Railway Labor Executives' Association Miscellany, 1909-1969
Collection Number: 5300
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Railway Labor Executives' Association Miscellany, 1909-1969
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5300
Abstract:
This collection contains select records of the Railway Labor Executives' Association.
Creator:
Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA)
Quanitities:
1.5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The RLEA was founded in 1926 in response to the passage of the Railway Labor Act.
Prior to 1926, there had been an informal association between the railroad labor organizations
so that the various chief executives of the different unions could work together to
form a unified course of action that would benefit all of their members. This group
became more formalized immediately after the end of World War I. The U.S. railroads
had been nationalized as part of the war effort, and the railroad labor organizations
wanted them to remain under federal management, both because of increased productivity
and because of better labor relations with the industry. The effort was ultimately
unsuccessful, and the railroads returned to private industry; however, the railroad
labor organizations had realized the need to have a united front to counter the carriers
and industry groups and lobbyists.
On May 18, 1926, the chief executives of the railroad labor organization met in Washington
D.C., formalized their association with By-Laws, and elected officers to serve the
newly created RLEA. The original purpose, codified in the original preamble, was co-operative
action to obtain and develop consistent interpretations and utilization of the Railway
Labor Act. The RLEA was comprised of the chief executives of the 21 railroad labor
unions, including the president of the Railway Employees' Department of the AFL, and
each member got one vote, regardless of the size of their union. The organization
was voluntary, so no member organization was bound by its decisions. Over the course
of its existence, various member organizations withdrew and then re-affiliated with
the RLEA.
From 1926 to 1938, the RLEA did not maintain an office, but the amount of work and
its importance led the RLEA to open an office in Washington DC and employ a full-time
Executive Secretary-Treasurer to run it. The RLEA did not engage in collective bargaining
itself, but rather lobbied on behalf of its member organizations, securing such achievements
as the Railroad Retirement Act and limiting unemployment for its members during the
Great Depression. The RLEA's various areas of interest, such as retirement, safety,
legal matters, were broken down into committees, each of which reported back to the
executive board on the steps being taken in those areas.
Post World War II, the RLEA played a central role in the Marshall Plan, working with
non-Communist labor organizations in Western Europe to establish labor policy and
also assist in the work of rebuilding the European railroads. The RLEA was also a
major factor in international labor union federations, and its decision to affiliate
with the International Transport Workers' Federation [ITWF] and to encourage the ITWF
not to join with the Soviet affiliated World Federation of Trade Unions was seen as
a major victory for the west.
The RLEA, like its member organizations, did not allow African-American members.
As such, it was only representing the interests of white railroad employees; black
railroad employees were forced, for the most part, to work without recognized union
protection. The exception to this was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters [BSCP],
who in 1948 began a series of successful legal challenges to the jurisdictions over
various classes of work. As BSCP's successes in the courts mounted up, and the RLEA's
member unions and the RLEA itself were being sued for discriminatory practices, the
RLEA finally capitulated in 1950, and accepted the BSCP as a member organization.
In 1950, the RLEA joined with the AFL, CIO, and International Association of Machinists
to form the United Labor Policy Committee. This committee oversaw the labor representatives
of the Wage Stabilization Board.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the importance of the RLEA declined alongside
the decline in the railroad industry itself. As its member unions either merged into
single entities or disaffiliated from the RLEA its influence waned, as did the number
of its members. The RLEA attempted to counter this decline with the purchase of a
railroad at least three different times in the 1970s and 1980s, though they were ultimately
unsuccessful in this venture. Ongoing internal battles between the remaining chief
executives of the railroad unions further weakened the RLEA until in 1997 it disbanded,
handing over its responsibilities to the newly formed AFL-CIO Transportation Trades
Department.
Inclusive date range: 1909-1969
Bulk dates: 1945-1966
This collection consists of miscellaneous records from the Railway Labor Executives'
Association. The majority of the records found in this collection deal with the issues
faced by railroad labor in the 1950s and 1960s when the major carriers began to merge
and to abandon lines. The applications of the carriers to the Interstate Commerce
Committee [ICC] are documented in the Finance Docket filings. Also of note are the
speeches by various railroad labor chief executives in which they speak out against
the mergers because of the effect they would have on the nation's economy and on local
communities whose tax bases depended on the railroad industry. This collection also
contains drafts of a study commissioned by the RLEA about railroad mergers. Also found
are public relations materials from the RLEA addressing the mergers as well as pushing
back against accusations of featherbedding by the carriers. Finally, the correspondence
files contain bulletins and circulars issued by the RLEA about various cases that
effect the employees represented by their member unions.
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
Railway Labor Executives' Association Miscellany #5300. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: /3007: Maurice Neufeld Papers /4055: James O. Morris Office Files /4212: Kheel Center Current Documents Correspondence 5001: American Association for Labor Legislation Records 5001 mf: American Association for Labor Legislation Records on Microfilm 5034: Switchmen's Union of North America Records 5034 MB: Switchmen's Union of North America Memorabilia 5034 P: Switchmen's Union of North America Photographs 5060: U.S. Emergency Board No. 145 Records 5084: Switchmen's Union of North America Additional Records 5139: UTU Records 5141: Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Records 5149: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Records 5182: William J. Doble Papers 5204 mf: Southern Tenant Farmers Union Records on Microfilm 5300: Railway Labor Executives' Association Miscellany 5347: Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, ICC, and Erie Lackawanna Briefs
Regarding the Railroad Merger 5351: International Association of Machinists vs. S. B. Street Records 5405 mf: Switchmen's Union of North America Constitutions on Microfilm 5478: AFL-CIO Railway Employees' Department Records 5478 mf: AFL-CIO Railway Employees' Department Records on Microfilm 5484: Railway Labor Executives' Association Records 5484 AV: Railway Labor Executives' Association Audio-Visual Material 5487: Vernon H. Jensen Collection of International Longshoremen's Association's and
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Materials 5488 A: BRAC Chicago Files 5488 B: BRAC Records 5488 C: BRAC Additional Records 5541: Philip Taft Papers 5552: Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records 5583/5: Archives Organization File (AOF) Part 5 5622: UTU New York State Legislative Board Selected Files 5663 mf: Collective Bargaining Agreements on Microfilm 5728: Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records 5735: BRAC Additional Records 5833: James A. Paddock Additional Papers 5976 mf: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records on Microfilm 5989 mf: Blacks in the Railroad Industry on Microfilm 6030: Archival Collective Bargaining Agreements File 6040 P: Railroad Collection Photographs 6046: Archives Union File (AUF) 6047: Archives Information File 6118 AV: Kheel Center AV Collection
Names:
Keyserling, Leon H. (Leon Hirsch), 1908-1987
Lyon, Arthur E.
Leighty, George E. (George Earle)
Beattie, Donald, S.
Harrison, George M. (George McGregor)
Kennedy, W. P.
Railway Labor Executives Association
Subjects:
Railroads--United States--Employees
Railroads--Employees--Labor unions--United States
Railroads--Mergers--United States
Railroads--Legislation--United States
Collective bargaining--Railroads--United States
United States. Railway Labor Act.
United States. Interstate Commerce Commission
United States. Railroad Retirement Board
CONTAINER LIST
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Representation Authorization Cards, SUNA, Missouri Pacific Employees
|
1951-1952 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
RLEA pamphlets: speeches by executive board members
|
1959-1961 |
|
Scope and Contents
W. P. Kennedy, BRT; George M. Harrison, BRC; G. E. Leighty, RLEA Chairman
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
"Why railroad men are losing their jobs." Gordon C. Harvey, Switchman, Rock Island
Railway
|
1937 |
|
Scope and Contents
circa 1937
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Niagara Frontier Committee for the Defense of America, correspondence
|
1940-1943 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 |
RLEA Description and General Explanation of S. 1911 and HR 4805
|
1944 |
|
Scope and Contents
Amendments to Railroad Retirement Act
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Mergers, general: Press Releases, Correspondence
|
1950-1963 |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Interurban Electric Railway, abandonment
|
1946 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 12792
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Merger: Missouri-Pacific Railroad and Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
|
1965 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 21755
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 9a |
Merger: Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
|
1963 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 21160
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 9b |
Rutland Railway, abandonment
|
1962-1963 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 21870
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 10a |
Merger: Seaboard Air Line Railroad and Atlantic Coastline Railroad [folder1 of 2]
|
1962-1964 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 21215
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 10b |
Merger: Seaboard Air Line Railroad and Atlantic Coastline Railroad [folder2 of 2]
|
1962-1964 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC finance Docket No. 21215
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 11 |
RLEA Voting Record: How did your U.S. Senators and Congressmen vote?
|
1966 |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Featherbedding: press releases, correspondence
|
1945-1963 |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Merger: Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western
Railway
|
1939-1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Dispute re assignment of conductors in Escanaba Yards, Michigan
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 3a |
"Railroad Merger Mania: Its Causes and Cure" [folder 1 of 2]
|
1962 |
|
Scope and Contents
A background manual concerning railroad consolidation and the public interest, from
the Railroad Labor Executives' Board.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 3b |
"Railroad Merger Mania: Its Causes and Cure" [folder 1 of 2]
|
1962 |
|
Scope and Contents
A background manual concerning railroad consolidation and the public interest, from
the Railroad Labor Executives' Board.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 4 |
RLEA, Reports
|
1932-1945 |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 |
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad, potential merger and abandonment
|
1934-1937 |
|
Scope and Contents
ICC Finance Docket No. 10947
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 6 |
Brief filed by RLEA in front of ICC, in re Oklahoma Railway Co.
|
1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Railway Labor Act Docket No. 15
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 7 |
Correspondence
|
1936-1944 |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 |
Correspondence
|
1947-1952 |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 |
Correspondence
|
1954-1956 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Correspondence
|
1959-1961 |
| Box 3 | Folder 1 |
Correspondence
|
1962 |
| Box 3 | Folder 2 |
Correspondence
|
1963 |
| Box 3 | Folder 3 |
Correspondence
|
1966-1969 |
| Box 3 | Folder 4a |
ICC Finance Docket No.s 22102 through 22198 [folder 1 of 4]
|
1962-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 4b |
ICC Finance Docket No.s 22102 through 22198 [folder 2 of 4]
|
1962-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 4c |
ICC Finance Docket No.s 22102 through 22198 [folder 3 of 4]
|
1962-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 4d |
ICC Finance Docket No.s 22102 through 22198 [folder 4 of 4]
|
1962-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 5 |
Letter from the American Railroad Employees and Investors Association
|
1909 |
| Box 3 | Folder 6 |
Miscellaneous Agreements, 1945 and 1967
|
1945-1967 |