Originally Posted by
crxpilot
Good idea rehashed.....
Changing the Railway Labor Act
So has any union or labor group (ie. ALPA, Teamsters etc) ever tried to actively change the rules of the RLA in regards to an automatic “release” timeline?
For example, 2 years of negotiations, 1 year of mediation, 60 days to cool off and then you are allowed an AUTOMATIC release to self help at that point.
Everybody fights their own negotiations with the current rules in place with almost no hope of ever being released for self help and companies knowing this and dragging out limitless negotiations.
If all the work groups got together and lobbied for an automatic release timeline, at least there would be a better chance for labor contracts to move forward.
Not saying it’s a bad idea but consider this: how would that play out in 2002 or 2008? I understand that when management wants concessions they come for them even if the contract is not amendable, but let’s consider its flat year in the economy, not growth or recession, do we want our contracts to be amendable or do we want them to expire? At which point management can impose whatever they want and we can go on strike if we don’t like it or it’s amendable and status quo must be maintained indefinitely until a new agreement is ratified or release is granted by the NMB.
Right now it seems that dragging things out under the RLA is only of benefit to management but there are scenarios where dragging things out could be a good strategy for us