Railroaders' Nostalgia > No Strike Agreement

Does anyone remember the BLE & UTU haveing made a national "No Strike" agreement, back in the early 1980's?

I don't remember a "no strike" agreement, unless it was for a very specific issue, but the Supreme Court basically decided rail unions cannot strike except for "major disputes" around that period. Of course in the court's eyes there is almost nothing that rises to a "major dispute" plus rail unions have to go through a myriad of steps before they can get to the "self help" (strike) stage.
 

Railbaron Wrote:
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> I don't remember a "no strike" agreement, unless
> it was for a very specific issue, but the Supreme
> Court basically decided rail unions cannot strike
> except for "major disputes" around that period. Of
> course in the court's eyes there is almost nothing
> that rises to a "major dispute" plus rail unions
> have to go through a myriad of steps before they
> can get to the "self help" (strike) stage.

EVERYTHING nowadays is considered a "minor dispute" in the courts and rendered to arbitration (between Labor and Carrier) outside of the courts.
>  

No such thing, and never has been.

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
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> No such thing, and never has been.



Better tell DW "Bill" Hannah that.

There's quite a difference between major/minor dispute issues (what we can and can't wildcat over), what must follow the RLA's requirements (as amended by Taft-Hartley), what a court has ruled (with regard to railway labor issues), and a "no strike clause" in a union contract. I'm quite certain Brother Hannah can explain it to you, but you have to listen and realize that you might have been fed some erroneous notions and prejudices on the concept.

The air controllers specifically had a no-strike clause in their contract and went on strike anyway. They screwed themselves (it was merely incidental that Ronnie Ray-gun just happened to be prezzy at the time).

70ACE Wrote:
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> EVERYTHING nowadays is considered a "minor dispute" in the courts and rendered to arbitration
> (between Labor and Carrier) outside of the courts.

I don't believe that is necessarily true.

Managers operating trains in place of "craft" employees is a huge one; 2 managers up here almost got fired over that when the BLET got wind of it. Now this doesn't apply where managers are operating in place of a crew when crossing picket lines though.

Another one is, as I understand, a company deliberately failing to pay proper pay rates (you go to work and the company arbitrarily creates a new pay for employees). This does not apply to arbitraries or special claims since those are open to interpretation.

And even following the RLA there comes a time when "self help" is allowed but that comes potentially many months, even years after a contract expires. Fortunately one good part of the RLA is that contracts are extended until a new agreement is reached OR until all steps allowed for under the RLA have been exhausted including a PEB bringing the sides together. If everything fails, highly unlikely but possible, then "self help" (strike) could occur.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/16 20:23 by Railbaron.

I can't tell you if there was a no strike agreement but I can tell you of two strikes in that time period.  One in 1986 and another in 1987.  I think the following is how it went.

In 1986 the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees from the Maine Central Railroad (Guilford/Springfield Terminal) went on strike due to the carrier cutting their wages 20% and wanting labor to begin paying part of their health care and other benefits.  The carrier tried transferring the Maine Central, the B&M, and the D&H properties to a 6 mile "short line" named Springfield Terminal that was non-union.  The plan was to begin paying non-union wages to the three railroads.  That strike last 2-3 months and railroad workers from The Boston & Maine and Delaware & Hudson railroads honored the strike.

In November of 1987 the same railroad went out on a strike account of safety issues.  A man was killed in Lawrence, MA.  He attempted to stop a rolling car after being cut off from the engine but the handbrake was defective.  The inexperienced engineer (scab) gave chase and rammed the car too hard knocking the trainman to the ground killing him.

If I recall correctly the union won those strikes but at a huge cost.  The railroaders were ordered to be hired back with pay for lost time.  50% of the business went away during the strike so many men never did get back.  The current Maine Central and the B&M are just a shadow of their former selves.  I think CP bought out the D&H and then NS bought it from CP (really not sure how that went).  Corrections welcomed.

There's never been a "no strike" agreement that I'm aware of, but because of the importance of the industry, railroaders have rarely been allowed to carry out a strike.  We might walk out for a day or so, but then the company obtains a court injunction to force us back to work for a so called cooling off period.  When I was working, most disputes were eventually settled by a Presidential Emergency Board.   

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
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>
> The air controllers specifically had a no-strike
> clause in their contract and went on strike
> anyway. They screwed themselves (it was merely
> incidental that Ronnie Ray-gun just happened to be
> prezzy at the time).

I didn't really like that either but when you're in Ronnie's position and you draw a line in the sand, you better hold that line if you expect any respect after that.  0bama drew a line in the sand with Iraq and they crossed it and no one respects him now.  

John

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's quite a difference between major/minor
> dispute issues (what we can and can't wildcat
> over), what must follow the RLA's requirements (as
> amended by Taft-Hartley), what a court has ruled
> (with regard to railway labor issues), and a "no
> strike clause" in a union contract. I'm quite
> certain Brother Hannah can explain it to you, but
> you have to listen and realize that you might have
> been fed some erroneous notions and prejudices on
> the concept.
>
> The air controllers specifically had a no-strike
> clause in their contract and went on strike
> anyway. They screwed themselves (it was merely
> incidental that Ronnie Ray-gun just happened to be
> prezzy at the time).

I remember it quite well. I remember when the situation started, years before. The origin was working conditions in the Aurora center. The guy two houses down from me was taken away from the house in a wrap-around jacket. There was a lot of publicity about the situation - locally. The controllers tried, tried, tried, and tried to get FAA to do something. The grievance was contollers were terrified (having had a job like that, I sure understand). They finally had enough. Ronnie told the public at large that the greedy controllers wanted more money and didn't deserve it. That was the PR for his move.

At least some of them were better off being fired. The job wasn't killing them any more. Miraculously, working conditions improved for the replacements because they couldn't work the magic that the guys who got fired were doing to keep the system together.

You in Seattle, LA, New York and can't leave because of snow in Chicago? Thank the new guys because the planes used to go on time and fly in one of the stacks over Chicago. If they couldn't get down before they would run out of fuel, they finally were diverted to someplace they barely had fuel to make.

TAW