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47-566: The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association ( AMFA ) is an independent craft union representing aircraft maintenance technicians and related employees (ground equipment technicians, maintenance controllers, plant maintenance technicians, facilities maintenance technicians, appearance technicians, maintenance instructors) in the United States and Canada . AMFA is committed to the principles of craft unionism . It only seeks to represent aircraft maintenance technicians and related employees,

94-694: A "craft or class" recognized by the National Mediation Board under the Railway Labor Act applied to airlines. It believes that three characteristics in particular separate AMFA from all other unions: first, direct member control over their local and the finances of it; second, a democratic process where officers are elected instead of appointed, and those same officers can be recalled by the membership; and third, open negotiations where members are invited to attend and participate in collective bargaining sessions. These three things allow

141-526: A government-appointed Board of Mediation to attempt to resolve those disputes that board of adjustment could not. The RLA promoted voluntary arbitration as the best method for resolving those disputes that the Board of Mediation could not settle. Congress strengthened the procedures in the 1934 amendments to the Act, which created a procedure for resolving whether a union had the support of the majority of employees in

188-480: A lawful strike but may not, however, discharge them except for misconduct or eliminate their jobs to retaliate against them for striking. It is not clear whether the employer can discharge workers for striking before all of the RLA's bargaining and mediation processes have been exhausted. The employer must also allow strikers to replace replacements hired on a temporary basis and permanent replacements who have not completed

235-600: A particular "craft or class", while turning the Board of Mediation into a permanent agency, the National Mediation Board (NMB), with broader powers. Congress extended the RLA to cover airline employees in 1936. Unlike the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which adopts a less interventionist approach to the way the parties conduct collective bargaining or resolve their disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements,

282-438: A rule, in small shops in which they had little contact with workers in other fields. Some of these early unions also came out of a guild tradition in which skilled workmen often owned their own shops or, if they worked for another, had a good deal of control over how the work was done, which they policed by maintaining standards for admission into the trade; requiring entrants to go through an apprenticeship program controlled by

329-475: A union claims to represent a carrier's employees. The NMB defines the craft or class of employees eligible to vote, which almost always extends to all of the employees performing a particular job function throughout the company's operations, rather than just those at a particular site or in a particular region. A union seeking to represent an unorganized group of employees must produce signed and dated authorization cards or other proof of support from at least 50% of

376-495: A union during employment), and required both sides to maintain the status quo during any arbitration proceedings and for three months after an award was issued. The arbitration procedures were rarely used. A successor statute, the Newlands Labor Act of 1913, which created the Board of Mediation, proved to be more effective. It was largely superseded when the federal government nationalized the railroads in 1917, after

423-607: Is handled through the "Section 6" process, named for the section of the Act that describes the bargaining process. The railroad carriers have formed a coalition for national handling of Railway Labor Act bargaining under Section 6, named the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC). The railroad unions also form coalitions of various unions to increase bargaining power in the Section 6 process. Carriers may lawfully replace strikers engaged in

470-605: Is located in Aurora, Colorado. Local officers and representatives are elected by the local membership to serve two-year terms and can be recalled by the membership. A petition signed by 25 percent of the members begins the recall procedure. The National Office advocates for the craft and assists the Locals throughout the system. The National Executive Council hires professionals to provide CPA accounting and legal representation. National officers oversee these professionals and report to

517-521: The Esch–Cummins Act (Transportation Act of 1920). The RLB soon destroyed whatever moral authority its decisions might have had in a series of decisions. In 1921, it ordered a twelve percent reduction in employees' wages, which the railroads were quick to implement. The following year, when shop employees of the railroads launched a national strike , the RLB issued a declaration that purported to outlaw

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564-595: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 . Congress later passed the Arbitration Act of 1888, which authorized the creation of arbitration panels with the power to investigate the causes of labor disputes and to issue non-binding arbitration awards. The Act was a complete failure since only one panel was ever convened under the Act: in the case of the 1894 Pullman Strike , it issued its report only after

611-800: The post-war red scare that reached its peak in 1919, and in the Palmer Raids of the same period. The next challenge to the dominance of craft unions within the AFL came from inside, as John L. Lewis of the Mine Workers, David Dubinsky of the ILGWU, Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America , Charles Howard of the International Typographical Union, Thomas McMahon, head of

658-470: The AMFA membership to effectively maintain control over their union. AMFA was created in 1962 by technicians, most notably its founder O. V. Delle-Femine, but did not represent any carrier until 1964, when it won recognition at Ozark Airlines. Later, AMFA won bargaining rights at Alaska Airlines , ATA Airlines , Independence Air , Northwest Airlines and Southwest Airlines . Its national headquarters

705-529: The Board of Mediation, but they were later enforced under a National Mediation Board. In 1877, protests broke out in Martinsburg, West Virginia when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut worker pay for the third time in a year. West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent militia under Colonel Charles J. Faulkner to restore order but was unsuccessful largely because of militia sympathies with

752-819: The Federation. One early challenge came from outside: the Western Federation of Miners , a union that had fought a series of violent battles with mine owners over the right to represent mill workers as well as hard rock miners, joined with activists from other unions and from the Socialist Labor Party of America to form the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which aimed to organize all workers, regardless of craft, nationality, gender or race, into one big union . In practical terms

799-483: The IWW pursued organizing on an industrial basis. In at least one sense the IWW practiced (and practices) the most egalitarian form of industrial unionism, organizing and accepting membership of workers in any given industry whether they are currently employed or not. The IWW also welcomed immigrant workers, minorities and women as equals. The IWW was successful in some cases, leading a strike of immigrant workers employed in

846-491: The NLRA. The RLA categorizes all labor disputes as either "major" disputes, which concern the making or modification of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties, or "minor" disputes, which involve the interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements. Unions can strike over major disputes only after they have exhausted the RLA's "almost interminable" negotiation and mediation procedures. They cannot, on

893-563: The NLRA. The NMB can order a rerun election if it determines that either an employer or union has interfered with employees' free choice. Unlike the NLRA, which gives the NLRB nearly exclusive power to enforce the Act, the RLA allows employees to sue in federal court to challenge an employer's violation of the Act. The courts can grant employees reinstatement and backpay, along with other forms of equitable relief. At least one court has ruled that imposition of railroad contract terms does not violate

940-540: The President of the Carpenters , made a slighting comment about a member of the fledgling union of tire factory workers who was delivering an organizing report. Lewis responded that Hutcheson’s comment was "small potatoes", to which Hutcheson replied "I was raised on small potatoes, that is why I am so small." After some more words Lewis punched Hutcheson, knocking him to the ground, then relit his cigar and returned to

987-472: The RLA specifies both (1) the negotiation and mediation procedures that unions and employers must exhaust before they may change the status quo and (2) the methods for resolving "minor" disputes over the interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements. The RLA permits strikes over major disputes only after the union has exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures and bars almost all strikes over minor disputes. The RLA also authorizes

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1034-729: The US entered World War I . (See United States Railroad Administration .) The Adamson Act , enacted in 1916, provided workers with an eight-hour day at the same daily wage they had received previously for a ten-hour day, and it required time-and-a-half pay for overtime work. Another law enacted that year, amid increasing concerns about the war in Europe, gave US President Woodrow Wilson the power to "take possession of and assume control of any system of transportation" for transportation of troops and war material. Wilson exercised that authority on December 26, 1917. While Congress considered nationalizing

1081-881: The United Textile Workers, John Sheridan of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union (the descendant of the WFM), Harvey Fremming from the Oil Workers Union and Max Zaritsky of the Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers joined to form a Committee for Industrial Organizing within the AFL. The craft unions demanded that Lewis and his committee stop; Lewis persisted. This dispute came to a head at the AFL’s convention in Atlantic City in 1935, when William Hutcheson ,

1128-636: The brick masons union, workers who sawed wood to build structures within the plant should be carpenters, and so forth. Those demands effectively ruled out any possibility of organizing the industry. In other cases unions within the AFL organized on an industrial basis: the United Mine Workers , the United Brewery Workers and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union admitted to membership all workers in

1175-566: The carpenters' union, the plasterers join the plasterers' union, and the painters belong to the painters' union. Each craft union has its own administration, its own policies, its own collective bargaining agreements and its own union halls. The first unions established in Russia in the early nineteenth century tended, by nature of the industries in which their members worked, to be craft unions: shoemakers , cordwainers (shoemakers who work with cordovan leather) and typesetters all worked, as

1222-581: The construction industry, and even appears, in very muted form, in some mass production industries, such as automobile manufacturing, where skilled trades employees have pressed their own agendas within the union. Railway Labor Act The Railway Labor Act is a United States federal law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration , and mediation for strikes to resolve labor disputes. Its provisions were originally enforced under

1269-419: The courts to enjoin strikes if the union has not exhausted those procedures. On the other hand, the RLA imposes fewer restrictions on the tactics that unions may use when they do have the right to strike. The RLA, unlike the NLRA, allows secondary boycotts against other RLA-regulated carriers and permits employees to engage in other types of strikes, such as intermittent strikes, that might be unprotected under

1316-610: The craft or class. A party attempting to oust an incumbent union must produce evidence of support from a majority of the craft or class and then the NMB must conduct an election. If the employees are unrepresented and the employer agrees, the NMB may certify the union based on the authorization cards alone. The NMB usually uses mail ballots to conduct elections, unlike the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has historically preferred walk-in elections under

1363-504: The industry, or attached to it. Even in those unions, however, craft distinctions sometimes surfaced. In the ILGWU, for example, the cutters, who were often primarily of English, Irish, and German stock, were almost exclusively males, were better paid, and were typically more skilled, often looked down on the immigrant, largely female, unskilled "operators" who ran sewing machines in their shops or elsewhere. The ILGWU also tended to group its workers based on seemingly trivial distinctions between

1410-438: The membership. Candidates for national office need the endorsement of only one Local to have his or her name placed on the ballot. National officers serve four-year terms, and are subject to the same recall procedures as local officials. Craft union Under this approach, each union is organized according to the craft, or specific work function, of its members. For example, in the building trades, all carpenters belong to

1457-420: The other hand, strike over minor disputes, either during the arbitration procedures or after an award is issued. The federal courts have the power to enjoin a strike over a major dispute if the union has not exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures. The Norris-LaGuardia Act dictates the procedures that the court must follow. Once the NMB releases the parties from mediation, however, they retain

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1504-422: The power to engage in strikes or lockouts, even if they subsequently resume negotiations or the NMB offers mediation again. The federal courts likewise have the power to enjoin a union from striking over arbitrable disputes, that is minor disputes. The court may, on the other hand, also require the employer to restore the status quo as a condition of any injunctive relief against a strike. Major dispute bargaining

1551-518: The prevailing pattern of division of the workforce into "crafts" and "classes" and the separate craft patterns persisted into the late twentieth century. While both the Knights of Labor and Eugene V. Debs ' American Railway Union attempted to organize railroad workers on an industrial basis, those efforts were defeated, in some cases by government intervention, injunctions, and force of arms. The attempt to impose craft distinctions in other industries

1598-472: The railroads on a permanent basis after the war, the Wilson administration announced that it was returning the railroad system to its owners. However, Congress tried to preserve, the most successful features of the federal wartime administration, which were the adjustment boards, by creating a Railroad Labor Board (RLB) with the power to issue nonbinding proposals for the resolution of labor disputes, as part of

1645-448: The rostrum. The incident personified the conflict between craft and industrial organizing. The CIO proceeded to organize mass production workers on an industrial basis. The AFL's response to the challenge from the CIO was twofold: both fighting a rearguard action before the National Labor Relations Board to preserve its right to represent the skilled trades in many of the plants that the CIO

1692-525: The strike had been ended by a federal court injunction , backed by federal troops. Congress attempted to correct the shortcomings in the Erdman Act , enacted in 1898. The Erdman Act likewise provided for voluntary arbitration but made any award issued by the panel binding and enforceable in federal court. It also outlawed discrimination against employees for union activities, prohibited " yellow dog contracts " (in which an employee agreed not to join

1739-487: The strike, and the US Department of Justice obtained an injunction that carried out that declaration. From then on, railway unions refused to have anything to do with the RLB. The RLA was the product of negotiations between the major railroad companies and the unions that represented their employees. Like its predecessors, it relied on boards of adjustment, established by the parties, to resolve labor disputes, with

1786-404: The top of the ladder took their elevated status very seriously; as an example, locomotive engineers on many railroads made a point of wearing top hats and a good suit of clothes while at work to demonstrate that they did not get their hands dirty or perform manual labor. These craft distinctions in the railroad industry were remarkably long-lived; the Railway Labor Act , passed in 1925, recognized

1833-411: The training required before they can become active employees. The employer may, on the other hand, allow less senior employees who crossed the picket line to keep the jobs they were given after crossing the line, even if the seniority rules in effect before the strike would have required the employer to reassign their jobs to returning strikers. The NMB has the responsibility for conducting elections when

1880-502: The type of garment they produced: among the locals created by the ILGWU in the first decade of its existence was one titled the Wrapper, Kimono and House Dress Makers' Union. Decades later, as the industry changed, it created sportwear locals. As long as the craft unions were the dominant power in the AFL, they took every step possible to block the organizing of mass production industries. This led to challenges from both inside and outside

1927-508: The union continued to treat them as second-class members until they seceded to form the International Woodworkers of America in 1937. Craft unionism has receded in many industries as a result of changes in technology, the concentration of ownership and jurisdictional conflicts between craft unions. Craft unionism has not, however, disappeared: it is still the norm in the airline industry, survives despite much upheaval in

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1974-523: The union, rather than the employer; and dictating the processes, tools, standards, and pace of work. These traditions persisted into the 20th century in fields such as printing (in which the International Typographical Union would enforce its own rules determining how work was done in union shops) and the construction industry. Workers carried these patterns of organizing into new industries as well. The railroad brotherhoods,

2021-487: The unions formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, made minute distinctions between groups that worked alongside each other; as an example, more than twenty years passed between the original chartering of the International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and the amendment of its charter to permit the union to represent the oilers and helpers who worked with them. Those who saw themselves at

2068-464: The woolens industry in Lawrence, Massachusetts , and many smaller strikes in longshore, agriculture and the lumber industry. In its first three years it was greatly hampered by deep political divisions, such as the question of unions engaging in electoral politics (resolved in favor of ruling out alliances with political parties). The IWW was seriously damaged by government prosecution and vigilantism in

2115-751: The workers. The governor reluctantly called for federal assistance, which restored peace to Martinsburg but proved to be controversial, with many newspapers critical of the governor's characterization of the strikes as an "insurrection", rather than an act of desperation. One notable paper recorded a striking worker's perspective that he "had might as well die by the bullet as to starve to death by inches." A day after federal troops had restored order in Martinsburg, similar protests erupted in Maryland and spread to New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri. The strikes, which lasted six weeks, would come to be known as

2162-661: Was not so successful. In the steel industry, for example, after the routing of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers in its titanic strike against Andrew Carnegie 's steel operations at Homestead, Pennsylvania , in 1892, and the defeat, a generation later, of the 1919 steel strike , the craft unions within the AFL claimed that any attempt to organize steel workers must recognize their separate craft jurisdictions: workers who used bricks to build kilns or similar structures would have to belong to

2209-586: Was organizing and attempting to emulate it. Thus, within a decade of the founding of the CIO, unions that had been primarily craft unions, such as the International Association of Machinists , originally a railroad union with much of its membership in the construction industry, began to make serious efforts to organize on an industrial basis as well. Even the Carpenters took in sawmill workers who had organized on an industrial basis, although

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