American Federation of Labor, Railway Employees Department vs. Union Pacific Railroad Company, Hanson et al. Records
Collection Number: 5366
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
This collection was processed with the help of generous funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).Title:
American Federation of Labor,
Railway Employees Department vs. Union Pacific Railroad Company, Hanson et al.
Records, 1955- 1956
Collection Number:
5366
Creator:
American Federation of Labor
(AFL);
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
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
Quantity:
0.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents) .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
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].
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.
Names:
Hanson, Robert L., appellee
American Federation of Labor, appellants
American Federation of Labor. Railway Employees
Dept., appellants
Union Pacific Railroad Company, appellee
Subjects:
Open and closed shop -- Nebraska
United States. Railway Labor Act.
Railroads. Employees. Legal status, laws, etc.
United States.
Railroads, Employees. Labor Unions. United
States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Records (documents)
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
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.
Container
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Description
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Date
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Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1955 | |
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 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 5 | 1955 | |
October, 1955. The States are Nebraska, Florida, and Mississippi.
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Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 8 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 9 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 10 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 11 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 12 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 13 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 14 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 15 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 16 | 1955 | |
October, 1955.
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Box 1 | Folder 17 | 1956 | |
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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