American Federation of Labor, Railway Employees Department vs. Union Pacific Railroad
Company, Hanson et al. Records, 1955- 1956
Collection Number: 5366
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
American Federation of Labor Railway Employees Department vs. Union Pacific Railroad
Company, Hanson et al. Records, 1955- 1956
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5366
Abstract:
This collection consists of judicial opinions, amicus briefs, and a law journal article
relating to a case argued before both the Nebraska State Supreme Court and the United
States Supreme Court. This was a case designed to determine the constitutionality
of the union shop provision of the Railway Labor Act. The union shop provision was
amended to the act in 1951 [Section 2, Eleventh]. The case was argued before the Nebraska
Supreme Court in July 1955, and in front of the United States Supreme Court in October
1955 [No. 451].
Creator:
American Federation of Labor
Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP)
Nebraska. Supreme Court
Nebraska, Amicus Curiae
Florida, Amicus Curiae
Mississippi, Amicus Curiae
South Carolina, Amicus Curiae
Virginia, Amicus Curiae
Texas, Amicus Curiae
South Dakota, Amicus Curiae
Utah, Amicus Curiae
Quanitities:
0.5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The Railway Labor Act [RLA], which applies to employees of interstate rail and air
carriers, was amended in 1951 to add a union shop provision [Section 2, Eleventh].
Prior to 1951, the RLA did not have this clause, but rather specified that union membership
could not be a requirement to employment nor were union-dues check-offs allowed. This
was to curb the possibility of company controlled labor organizations serving as bargaining
agents with themselves at the expense of the employees. By 1951, these company dominated
unions were no longer a factor, and after lobbying by railroad labor groups, the above
mentioned amendment was added to the RLA, empowering unions to enter into union shop
agreements with railroad carriers. The amendment to the RLA reads, in part, that labor
organizations "shall be permitted...to make agreements, requiring, as a condition
of continued employment, that within 60 days the beginning of such employment all
employees shall become members of the labor organization representing their craft
or class" [Section 2, Eleventh (a)]. In addition to allowing the union shop, the amendment
also explicitly stated that this amendment superseded any laws or statutes passed
at the local or state level. However, the amendment did not repeal the prior injunction
against union shop; it merely superseded it. This is in contrast to the Taft-Hartley
Act, which allows individual states to impose more stringent measures against unions.
At the time of the amendment to the RLA, there were eighteen states with right to
work laws that outlawed union shop agreements; eleven of these were in the South.
In 1953, Union Pacific Railroad Company [UP] entered into a union shop agreement
with sixteen labor unions. The plaintiffs, Robert L. Hanson and other non-union employees
of UP, sued the company and the labor unions in a district court in Nebraska to halt
the union shop agreement because Nebraska has a right to work clause in its state
constitution. The plaintiffs argued that in addition to being unconstitutional under
the state constitution, they would suffer irreperable injury by being forced to pay
dues, fees, and assessments to an organization they were being compelled to join.
Conversely, the unions argued that these employees, dubbed "free riders," enjoyed
all the benefits the unions achieved for employees through collective bargaining without
paying their share of the costs of conducting those bargaining agreements.
The district court judge issued the injunction and in 1954 found in favor of the
plaintiffs. The unions appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Nebraska which, in
an opinion written by Justice Adolph Wenke, upheld the lower court's decision. The
labor unions then appealled the case to the United States Supreme Court.
The United States Supreme Court found the union shop provision of the RLA constitutional.
Justice Douglas wrote in his opinion, "We only hold that the requirement for financial
support of the collective-bargaining agency by all who receive the benefits of its
work is within the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause."
The complete text of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision may be found here.
Inclusive date range: 1955-1956
Bulk date: 1955
This collection consists of the released opinion of the Supreme Court of Nebraska
in the case of Hanson v. Union Pacific Railroad Company [160 Neb. 669, 71 N.W. (2d)
526 (1955)], fourteen amicus briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court by
various enitities after the suit was successfully appealed, the brief Robert L. Hanson
and his fellow individual appellees filed with the Supreme Court, and an article written
by J. A. McClain, Jr., dean of the School of Law of Duke University on the ruling
of the Supreme Court.
The opinion of the Nebraska Supreme Court was written by Justice Adolph Wenke and
found in favor of the plaintiffs. Amicus briefs were filed by other individuals opposed
to union shops, organizations that supported right to work legislation, and individual
American states and commonwealths that had right to work laws. The organizations represented
in the amicus briefs are the American Farm Bureau Federation , the National Right
to Work Committee, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States, and the Southern States Industrial Council. The states and commonwealths
who filed amicus briefs are South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, South Dakota, and Utah;
Nebraska, Florida, and Mississippi filed their brief jointly.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
American Federation of Labor, Railway Employees Department vs. Union Pacific Railroad
Company, Hanson et al. Records #5366. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5378: M.E. Sandsberry, Jr. et al. vs. Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company
et al. Records
Names:
Hanson, Robert L., appellee
American Federation of Labor, appellants
American Federation of Labor. Railway Employees Dept., appellants
Union Pacific Railroad Company, appellee
United States. Railway Labor Act
Subjects:
Open and closed shop -- Nebraska
Railroads -- Employees -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States
Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States
CONTAINER LIST
Container
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Description
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Date
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Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Opinion Released by the Nebraska Supreme Court on July 1, 1955 in re Hanson, et al.
v. Union Pacific, et al.
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
Robert L. Hanson, et al., appellees v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation,
appellee, Railway Employees' Department, American Federation of Labor, et al., appellants.
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Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Brief of the Sandsberry Petitioners as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Brief of Lafayette A Hooser et al employees discharged under union shop contracts
on several railroads
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Brief of Robert L. Hanson, et al
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Brief for the States as Amici Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955. The States are Nebraska, Florida, and Mississippi.
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Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Brief for American Farm Bureau Federation as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Brief for Charles L. Bradford et al as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Brief of the State of South Carolina as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Brief of Lindsay Almond Jr. Attorney General of Virginia, as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Brief of the State of Texas as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Brief for the National Right To Work Committee as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Brief of the National Association of Manufacturers of U.S.A. as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Brief for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Brief of the State of South Dakota as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Brief of the Southern States Industrial Council as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Brief for the State of Utah as Amicus Curiae
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1955 |
Scope and Contents
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 17 |
"The Union Shop Amendment: Compulsory 'Freedom" To Join a Union"
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1956 |
Scope and Contents
by J. A. McClain, Jr., Dean of the School of Law at Duke University. Reprinted from
American Bar Association Journal, August 1956.
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