Management Unionism and Public Policy on the Railroads and the Airlines

Abstract

Unionism among management personnel, like certain farm commodity prices, tends to reach but not to exceed the level supported by the government. In the several years before 1947 trade union efforts by foremen attracted widespread attention. With the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act and its removal of government protection from supervisory collective bargaining, the virtual collapse of foremen unionism ensued--at least within those industries subject to Taft-Hartley jurisdiction. Above the foreman level, unionism rarely had taken hold in such industries. The Railway Labor Act (RLA), on the other hand, extends its protection to include subordinate officials, although the Act does not define this term. And in industries subject to the RLA, unionization not only of foremen but of personnel well above the level of first-line supervision has long been an important if little-investigated feature of American industrial relations. The focus of this study is on the role played by public policy in supporting management unionism in the railroad and airline industries. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)