Strife and Presidential Interventions

From the time that the RLA was applied to the airline industry in 1936, there were no strikes until 1946, when the first Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) was established in a dispute between TWA and its pilots. Six more PEBs followed dur­ing the late 1940s, and then 19 occurred during

the 1950s—11 during 1957 alone. These 1957 strikes involved Eastern, National, Capital, North­east, Northwest, United, TWA, and American. Most of these involved the mechanics, although two were pilot initiated. Through 1978, domestic airlines had experienced a total of 191 strikes.

The number of strikes decreased signifi­cantly after deregulation. Only 19 strikes of domestic passenger airlines have been called since 1978, 12 of them before 1990. The duration of these strikes ranged from 2 years to 24 min­utes. See Table 29-2 for a summary of strike inci­dences, presidential interventions, and nonstrike work actions between 1978 and 2002.

Presidential interventions may include the convening of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), or they may be limited to pressuring or “jawboning” with the parties. The president has also intervened in labor-management disputes to recommend binding arbitration. PEBs are normally not instituted except in circumstances where significant interstate commerce disruption is expected to result. See Table 29-3.

Work actions, which is the term for union organized slowdowns, sickouts, or other nonstrike activity, have increased since deregulation. Many of these disruptions go unheralded, but there have been 10 instances of such activity that have been recognized by various courts as being in violation of the RLA. Some of these nonstrike work actions
are presented by labor in a context of safety con­cerns. One tactic used by Alaska flight atten­dants was a technique called “CE1AOS” (Creating Havoc Around Our System) that involved inter­mittent but unpredictable walkouts. These tactics do not shut down the airline but attempt to make their point by harassment. See Table 29-4.