![Hanger-Barton-Hooper-1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Hanger-Barton-Hooper-1921.jpg)
The Railroad Labor Board (RLB) was an institution established in the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
by the
Transportation Act of 1920
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, a ...
. This nine-member panel was designed as means of settling wage disputes between
railway companies
This is an incomplete list of the world's railway operating companies listed alphabetically by continent and country. This list includes companies operating both now and in the past.
In some countries, the railway operating bodies are not compani ...
and their employees. The Board's approval of wage reductions for
railroad shopmen was instrumental in triggering the
Great Railroad Strike of 1922
The Great Railroad Strike of 1922, commonly known as the Railway Shopmen's Strike, was a nationwide strike of railroad workers in the United States. Launched on July 1, 1922, by seven of the sixteen railroad labor organizations in existence a ...
. The Board was terminated on May 20, 1926 when
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
signed a new
Railway Labor Act
The Railway Labor Act is a United States federal law on US labor law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration, and media ...
into law.
Institutional history
Background
Following major expansion of American railways after the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, labor disputes increasingly became a focus of turmoil between employers and employees, first evidenced at a large, multi-state scale during the
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. This strike finally ended 52 day ...
.
With the continued functioning of the railways seen as a vital public interest,
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
had attempted to solve wage disputes through legislation as early as 1888, when an initial mechanism for voluntary
arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
was created. Such voluntary arbitration had lacked an enforcement mechanism, however, and labor unrest continued unabated.
[
Various attempts at stopgap legislation proved largely unfruitful, although the Erdman Act of 1898 did establish a more precise mechanism for mediating disputes between employers and those workers engaged in train operation.][ This voluntary mediation was resisted by the railroad companies and very seldom used until 1906. In the subsequent eight years between 1906 and 1913, a total of 61 disputes were settled by mediation or arbitration.][
Despite this seeming success, neither the railroad companies nor the various unions representing railway employees were satisfied with either the process or the decisions rendered.][ Calls were made for a substantially-sized permanent board of arbitration, with representatives of the railroad companies rather than the unions taking the lead in calling for such a body.][
The result this desire for permanent, professional mediation of railway wage disputes was the passage of the ]Newlands Labor Act
The Newlands Labor Act, was a 1913 United States federal law, sponsored by Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada and drafted by Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Charles Patrick Neill. It created the Board of Mediation and Conciliation (BM ...
in 1913.[ This legislation expanded and formalized the mediation and arbitration process, establishing a three-member "Board of Mediation and Conciliation" and increasing the number of professional arbitrators to six. Although still lacking the power to enforce its decisions, the Newlands Act was successful in resolving 58 of the 71 controversies which were managed by the Board, from the time of the Act's passage through 1917.][
]
Establishment
During the period of American participation in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, operation of the American railway system was brought under national control to ensure efficient operation. The United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalisation, nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and ...
(USRA) was created to manage the entire system. President Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
issued an order for nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 1917, and Congress affirmed the action in 1918 with the ''Railway Administration Act.'' The USRA consolidated railroad operations, eliminated redundant services, standardized equipment, and raised wages for railroad workers.
Following the end of the war, Congress passed the Transportation Act of 1920 (also called the Esch-Cummins Act), which returned control to the railroad companies, gave additional regulatory powers to the Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
, and established the Railroad Labor Board.
President Warren Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. ...
appointed Ben W. Hooper
Ben Walter Hooper (October 13, 1870April 18, 1957), was an American politician who served two terms as the 31st governor of Tennessee from 1911 to 1915. Elected as a Electoral alliance, Fusionist candidate, he was one of just three Republican Part ...
as board chairman in 1921. Hooper was a former Republican
Republican can refer to:
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* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Governor of Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
Authority and decisions of the board
The 1920 law gave the board the power to oversee the wages and working conditions of more than 2 million American railway workers.
The RLB soon destroyed whatever moral authority it might have had in a series of decisions. In 1921 railway companies obtained approval from the board for deep reductions in wage rates for workers across the industry. In 1922 the RLB approved another cut in wages, this time a cut of 7 cents an hour targeted to railway repair and maintenance workers—a reduction representing a loss of an average of 12 percent for these workers.
Role in the 1922 Shopmen's Strike
Chairman Hooper found the situation faced by members of the Railroad Labor Board to be virtually untenable, likening the task of conciliating the demands of the "hardboiled railway executive" and the "radical labor leader" armed only with the "gentle, unenforceable admonitions of the Transportation Act" to pacifying a den of lions and tigers with bare hands. In response to the wage cuts, as well as the pressures of the Open Shop Movement (whereby the railway companies contracted out shop work to non-union subcontractors), seven unions representing the railroad shopmen and maintenance of way workers voted to go on strike. July 1, 1922, was the date set for the launch of a coordinated work stoppage. On that day some 400,000 railway workers walked off the job, in what became known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1922
The Great Railroad Strike of 1922, commonly known as the Railway Shopmen's Strike, was a nationwide strike of railroad workers in the United States. Launched on July 1, 1922, by seven of the sixteen railroad labor organizations in existence a ...
.
On July 3, Hooper pushed through a so-called "outlaw resolution" which declared that all strikers had forfeited their arbitration rights guaranteed under the Transportation Act of 1920. Railroads were encouraged by the Railway Labor Board to hire replacement workers, who were to be regarded as permanent by the board. Bitter labor discord followed, with violence and sabotage of railway equipment. The RLB attempted to mediate an end to the dispute, bringing together union and railroad representatives on July 14 in a joint conference. The conference was unsuccessful and the board declared that its efforts to resolve the stoppage had reached an end.
Members of President Harding's cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
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* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
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, Secretary of Commerce
The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
and Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
John Davis, sought a negotiated end to the strike. Harding proposed a settlement on July 28, but this compromise was rejected by the railroad companies. United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Harry M. Daugherty
Harry Micajah Daugherty (; January 26, 1860 – October 12, 1941) was an American politician. A key Ohio Republican political insider, he is best remembered for his service as Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Warren G. Hardin ...
obtained a court injunction against the strike on September 1, and the strike eventually died out as many shopmen made deals with the railroads on the local level.
Termination
Negotiations between the major railroad companies and the unions led to the enactment of the Railway Labor Act of 1926 (RLA). President Calvin Coolidge signed the law on May 20, 1926, and the Railroad Labor Board was terminated.[United States. Railway Labor Act, May 20, 1926, ch. 347, . et seq.] The RLA repealed Title III of the Transportation Act of 1920 and created a Board of Mediation.[
]
See also
* History of rail transport in the United States
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
* American Railway Union
The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early victory in a strike ...
* Railway Labor Executives' Association
Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA) was a federation of rail transport labor unions in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1926 with the purpose of acting as a legislative lobbying and policy advisory body.Galenson, 1960, p. 5 ...
Footnotes
Further reading
* E.G. Buckland, "Three Years of the Transportation Act," ''Yale Law Journal,'' vol. 32, no. 7 (May 1923), pp. 658–675
In JSTOR
* A.B. Cummins
''The Transportation Act, 1920.''
n.c.: n.p., October 1922.
* Colin J. Davis, ''Power at Odds: The 1922 National Railroad Shopmen's Strike.'' Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
* W.N. Doak, "Labor Policies of the Transportation Act from the Point of View of Railroad Employees," ''Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York,'' vol. 10, no. 1 (July 1922), pp. 39–48
In JSTOR
* Frank H. Dixon, "Functions and Policies of the Railroad Labor Board," ''Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York,'' vol. 10, no. 1 (July 1922), pp. 19–28
In JSTOR
* A.R. Ellingwood, "The Railway Labor Act of 1926," ''Journal of Political Economy,'' vol. 36, no. 1 (Feb. 1928), pp. 53–82
In JSTOR
* Rogers MacVeagh, ''The Transportation Act, 1920: Its Sources, History, and Text, Together with Its Amendments to the Interstate Commerce Act...'' New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1923.
* Edgar J. Rich, "The Transportation Act of 1920," ''American Economic Review,'' vol. 10, no. 3 (Sept. 1920), pp. 507–527
In JSTOR
* Henry R. Seager, "Railroad Labor and the Labor Problem," ''Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York,'' vol. 10, no. 1 (July 1922), pp. 15–18
In JSTOR
* T. W. van Metre, "Railroad Regulation under the Transportation Act," ''Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York,'' vol. 10, no. 1 (July 1922), pp. 3–12
In JSTOR
* H.D. Wolf, "Criticisms of the Railroad Labor Board and an Evaluation of Its Work," ''University Journal of Business,'' vol. 5, no. 1 (Jan. 1927), pp. 1–34
In JSTOR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Railroad Labor Board
1920 establishments in the United States
1926 disestablishments in the United States
History of rail transportation in the United States
United States labor law
United States railroad regulation