Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA) was a federation of rail transport labor unions in the United States and Canada, often known as the railroad brotherhoods. It was founded in 1926 with the purpose of acting as a legislative lobbying and policy advisory body.Galenson, 1960, p. 570.Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1972, p. 4. At times, it played a prominent role in setting rail transport policy in the U.S., and was party to six U.S. Supreme Court cases. It disbanded in January 1997, with representation, collective bargaining, and legislative lobbying assumed by the newly formed Rail Division of the AFL–CIO Transportation Trades Department."BLE Leads Way Into 'National Movement' as RLEA Disbands and AFL-CIO Rail Division Begins." BLE News Flash. January 20, 1997.
The RLEA was distinct from the Cooperating Railway Labor Organizations (CRLO), a separate association organized in 1991 to serve as an oversight body for the health, welfare, and pension funds established under federal law for railway employees."Fleming Re-elected to Third Term as Chairman of CRLO." BMWE Journal. 107:1 (February 1998), p. 3. Accessed 2012-04-09.
Early history The Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA) was formed August 16–18, 1926, in Washington, D.C.Rand School of Social Science, 1927, p. 86. The membership of the association was the president (or his or her representative) of each member union, and each union received a single vote in the organization's decision-making processes regardless of its size. The president of the Railway Employes' Department, a division of the American Federation of Labor (AFL; and later the AFL–CIO) was also a member and had a vote. The organization was voluntary, which meant that no member was bound by its decisions. However, members were required to submit (for informational purposes only) any federal legislative proposal which might significantly impact the other RLEA member unions. The organization's first chairman (also sometimes called its president) was David B. Robertson of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen. In 1932, Robertson stepped down to devote more time to his union, and Alexander F. Whitney, President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, was elected his successor."Robertson Quits Labor Post." New York Times. September 1, 1932.
Even though the RLEA did not bargain collectively itself, it played a major role in labor negotiations throughout the 1930s. During the decade, the association had about 21 institutional union members.Latham, 1959, p. 45. Its chief counsel was Donald Richberg, a noted attorney who helped write the Railway Labor Act of 1926.Latham, 1959, p. 45. In 1932, it acted as a coordinating body for unions engaged in national master contract negotiations, and helped the unions stave off major cuts.Galenson, 1960, p. 571. Over the next several years, it continued to coordinate collective bargaining strategy, and by 1935 the unions had restored the wage cuts incurred in 1932. No additional cuts were made throughout the remainder of the Great Depression. In 1933, the RLEA secured an amendment to the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act (ERTA) of 1933 which required national railroads to limit layoffs due to consolidation. When this amendment expired in June 1936, RLEA worked with its members to negotiate a five-year collective bargaining agreement (the so-called "Washington Job Protection Agreement") which inserted the ERTA labor provisions into the unions' contracts. In 1940, these contracts clauses were enacted into law as part of the Transportation Act of 1940.
From 1935 to 1940, George Harrison, President of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, served as the RLEA's chairman."George Harrison, Union Head, Dies." New York Times. December 3, 1968.
The 1930s were also a time of legislative achievements for the association. The Railway Labor Executives' Association was the primary organization pushing for railroad retirement legislation, which was first enacted in 1934.Hidy, 2004, p. 231. In addition to the layoff provisions mentioned above, the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act of 1933 also contained provisions (again drafted by Richberg) which outlawed "yellow dog contracts" and guaranteed to railway workers the right to form unions.Arnesen, 2001, p. 94.
War and post-war years James A. Phillips, President of the Order of Railway Conductors, was elected chairman of the RLEA in 1940. He replaced George Harrison, who resigned."J.A. Phillips Chosen Chairman of Labor Executives." New York Times. February 17, 1940. During World War II, the RLEA argued that its members were losing significant amounts of pay due to war-time inflation, and nearly went out on strike in the spring of 1942. But after negotiations with railroad management and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a National Railway Labor Panel was created in May 1942 to adjudicate labor disputes between the railways and their unions. RLEA members had three of the nine seats on the panel."New Rail Board Reported on Way." New York Times. March 6, 1942"Railway Disputes Put Up to a Board." New York Times. May 23, 1942. Later in 1942, the federal Office of Price Administration created a labor policy advisory group on which a representative from the RLEA sat."Forms OPA-Labor Group." New York Times. June 27, 1942.
After the war, the RLEA played a role in implementation of the Marshall Plan. The Economic Cooperation Administration wanted private groups to play a greater advisory role in the plan's implementation. The RLEA, along with the AFL and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), met with non-Communist leaders of European trade unions to create a Trade Union Advisory Committee that acted as a policy-making body on labor matters in Western Europe.Hogan, p. 146–147.
The RLEA also had a post-war role in international labor union federation politics. The International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) had been formed in 1919 in the wake of World War I as a means of united European labor unions and providing them with a stronger voice in world affairs. The idea behind the international labor federation was that the unions would be able to play a stronger role in anti-war initiatives. Although national labor federations from around the world joined the IFTU, it was dominated by socialist-leaning federations in Europe. The AFL withdrew from the IFTU in 1929 due to the IFTU's left-leaning politics. The IFTU suffered from internal factionalization as trade unions from Nazi Germany came close to dominating it during the 1930s. As Nazi Germany conquered most of Europe in the 1930s, the IFTU's membership plummeted. The IFTU survived as a link to underground trade union freedom-fighter movements during World War II, but dissolved in 1945. The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was formed in 1945 to replace it. But the WFTU was divided over support for the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan's goal was to undercut Communist influence in Western Europe, but many Western European trade unions were Communist-led. As these unions left the WFTU, unions from the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries came to dominate the WFTU. The AFL withdrew from the WFTU as well. The goal of the American government and the AFL did not change, however; both wanted to end communist dominance of international labor bodies. On February 27, 1947, the RLEA voted to affiliate with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITWF), an independent global federation of national transport workers' unions."Argeninte Leader of Labor Vanishes." New York Times. February 28, 1947. The RLEA, with 1.2 million members, easily dominated the ITWF. In September 1947, the RLEA won a major battle within the ITWF when the ITWF executive committee declined to join the Soviet-dominated WFTU.Stark, Louis. "World Transport Workers Balk at Link to the WFTU." New York Times. September 29, 1947. The ITWF decision was a major victory for the AFL and the Truman administration, for it prevented the WFTU from creating a critical mass of union membership and claiming a moral high ground vis-a-vis the AFL. Just 18 months later, the AFL and other non-communist national Western trade union federations formed the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).Stark, Louis. "AFL, CIO, Now Plan World Labor Body." New York Times. January 21, 1949. Over time, the WFTU withered and the ICFTU was ascendant.
At the time the RLEA was formed, none of its member unions admitted African Americans as members.Wilson, 1996, p. 133–134. In 1948, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters hired attorney Joseph L. Rauh Jr. to help it win disputes with RLEA members over which union had jurisdiction over various types of work on the railroads. As the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters won more of these disputes, the RLEA was put in a position of either accepting the African American union into its ranks or losing its economic clout vis-a-vis the railroads. To put even more pressure on the RLEA, Rauh filed a complaint with the United States Department of Labor alleging that the RLEA discriminated against African American workers (which was illegal under federal law). In 1950, the RLEA capitulated and accepted the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters as a member union.Parish, p. 130–132Anderson, p. 9–10.
George E. Leighty, President of the Order of Railroad Telegraphers, was elected RLEA chairman in 1950, and remained president until 1960."Businesslike Unionist: George Earle Leighty." New York Times. June 5, 1962.
On December 16, 1950, the RLEA joined with the AFL, CIO, International Association of Machinists to form the United Labor Policy Committee."Labor Forms Committee On Mobilization Problems." New York Times. December 16, 1950. The committee's goal was to monitor government policy-making to avoid what labor unions perceived was a pro-business policy bias in during World War II.Rayback, p. 423. During the economic crisis which occurred during the Korean War, the United Labor Policy Committee oversaw the labor representatives on the Wage Stabilization Board (WSB), which regulated wages in the defense industry in the United States. During the buildup to the 1952 steel strike, the WSB imposed nationwide wage controls on January 26, 1951. Labor representatives on the board, who opposed wholesale wage controls, were outvoted nine to three.Marcus, p. 13–14.Loftus, Joseph A. "Wage Board Votes 10% Rise Formula." New York Times. February 14, 1951. On February 16, the Wage Stabilization Board issued Wage Regulation 6 which permitted a 10 percent increase in wages for those workers who had not negotiated a wage increase in the last six months. The regulation was based on the "Little Steel formula" of World War II.See Dubofsky and Van Tine, p. 418–420Lichtenstein, p. 67–73. At the instruction of the RLEA and other members of the United Labor Policy Committee, the labor representatives on the WSB resigned in protest. Unwilling to alienate labor by imposing wage controls involuntarily, President Truman reconstituted the WSB with a greatly enlarged membership and powers and new authority to report directly to the president.Marcus, p. 23-24; Loftus, Joseph A. "Full Defense Role Labor's Aim In Rift With Wage Board." New York Times. February 17, 1951.
Late 20th century