Question

Please reply to the discussion below:

One Regulation/Act that impacted the transportation section in the early 1900’s was the Railway Labor Act of 1926. During the time workers felt like that they were being over worked and under compensated. According to the SMART union, the Railway Labor Act had five roles: continue the flow of rail service; allow the workers to form unions; allow managers and workers to organize; settle rate and labor issues; and handle grievances over agreement disputes (2013). The Railway Labor Act help ease the hostile tension that burned between the workers and the train companies.

The mode of transportation that was impacted back then was the railroad industry. In the 1900s, the train industry had a significant impact on the nations economy. Cities and towns who had train stations had better economies than those places who did not. Even today the Railway Labor act is still being used. In fact, the Railway Labor Act also covers the airline industry as well. The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers praises the act as the “hallmark of labor relations in the rail industry and the oldest continuous federal collective bargaining legislation in the nation’s history” (2013). The Railroad Labor Act continues to help workers in their fight for fair wages and benefits.

Answer 1

The Railway Labor Act was passed with the objective of protecting the rights of the labor employed in the railway industry. This act covers all the major attributes of the labor lifecycle in the industry. All the 5 roles safeguarded by the Act are quite crucial for the overall sustenance of employees in the industry and help in avoiding any kind of exploitative situations. However as the purview of the act has been extended to cover the employees of the overall transportation industry, hence the name of the act can be revised to reflect this extension of responsibilities.