoly entities that they were in the 1930's like railroads, who essentially have a lock on commuters and shippers located along the various rail lines.

If the LIRR is on strike, nobody in Nassau or Suffolk County has the option of riding someone else's trains into the city.

Of course, there's the risk in leaving the RLA that you also lose the closed/single shop protections, but if your union is doing their job correctly, there shouldn't be much to fear. If anything, you'd probably see the unions being a lot more proactive towards the membership instead of simply feasting at the dues teat...

Get out of the RLA, and all the BS about protracted negotiations goes away. The contract expires, and you can walk. Brings a whole different sense of urgency to the process if you know that there's no safety net or nanny state to protect you...

 

[strikeforce]

Based on the track record of the Democrats in holding onto control, you might have to wait until at least 2018 for control to swing back....

You'd have better luck asking for taking airlines out of the RLA.

They're simply not the monopoly entities that they were in the 1930's like railroads, who essentially have a lock on commuters and shippers located along the various rail lines.

If the LIRR is on strike, nobody in Nassau or Suffolk County has the option of riding someone else's trains into the city.

Of course, there's the risk in leaving the RLA that you also lose the closed/single shop protections, but if your union is doing their job correctly, there shouldn't be much to fear. If anything, you'd probably see the unions being a lot more proactive towards the membership instead of simply feasting at the dues teat...

Get out of the RLA, and all the BS about protracted negotiations goes away. The contract expires, and you can walk. Brings a whole different sense of urgency to the process if you know that there's no safety net or nanny state to protect you...

If I can add.....why aren't roadway construction workers in the RLA...because when they go on strike there's gridlock on the expressways & tollways. When you have trucks backed up 10 & 20 miles......doesn't that affect commerce? There's alternatives to everything. If an airline or airlines are on strike people will drive, and goods will travel by rail, trucks & ships. So, what's the problem.
In your example, instead of riding the train those people can still drive to the city, and shippers will use trucking cos.

In my opinion, legislation is put in place so organized workers are prohibited from revolting against big business. In 1926, unionized rail workers revolted, and big railroad lobbied big government to inact legislation in order squash the peons. plain & simple. The RLA is so one-sided.....it's communist in nature.

 

[Frank Szabo]

... snip

The RLA is so one-sided.....it's communist in nature.

The RLA is hardly Communist in nature, rather, a better term would be Fascist, as business groups keep pushing to have the USA become.

As I recall, Wiki has good definitions for Fascism, Socialism, and Communism - read and consider which shoe fits the USA. I believe you'll change your mind and bear in mind that all three are government forms and are not the same.

 

[eolesen]

If I can add.....why aren't roadway construction workers in the RLA...because when they go on strike there's gridlock on the expressways & tollways. When you have trucks backed up 10 & 20 miles......doesn't that affect commerce?

Sure it does. People can take alternate routes.

There's alternatives to everything. If an airline or airlines are on strike people will drive, and goods will travel by rail, trucks & ships. So, what's the problem. In your example, instead of riding the train those people can still drive to the city, and shippers will use trucking cos.

Uh, no, there aren't alternatives to everything. You can't ship windmill turbine blades over the road, they're too long.

Nor is it practical to bring 100 carloads of coal to a power plant by truck, or 100 carloads of taconite into a steel plant by truck. It's simply too damn heavy to move on a rubber tire vehicle.

Nor are there enough trucks in the US to carry the tens of thousands of sea containers which arrive each day at the various container ports...

And driving into the city? Where pray tell are there some 250,000 vacant parking spots in Manhattan or Chicago? And what about the growing population of people who purposely live in transit-oriented housing that doesn't require one to even own a car? I forget the exact number, but the number of reverse commuters (city dwellers working in the suburbs) across the country is in the low double digits and growing...

The RLA is so one-sided.....it's communist in nature.

Of course it is communist in nature. Don't forget that the history of unions and the Socialists are intertwined...

And, neither ideology (socialism/communism) has really survived in the long run. Even China is no longer really truly a communist society... As Frank says, it's probably more facist with a tiny ruling elite instead of a dictator.


But it is not one-sided. You guys have your closed shop. And you cling to it like Ted Nugent does his hunting rifle...

There are better things to hitch your wagon to than the closed shop...

 

[Frank Szabo]

E:

Isn't the "closed shop" constraint (even in a Right to Work for less state) not applicable with respect to the RLA?

If the RLA were trashed, wouldn't that requirement go away also?


As an aside Eric, communism and socialism by definition never have really existed as there was always a group "more equal than others" at the top of the dogpile.

In the old USSR, while there were some digging through the trash for a meal there were those in the Kremlin that wanted for nothing. That's not communism, rather, just another name for the previous form of government when there was a Tzar in charge - a Dictatorship. The same goes for China, Vietnam, or anywhere else the USA put on the "Better Than Thou" hat and moved in, getting thousands of our people killed.

 

[strikeforce]

Sure it does. People can take alternate routes.




Uh, no, there aren't alternatives to everything. You can't ship windmill turbine blades over the road, they're too long.

Nor is it practical to bring 100 carloads of coal to a power plant by truck, or 100 carloads of taconite into a steel plant by truck. It's simply too damn heavy to move on a rubber tire vehicle.

Nor are there enough trucks in the US to carry the tens of thousands of sea containers which arrive each day at the various container ports...

And driving into the city? Where pray tell are there some 250,000 vacant parking spots in Manhattan or Chicago? And what about the growing population of people who purposely live in transit-oriented housing that doesn't require one to even own a car? I forget the exact number, but the number of reverse commuters (city dwellers working in the suburbs) across the country is in the low double digits and growing...



Of course it is communist in nature. Don't forget that the history of unions and the Socialists are intertwined...

And, neither ideology (socialism/communism) has really survived in the long run. Even China is no longer really truly a communist society... As Frank says, it's probably more facist with a tiny ruling elite instead of a dictator.


But it is not one-sided. You guys have your closed shop. And you cling to it like Ted Nugent does his hunting rifle...

There are better things to hitch your wagon to than the closed shop...

I didn't know we ship coal or taconite by planes?

Give examples of labor's windfall benefits with the RLA? As compared to benefits to business, specifically airlines?

Do you think our union is benefitting by AA's stall tactics and NMB's biased opinions?

 

[Bear96]

If I can add.....why aren't roadway construction workers in the RLA...because when they go on strike there's gridlock on the expressways & tollways. When you have trucks backed up 10 & 20 miles......doesn't that affect commerce?

I can't recall a single instance when a strike by roadway construction workers led to a traffic jam.

Do you have an example?

 

[DallasConehead]

As unionized airline workers we should be able to look to our bargaining agent to make the necessary changes to the act to get a fairer outcome. Sadly, our bargaining agent has been completely impotent regarding ANY legislative changes to help in our plight. I cannot remember even one example in 25+ years.

 

[Frank Szabo]

I can't recall a single instance when a strike by roadway construction workers led to a traffic jam.

... snip

When those people aren't at work, traffic flows smoother - pray for a strike.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

feasting at the dues teat...

the dues teat

loved that one

 

[MCI transplant]

Where did you get the idea the Democrats are our friends? Demos and Reps both work only for the highest bidders - that DOES NOT INCLUDE those who elected them.

The D'rats have done themselves much damage this go-round thanks to their blind support of Ogabe.

The tipping point was the continuance of the Bush programm to bail out the bankers that wrongly bet against the country - the subsequent run of the Federal Reserve's printing presses due to this bailout has cut the value of our currency nearly in half as is shown by the near doubling of the price of gold (in dollars).

Neither Democrat, Republican, or any other name over the door are our friends, nor are they the friends of the American citizen, not just union people.

<_< ------ Frank, I love how you think! On this one, I totally agree!!!