Business: Airline and National Mediation Board Essay

Submitted By gradstudent4u
Words: 382
Pages: 2

Module 5 Assignment

February 9, 2013
The Railway Labor act was created to enable employees to choose representation for collective bargaining. The act covers rail, air carriers and non-management employees. The purposes of the RLA are so that rail and air carriers can avoid service interruptions, to eliminate restrictions on union joining, to guarantee employees freedom, to provide dispute and grievance settlements (Fossum, 2012). The Railway Labor Act of 1926 was amended to establish the National Mediation board in 1934, which was created according to Fossum, (2012) “mediate contract disputes between carriers and their unions” (p. 86). Employee’s bargaining representation was also included in this amendment.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) must first declare an impasse if a settlement is not reached before any changes or strikes can take place. There must be 30 days after the completion of emergency board reports before any changes or strikes. In my opinion, juridical interpretation and administrative laws of the Railway Labor Act prevents employees from being forced by their employers to bargain with company-controlled unions.
Cases like the one involving American Airlines and the National Mediation Board clearly defines the purposes of the Railway Labor Act. In this case, the airline lost the bid to block union vote because of the over 2000 agent jobs that were lost due to the company filing bankruptcy. These employees were forced to give up their recall rights in order to receive a severance pay which made them ineligible to place their votes (Koenig, 2012). American Airline agents