"Air and Rail Labor Relations, A Judicial History of the Railway Labor Act" by John W. Gohmann., 1979

Inclusive date range: 1954-1988

Bulk dates: 1975-1988



This collection consists of the papers of James A. Paddock. The majority of the papers document his work in the 1970s and 1980s combatting drug and alcohol abuse in the railroad industry. This collection also contains some records of the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen [ORC] and the report of the Presidential Commission on Railroads.



Of note in this collection are the records documenting the ways in which the railroad industry, both labor and management, attempted to address problems of substance abuse among its employees, in particular among its operating employees. The programs include various EAPs, including Operation: Red Block. Records documenting industry research, substance abuse research, employee training, and counselor training are found in this collection. Also found are the records of various Senate and House bills, hearings, and committees which attempt to address substance abuse issues through federal statutes and operating guidelines. The lawsuits filed by the Railway Labor Executives' Association [RLEA] in opposition to some of these proposed guidelines, such as random drug testing, on constitutional grounds. The clippings files give a broad overview of the national mood at the time, and demonstrate how some of these programs intersected with President Reagan's War on Drugs, and the disastrous consequences it had.



Of note is the correspondence sent to Daniel Collins, Assistant General Secretary and Treasurer and Director of Employee Assistance Programs for the UTU. Some of these letters humanize the individual struggles faced by railroad employees during this period. One employee wrote to Mr. Collins to discuss how the use of sniffer dogs sparked PTSD flashbacks to his time as a Prisoner of War in Germany during World War II. The speech by lawyer and recovering alcoholic J. Paul Molloy gave to the Senate in 1984 during subcommittee hearings on substance abuse in the workplace also highlights how a humane approach to these issues might be more successful than harsher disciplinary actions.



Finally, this collection contains a Betamax VHS cassette from the Union Pacific Railroad used as a training tool for Operation: Red Block and its EAP.