Airline Labor Relations

I

t would be easy to excuse a person’s confusion today when told that airline labor matters are governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA).1 But in 1936, when the RLA was made applicable to the neophyte airline industry, the differences between the two transportation systems were not at all clear. Both systems carried passenger and freight traffic in interstate commerce, across state lines, and from coast to coast. Both were consid­ered quasi-public utilities obligated to conduct their operations in a manner consistent with the “public interest.” And both were capable of caus­ing severe disruption to the nation’s commerce by labor-management disagreements and work stoppages.

We have already considered the temper of the times. The United States was deep into the Great Depression, distrust of the corporate world and capitalism was in vogue, unemployment was widespread, labor protective legislation was being cranked out of Congress, and membership in unions was high and on the rise. The airline industry seemed poised to take over from the railroads, which were on the wane, and it was assumed that the confrontational model of labor relations fashioned out of the experience of the railroads would serve the interests of labor and the nation in aviation as well.

But experience has shown that the airlines were not very much like the railroads after all; they were, in fact, very different. Aside from the fact that railroad labor relations arose out of the violent confrontations of the late 19th century, airlines were much more technologically oriented, the product of inventions and develop­ments that had largely first come into being after the labor pattern of the railroads had already been established.

The job classifications (the “crafts” in the words of the RLA) were very different. The railroads had their train crews composed of engineers, firemen, brakemen, and conductors, which ranged from semi-skilled to laboring work, and owing to coal used for fuel, they were mostly soot-covered jobs. Job names like hos­tlers, boilermakers, car repair workers, main­tenance of way laborers (gandy dancers), and blacksmiths filled the railroad roster. The air­lines’ occupational groups were pilots, power – plant mechanics, and clerical employees. Only baggage handlers, ground crew, and cleaners came close to matching the personnel types common on the railroads. The knowledge and skill requirements of the pilots and mechanics were federally mandated and tested. As time went on, many pilots came from the ranks of
the college educated, and because of the fed­eral limitations on hours flown, many of those would have second careers, some even profes­sional careers based on advanced university degrees.

Railroad style unionism was promoted by the policies of the National Mediation Board (NMB), the federal body established under the RLA to mediate the relative positions of the two sides, which assumes a power-based equality of collective bargaining and promotes a “digging in” of the heels, rather than a cooperative effort based on a “mutuality of interests” approach. This has produced a history of labor strife marked by work stoppages and severe disrup­tions in the national transportation system over much of the life of the airline industry. Contrib­uting to the encouragement of militant union activity has been a competition between the different unions’ leadership to produce the best “package” in the industry, to set the standard for union gains. Resistance from management to such union activity was, during regulation, lessened due to the practice of the CAB of increasing rates and fares to cover the increase in employee wages and benefits. Management also appeared to be willing to trade off increased income from productivity gains due to techno­logical advances, such as increased efficiencies
associated with jet aircraft, to achieve peace with the labor unions.

Ш Major Airline Unions

The major certified bargaining units (unions) in the airline industry are:

• The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), rep­resenting the majority of pilots

• The Allied Pilots Association (representing American Airlines pilots since 1960)

3 The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (Southwest pilots)

• Frontier Pilots Association (Frontier pilots)

• The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)

• The Association of Professional Flight Atten­dants (APFA)

• The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)

• The Transport Workers Union (TWU), rep­resenting a range of employees from main­tenance employees to flight attendants and dispatchers

• The Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, and Steamship Clerks (BRAC), represent­ing mostly clerical and passenger service employees

• The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association

• The Communications Workers of America

• The International Brotherhood of Teamsters

• The Professional Airline Flight Control Association

Most of the crafts of the largest 19 airlines in the country, accounting for 95 percent of industry revenues, were unionized in 1977. Only Delta, which had a nonunion work force with the exception of its pilots (who are represented by ALP A), and Southern Airways deviated from the norm. As of 2012, Airlines for America stated that about half of all airline workers belong
to professional unions and are governed by collective bargaining agreements.