Railroads

3921

Railroads

increases were secured from time to time, a
twelve-hour day, later a ten-hour day, and
eventually assisted by legislation, an eight-
hour day was established. The eight-hour
day was established by the Adamson Eight-
Hour Law of 1916 which was upheld by the
United States Supreme Court in 1917. As
now worked out in accordance with this act
and with the wage agreements between the
railroads and the train-service brotherhoods
freight train-crew wages are paid on a basis
of a standard eight-hour day of 100 miles
with punitive wage payments of time and
one-half for overtime.

Machinery for the arbitration of railroad
labor disputes has been provided for by
Congressional action. Laws of 1887 and 1888
authorized the selection of three arbitrators
by the railroad companies and their em-
ployees to act in controversies arising be-
tween carriers and their employees engaged
in interstate traffic. This power was never
utilized, and the acts were succeeded by the
Erdmann Act of 1898, amended in 1911, and
again in 1913, in the latter year by the New-
lands Act, which provides for the creation
of a permanent Board of Mediation and
Conciliation and for arbitration, when re-
quired, by arbitrators representing both
parties to the controversy. The most ambi-
tious legislation relating to arbitration, and
in general to the relations of the railroads
with their employees was, however, con-
tained in provisions of the Transportation
Act of 1920, providing for the creation of
the Railroad Labor Board. This was to have
nine members. It was intended to decide
railroad labor matters in much the same man-
ner as the Interstate Commerce Commission
was to deal with railroad rates or other
phases of regulation. It did assist in solving
the railroad labor problems following the
return of the railroads to private control in
1920, but dissatisfaction with its activity both
on the part of the railroads and the unions
resulted in its abolition in May, 1926 and
the substitution therefor of the arbitration
methods provided in the Railway Labor Act
passed at that time. In this act the railroads
and employees are admonished to exert every
reasonable effort to make and maintain
agreements concerning rates of pay, hours of
labor or working conditions and to settle dis-
putes as expeditiously as possible to avoid
interruptions of service, In case of disagree-
ment the carrier and its employees are re-
quired to confer in the effort to arrive at
settlement of the dispute. However, should

such conference be unavailing it is provided
that the matters at issue shall be referred in
detail to an adjustment board.

In case such a board should fail to arrive
at a decision a further means of appeal is
provided to a board of arbitration of three
(or six) members, one member to be chosen
by the carrier, and one by the employees,
these two to select the third. In case the two
arbitrators fail to agree on the third arbi-
trator, the latter may be chosen by the
Board of Mediation. The Board of Media-
tion is a permanent organization of five
members appointed by the President of the
United States, having permanent headquar-
ters at Washington, but being empowered to
meet elsewhere if desirable. On the whole,
relations between the railroads and labor in
the United States have been marked by few
disturbances of great extent.

Shortly after the return of the railroads
to private control, on March i, 1920, an
agitation was started by the employees for
increased wages to compensate for increased
living costs at that time. Sporadic strikes
occurred among various of the lesser paid
crafts—shopmen, firemen, brakemen, etc.—
and for a time railroad traffic practically
ceased on many lines, resulting in unprece-
dented congestion at a time of exceedingly
great business activity. As soon as the new
Railroad Labor Board was appointed and
could act on the case, it granted increased
wages, issuing its decision in May and mak-
ing the increases retroactive to January i.
Other serious labor difficulties developed in
1922 in the strike of the railroad shop forces.
Service on many railroads came almost to
a standstill for several days and there was
much violence. An injunction against tms
violence was granted by the Federal court.

In 1943 U. S. railroads, still in the hands of
their owners, were cooperating with one an-
other and with the Government in the move-
ment of troops and war supplies. The recent
history of railroads and labor will be found
under UNITED STATES HISTORY.

The most valuable collection of facts re-
lating to the general management of the
United States railroads and their relations to
the public is found in the Annual Reports
of the Interstate Commerce Commission and
in its volumes giving the Decisions of that
body and the Annual Statistics of Railways.

Consult also the Bulletins of the Bureau
of Railway Economics, Emory R. Johnson
and T. W. Van Metre's Principles of Rail-
road Transportation (1921); Ripley'*