RAILWAY LABOR ACT AMENDMENTS

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1934

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,

Washington, D.C.

The committee was called to order at 10 a.m., Hon. Sam Rayburn (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

On February 5, 1934, Mr. Crosser introduced H.R. 7650. There was also introduced under date of May 21, 1934, by me, H.R. 9689. There is pending in the Senate S. 3266, along the same general line. (The House bills above referred to are printed in the record as follows:)

[H.R. 7650, 73d Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To relieve the existing emergency in relation to interstate railroad transportation, to provide for the prompt disposition of disputes between carriers and their employees, and to amend sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the Railway Labor Act, approved May 20, 1926

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Railway Labor Act be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

DEFINITIONS

"SECTION 1. When used in this Act and for the purposes of this Act"First. The term 'carrier' includes any express company, sleeping-car_company, and any carrier by railroad and/or their subsidiaries, subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, including all floating equipment, such as boats, barges, tugs, bridges, and ferries, and any other transportation agencies and facilities used by or operated in connection with any such carrier by railroad, whether operated by such carrier, by railroad, or by any other person, firm, or corporation under contract with such carrier, and any receiver, trustee, or other individual or body, judicial or otherwise, when in possession of the business of employers or carriers covered by this Act: Provided, however, That the term 'carrier' shall not include any street, interurban, or suburban electric railway, unless such a railway is operating as a part of the general steam railroad system of transportation, but shall not exclude any part of the general steam railroad system of transportation now or hereafter operated by any other motive power.

"Second. The term 'Adjustment Board' means the National Board of Adjustment created by this Act.

"Third. The term 'Board of Mediation' means the Board of Mediation created by this Act. "Fourth. The term 'Coordinator' means the Federal Coordinator of Transportation created by the Emergency Transportation Act.

"Fifth. The term 'commerce' means commerce among the several States or between any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia and any foreign nation, or between any Territory or the District of Columbia and any State or between any Territory and any other Territory, or between any Territory and the District of Columbia, or within any Territory or the District of Columbia or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign nation.

"Sixth. The term 'employee' as used herein includes every person in the service of a carrier (subject to its continuing authority to supervise and direct the

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manner of rendition of his service) who performs any work defined as that of an employee or subordinate official in the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission now in effect, and as the same may be amended or interpreted by orders hereafter entered by the Commission pursuant to the authority which is hereby conferred upon it to enter orders amending or interpreting such existing orders: Provided, however, That no occupational classification made by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be construed to define the crafts according to which railway employees may be organized by their voluntary action, nor shall the jurisdiction or powers of such employee organizations be regarded as in any way limited or defined by the provisions of this Act or by the orders of the Commission.

"Seventh. The term 'company union' means any group or association of employees formed for the purpose of collective bargaining, whether or not the same shall be formally organized, which was so formed at the suggestion, aid, or under the influence of any carrier or carriers, or its or their officers or agents, and/or whose constitution, bylaws, or actions are under any control or influence of any carrier or carriers or its or their officers or agents.

"Eighth. The term 'representative' means any person or persons, labor union, organization, or corporation, designated, either by a carrier or group of carriers, or by its or their employees to act for it or them.

"Ninth. The term 'district court' includes the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia; and the term 'circuit court of appeals' includes the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

"This Act may be cited as the 'Railway Labor Act'."

SEC. 2. That section 2 of the Railway Labor Act be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

GENERAL DUTIES

"First. Whereas under prevailing economic conditions developed with the aid of governmental authority carriers may organize in corporate or other forms of ownership and control of the means of interstate transportation with opportunities to consolidate or merge their properties, or any part thereof, into one corporation for the ownership, management, and operation thereof; or for two or more carriers jointly to purchase, lease, or contract to operate the properties, or any part thereof, for another; or for any carrier, or two or more carriers jointly, to acquire control of another through purchase of its stock, or for a corporation which is not a carrier to acquire control of two or more carriers through ownership of their stock; or for a corporation which is not a carrier and which has control of one or more carriers to acquire control of another carrier through ownership of its stock; and whereas the individual worker is helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract and to protect his freedom of labor, and thereby to obtain acceptable terms and conditions of employment, wherefore, though he should be free to decline to associate with his fellows, it is necessary that he should have the full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, and that he shall be free from the interference, influence, or coercion of his employer, or its agents, in the designation of such representatives, or in selforganization, or in concerted action for the purpose of collective bargaining and other mutual aid or protection; therefore—

"A. No carrier, its officers, or agents shall change the wages or working conditions of its employees, except in the manner prescribed in this Act, or as set forth in the memorandum of agreement entered into in Chicago, Illinois, on January 31, 1932, between the executives of twenty-one standard labor organizations and the committee of nine authorized to represent the carriers.

"B. No carrier, its officers, or agents shall deny or in any way question the right of its employees to join the labor organization of their choice, and it shall be unlawful for any carrier to interfere in any way with the organization of employees, or to use the funds of the carrier in maintaining company unions, or to influence or coerce employees in an effort to induce them to join or remain members of such company unions.

"C. No carrier, its officers, or agents shall require any person seeking employment to sign any contract or agreement promising to join a company union; and if such contract has been enforced prior to the effective date of this Act, then such carrier shall notify the employees by an appropriate order that such contract has been discarded and is no longer binding on them in any way:

Second. It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether

arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, in order to avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier growing out of any dispute between the carrier and the employees thereof.

"Third. All disputes between a carrier or carriers and its or their employees shall be considered, and, if possible, decided, with all expedition, in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the carriers and by the employees thereof interested in the dispute.

"Fourth. Representatives, for the purpose of this Act, shall be designated by the respective parties without interference, influence, or coercion by either party over the designation of representatives by the other, and neither party shall in any way interfere with, influence, or coerce the other in its choice of representatives. Representatives of employees for the purpose of this Act need not be persons in the employ of the carrier, and no carrier shall, by interference, influence, or coercion, seek in any manner to prevent the designation by its employees as their representative of those who or which are not employees of the carrier. "Fifth. In case of a dispute between a carrier or carriers and its or their employees, arising out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, it shall be the duty of the designated representative or representatives of such carrier and of such employees, within ten days after the receipt of notice of a desire on the part of either party to confer in respect to such dispute, to specify a time and place at which such conference shall be held: Provided, (1) That the place so specified shall be situated upon the line of the carrier or carriers involved unless otherwise mutually agreed upon; and (2) that the time so specified shall allow the designated conferees reasonable opportunity to reach such place of conference, but shall not exceed twenty days from the receipt of such notice: And provided further, That nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to supersede the provisions of any agreement (as to conferences) then in effect between the parties.

"Sixth. Disputes concerning changes in rates of pay, rules, or working conditions shall be dealt with as provided in section 6 and in other provisions of this Act relating thereto.

"Seventh. Every carrier shall notify its employees by printed notices, in such form and posted at such times and places as shall be specified by the Board of Mediation, that all disputes between the carrier and its employees will be handled in accordance with the requirements of this Act, and in such notices there shall be printed verbatim, in large type, this paragraph and the second and third paragraphs of this section. The provisions of said paragraphs are hereby made a part of the contract of employment between the carrier and each employee, and shall be held binding upon the parties, regardless of any other express or implied agreements between them.

"Eighth. If any dispute shall arise between a carrier and a group of its employees as to who are the representatives of such employees designated and authorized in accordance with the requirements of the third paragraph of this section, it shall be the duty of the Board of Mediation, upon request of either party to the dispute, to investigate such dispute and to certify to both parties, in writing, within thirty days after the invocation of its services, the name or names of the individuals or organizations that have been designated and authorized to represent the employees involved in the dispute. In such an investigation, the Board of Mediation shall be authorized to take a secret ballot of the employees involved, or to utilize any other appropriate method of ascertaining the names of their duly designated and authorized representatives in such a manner as ahsll insure the choice of representatives by the employees without interference, influence, or coercion exercised by the carrier.

"Ninth. It shall be the duty of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation to enforce the provisions of this section, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to issue and enforce such order or orders as may be necessary therefor. Any such order issued by the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, pursuant to this section, shall be made public in such reasonable manner as he may determine, and shall become effective as of such date, not less than twenty days from the date of such publication, as the Coordinator shall prescribe in the order.

"Tenth. The willful failure or refusal of any carrier, its officers or agents, to comply with the terms of any such order of the Coordinator, made pursuant to this section, shall be a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, the carrier, officer, or agent offending shall be subject to a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $20,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both fine and imprisonment, for each offense, and each day during which such carrier, officer, or agent shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with the terms of such