Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records

Collection Number: 6087

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).

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:

Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records, 1944-1967

Collection Number:

6087

Creator:

Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA)

Quantity:

2 linear ft.

Forms of Material:

Records (documents).

Repository:

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library

Abstract:

This collection contains select general office files from the Railway Labor Executives' Association.

Language:

Collection material in English

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

The Railway Labor Executives' Asscoation (RLEA) was a federation of railroad labor unions, both operating and non-operating, in the United States and Canada. The RLEA was founded in 1926 and dissolved in 1997, with its duties having been taken over by the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department. The RLEA's main purpose was to serve as a lobbying group for railroad labor and act in an advisory capacity with regards to rail transport policy in North America.

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 WW1. 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 WW2, 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.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Inclusive date range: 1944-967

Bulk dates: 1962-1967

This collection is comprised of select records from the executive board of the RLEA. The majority of the records are concerned with the various mergers between railroad carriers that were prevalent in the United States starting in the 1960s. The merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad with the New York Central is the most extensively documented merger, but other mergers between the major carriers are also documented. Of note is the Keyserling Project, a study commissioned by the RLEA to examine the impact railroad mergers would have on both the economy of the nation as a whole, as well as the impact these mergers and subsequent shuttering of facilities would have on local municipalities. The overall thrust of these studies was focused on the job losses of the employees represented by the member unions of the RLEA. The RLEA at this time was also focused on wage rates for railroad employees, and working on plans to stabilize wages and rules for its members. Also of note are the IRS Form 990s filled out by the RLEA for fiscal years 1944 through 1962, each of which lists the member unions currently comprising the RLEA's membership. Additional records found in this collection document the day-to-day work of running the RLEA offices, including insurance policies for employees, general personnel records, and resumes from various applicants.

SUBJECTS

Names:

Keyserling, Leon H. (Leon Hirsch), 1908-1987

Lyon, Arthur E.

Leighty, George E. (George Earle)

Beattie, Donald, S.

Harrison, George M. (George McGregor)

Railway Labor Executives Association

Subjects:

Railroads--United States--Employees

Railroads--Employees--Labor unions--United States

Railroads--Mergers--United States

Collective bargaining > Law and legislation > United States.

Collective bargaining > Railroads > United States.

Railroads > Employees > Legal status, laws, etc. > United States.

United States. Railway Labor Act.

United States. National Mediation Board.

Form and Genre Terms:

Records (documents)

INFORMATION FOR USERS

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:

Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records #6087. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

RELATED MATERIALS

CONTAINER LIST

Container		Description	Date
Box 1	Folder 1	Subject File: Railroad mergers	1960-1962
Box 1	Folder 2a	Keyserling Project: Railroad Merger Study [folder 1 of 2]	1961-1962
Box 1	Folder 2b	Keyserling Project: Railroad Merger Study [folder 2 of 2]	1961-1962
Box 1	Folder 2c	"The Move Towards Railroad Mergers: A Great National Problem" by Leon H. Keyserling	1962
		Published by RLEA; foreword by G. E. Leighty, chairman, RLEA
Box 1	Folder 3a	Additional Keyserling Project Materials [folder 1 of 3]	1961-1962
		Manuscript Draft
Box 1	Folder 3b	Additional Keyserling Project Materials [folder 2 of 3]	1961-1962
		Chapter drafts and correspondence
Box 1	Folder 3c	Additional Keyserling Project Materials [folder 3 of 3]	1962
		Press reaction to Keyserling study
Box 1	Folder 4	Legislative Representatives	1962
Box 1	Folder 5	Passes, Railroad, for RLEA board members	1962
Box 1	Folder 6	Personnel Records, General	1962
		RESTRICTED
Box 1	Folder 7	Prospective Employees	1962
		RESTRICTED
Box 1	Folder 8	Financial, General	1962
Box 1	Folder 9	Statements and Schedules for the General Fund	1960-1962
Box 1	Folder 10	Public Relations Program Advertisements	1962
		"Exposing the Railroad 'Poverty' Myth" posters, newspaper advertisements, and letters to editors regarding the issue
Box 1	Folder 11a	Committee to Study Railroad Mergers, Etc. [folder 1 of 2]	1962
Box 1	Folder 11b	Committee to Study Railroad Mergers, Etc. [folder 2 of 2]	1962
Box 1	Folder 12	Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway, Rules Movement	1962
Box 1	Folder 13	Job Stabilization Movement on the MKT Railroad	1962
		(Folder empty of records at time of donation)
Box 1	Folder 14	1961 Wage and Rules Movement	1962
Box 1	Folder 15	Radio-Telephone Communications	1962
Box 1	Folder 16a	FCC Rules and Regulations Volume 5, with supplements [folder 1 of 2]	1961
		February 1961
Box 1	Folder 16b	FCC Rules and Regulations Volume 5, with supplements [folder 2 of 2]	1961
		February 1961
Box 1	Folder 17	1962 Rules Movement	1962
Box 1	Folder 18	Travelers Insurance, Group Policy	1962
Box 1	Folder 19	Union Shop, General	1962
Box 1	Folder 20	Diversification of Railroads, Piggybacking	1962
Box 1	Folder 21	Railway Labor Building	1962
Box 1	Folder 22	Committees, General	1962
Box 1	Folder 23	Safety Committee	1962
Box 1	Folder 24	Railroad Labor Participation in 1962 Presidential Conference on Occupational Safety	1961-1962
Box 1	Folder 25	Operating Unions	1962
		BLE, BLF&amp;E, ORC&amp;B, BRT, and SUNA
Box 2	Folder 1	Postage Meter	1962
Box 2	Folder 2a	PRR-NYC Merger. Public Relations Committee [folder 1 of 3]	1962
		"Committee to Preserve Railroad Service"
Box 2	Folder 2b	PRR-NYC Merger. Public Relations Committee [folder 2 of 3]	1962
		"Committee to Preserve Railroad Service"
Box 2	Folder 2c	PRR-NYC Merger. Public Relations Committee [folder 3 of 3]	1962
		"Committee to Preserve Railroad Service"
Box 2	Folder 3	Financial Statements	1962
Box 2	Folder 4	Internal Revenue Service, Form 990	1944-1962
		Tax exempt filing; each year contains a list of the member unions participating in RLEA
Box 2	Folder 5	Workmen's Compensation Tax	1962
Box 2	Folder 6	Travelers Insurance Company, Group Policy	1962
Box 2	Folder 7	Government printing Office, Account No. 11256, receipts	1962
Box 2	Folder 8a	Wages and Rules, General [folder 1 of 3]	1964
Box 2	Folder 8b	Wages and Rules, General [folder 2 of 3]	1964
Box 2	Folder 8c	Wages and Rules, General [folder 3 of 3]	1964
Box 2	Folder 9	Legislation. Time Uniformity Bill	1967
		Time Uniformity Act of 1966
Box 2	Folder 10	Legislation. Railroad Carryover of Net Operating Losses	1967
Box 2	Folder 11	Legislation. User Charges	1967
		Highway, waterway and airway user acts
Box 2	Folder 12	Legislation. Railway Labor Act	1967
Box 2	Folder 13a	Legislation. General. [folder 1 of 2]	1967
Box 2	Folder 13b	Legislation. General. [folder 2 of 2]	1967
Box 2	Folder 14	Legislation. Civil Rights. FEPC.	1967
		Fair Employment Practice Committee

Contents

Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records

Collection Number: 6087

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library