• Railroad workers are covered by the Railway Labor Actrailroad image by Stefan Balk from Fotolia.com
  
  Many transportation employees are governed by a 1926 law written for railway workers, the Railway Labor Act. Congress applied the law to air travel beginning in 1936. The Railway Labor Act is primarily concerned with resolving grievances and labor disputes between transportation workers and management. Whether your work in rail or air transport, it is important to know how the Railway Labor Act applies to you.
  
  

Grievance Procedure

• The Railway Labor Act makes striking difficult. Transportation unions covered by the Railway Labor Act cannot strike over minor disputes, such as ordinary grievances. Minor strikes are subject to court mandates to return to work. Generally speaking, rail workers are expected to perform their duties without stoppage and resort to established grievance procedures after the fact. However, the law does not require employees to engage in acts considered unsafe, or to perform tasks that are considered clear violations of a collective bargaining agreement.
  
  

Strikes

• The Railway Labor Act allows workers to engage in strike actions prohibited to many other unions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition to peaceful picketing and rolling strikes, rail and air transit workers may engage in secondary boycotts. This means that workers may legally refuse to handle the goods of employers engaged in a labor dispute. This extends to the employer as well as the worker. Employers may replace striking workers with whom they have a collective bargaining agreement without fear of a court injunction.
  
  Strikes are only allowed for major disputes, defined by the RLA as changes regarding wages, rules and working conditions. Contracts do not expire under the RLA and change must be initiated through a lengthy mediation procedures.
  
  

Mediation

• Most labor disputes in the rail industry are handled by the National Mediation Board. This board is appointed by the President. Federal law states that at least one member of the board must be from a political party other than the one that the President belongs to. Mediation is purposefully designed as a lengthy procedure. It is also binding, which means that both parties must adhere to agreements worked out by the board.
  
  

Representation

• The Railway Labor Act mandates craft unions for the rail and air transit industries. This means that employees must organize on the basis of their profession or craft. However, jurisdictional disputes arise between different unions seeing to represent employees. These disputes are handled by the National Mediation Board.