Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records

Inclusive date range: 1967-1972

Bulk dates: 1968-1972



This collection consists of the general and office files for the years 1968 through 1972. The order the files were kept in by the RLEA has been maintained in this collection.



The RLEA arranged their records chronologically by year in designated record groups. These record groups are used for each calendar year. Each record group consists of numerous files, the majority of which are maintained from year to year. Only when the executive council removed a particular issue from their monthly meeting agendas, records related to that issue were removed from the record group. The RLEA created "File Guides" for each year of record keeping. Those documents may be found in the collection to help researchers locate specific papers and may also be used to track what issues were continued and which were closed.



The record groups used by the RLEA are as follows:



1. Government

2. Judicial

3. RLEA

4. Railroads

5. Other Organizations

6. International Affairs

7. Commuter Problems



Additionally, for the year 1968, there is a record group called "Legislation" that has its own file guide, which may be found in the collection.



The Government Records Group includes files on the following: Railroad Retirement Board; Medicare; President's Committee on Physically Handicapped; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); Civil Rights Act; Federal Housing Administration; State Department; Pan American Railway Conference; Department of Transportation; Interstate Commerce Commission; National Transportation Safety Board; National Mediation Board; National Railroad Adjustment Board; Bureau of Labor Statistics; the creation of Amtrak; Federal Railroad Administration; Labor Department; and files for each of the three branches of government.



The 1968 Legislation Records Group includes files on the following: Interstate Commerce Act; Railroad Safety legislation; amendments to the Railroad Retirement and Insurance Acts; Railway Labor Act; moratoriums on railroad mergers; Department of Transportation appropriations; discontinuations of railroad passenger service; anti-labor legislation; crew consist legislation; Social Security Act; Interstate System regulations; amendments to the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964; and a file on endorsements for the 1968 elections.



The Judicial Records Group includes files on the following: United States vs. Jacksonville Terminal Co. in re civil rights violations; Penn Central bankruptcy; reorganizations of Boston and Maine, Lehigh Valley, Erie-Lackawanna, Reading Railroad, and Central of New Jersey; United States vs. Seaboard Coast Line in re civil rights violations; and a union shop dispute on the Louisville and Nashville. See also RLEA files labelled "Lawyer's Bills," which contain itemized lists of legal matters the RLEA was involved in according to the bills of their general counsel.



The RLEA Records Group includes files on the following: constitutions and by-laws; correspondence files for each of their member organizations; minutes from monthly meetings, agendas for the monthly meetings; planning documents for the monthly February meeting in Miami, Florida; information on general office matters; insurance plans; Wage and Rules Movements; reports from RLEA committees; bills; and files on various strikes occurring in the United States in different industries.



The Railroads Records Group includes files on the following: the Penn Central bankruptcy proceedings; correspondence files with industry groups that represent carriers; the hospital associations of carriers; and the merger between the Illinois Central and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio.



The Other Organization Records Group includes files on the following: the AFL-CIO and its various departments; the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP); the United Nations; Labor newspaper; and various charitable organizations supported by the RLEA.



The International Affairs Records Group includes files on the following: exchange programs with railroaders from other countries; the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB); the International Labour Organization (ILO); and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITWF) and its various departments.



The Commuter Problems Records Group includes files on the following: adequacies and discontinuances of intercity passenger trains; applications for federal grants by urban transit authorities including New York City and the New York metropolitan area, Chicago, the Bay Area, Washington DC, New Haven, and Philadelphia; and hearings before the ICC on route discontinuances.



Of particular interest in this collection are the files regarding the implementation of the Civil Rights Act and its amendments. The effects of this legislation on the transportation industry and in railroad labor organizations is evidenced by the prevalence of the topic in all of the above record groups. In the Government record groups, there are files relating to the implementation of the act and the proceedings regarding workplace discrimination before the federally appointed commissions. The RLEA record groups contain the reports of committees dedicated to civil rights and the EEOC. This group also contains correspondence from the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a historically African- American union, regarding the racial discrimination present in other railroad labor organizations. Finally, the monthly meeting agendas and minutes include discussion of the various cases in which the RLEA's member organizations were sued along with the railroad carriers for racial discrimination. The case files and court filings for those cases are found in the Judicial record groups. The Other Organizations record group contains extensive documentation from the AFL-CIO's Civil Rights Department about how their affiliated groups should support the Civil Rights Act and how the groups should implement the provisions of the act. Finally, the Commuter Problems record group contains rich documentation of urban transportation system in major U.S. metropolitan areas and this includes the agreements between transit authorities and unions that are in compliance with the Civil Rights Act.



Also of interest in this collection is the clear change in federal policies during the transition from the Johnson administration to the Nixon administration in 1969. This includes the type of regulations and safety measures applied to the railroad industry, a marked increase in route discontinuances with a greater amount of support given to the Interstate Highway System, the removal of the labor-affiliated RLEA executive-secretary from the Pan American Railway Conference, the increase in "Right-to-Work" legislation, and major changes made to the Railroad Retirement Act and Unemployment Insurance benefits.



The 1969 RLEA Record Group contains correspondence from six member organizations withdrawing from the RLEA to create their own railroad labor organization, the Congress of Railway Unions. The six organizations who founded this group were the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes [BMoW], the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes [BRAC], the United Transportation Union [UTU], Transit Workers' Union [TWU], Seafarers' International Union of North America [SIU], and the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union [HERE]. The RLEA and the Congress of Railway Unions worked together after their split to protect their members during the numerous mergers and bankruptcies that were impacting the industry at this time.



Finally, this collection contains extensive documentation of the Penn Central Transportation Company's bankruptcy proceedings. The records document the catastrophic effect this bankruptcy had on rail transportation in the Northeastern United States. The need for continued passenger and freight service was addressed by Congress, which created two federally subsidized carriers: Amtrak for passenger service, and Conrail for freight service. This collection contains extensive documentation of the legislation, negotiations, collective bargaining, and Congressional hearings that were involved in the creation of Amtrak.