Railway Labor Executives' Association Additional Records

Inclusive date range: 1969-1985

Bulk dates: 1973-1984



This collection consist of the office and files for the years 1973 through 1984. The office files from 1983 are not included, but desk and reader files for 1983 may be found in Series XV. This collection also contains the general office files of the Congress of Railway Unions for 1969 through 1975.



The Congress of Railway Unions [CRU] was formed during December 1969 after five unions withdrew from the Railway Labor Executives' Association over a dispute involving proposed compulsory retirement and pension benefit legislation (see Collection 5552). 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 affecting the industry at this time. The CRU acted as a policymaking body on legislation and other matters of interest to railroad workers in an identical capacity to the RLEA. In 1974, the two groups reached an accord and decided to re-affiliate. The unification occurred on April 1, 1975. BRAC was not party to the reunification, as it had disaffiliated from CRU in 1974.



The RLEA arranged their records chronologically by year in designated record groups. CRU followed the same file organization, and their records were integrated into RLEA's files when they reunited. 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; they also maintained CRU's File Guide to differentiate where the file structure differed. Those documents may be found in the collection for select years to help researchers locate specific papers and may 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. Legislation

4. RLEA

5. Railroads

6. Other Organizations

7. International Affairs

8. Commuter Problems



CRU followed the same file structure, with the difference being that Record Group 4 is titled, "Congress of Railway Unions." Additionally, rather than having a Record Group called "Commuter Problems," they used the title "Urban Mass Transportation Administration." These files were integrated into the existing RLEA file structure's corresponding Record Groups with the CRU titles. CRU files in the other record groups have been marked as such.



Additionally, this collection includes RLEA Desk and Reader Files, which contain carbon copies and select attachments of the outgoing correspondence of RLEA executives and select committees.



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; the creation and sale of ConRail; Federal Railroad Administration; Labor Department; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); and files for each of the three branches of government.



The Judicial Records Group includes files on the following: the bankruptcy proceedings of the Penn Central, Boston and Maine, Lehigh Valley, Erie-Lackawanna, Reading Railroad, and Central of New Jersey; the bankruptcy proceedings of the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad Company (The Milwaukee Road); the bankruptcy proceedings of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad Company (The Rock Island); filings by the RLEA in various bankruptcy courts and courts of appeal to protect employees of these bankrupt railroad companies; filings by the RLEA in regards to the constitutionality of railroad reorganization legislation; a lawsuit against Conrail to prevent random drug and alcohol testing of employees. The case against Conrail and matters in re employee protections in bankruptcy proceeding were both appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. 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 Legislation Records Group includes files on the following: applications for capital improvement grants by urban municipalities under the Urban Mass Transit Act of 1964; amendments to the Railroad Retirement Act; the Amtrak Improvement Act of 1973; and legislation in regards to the Northeast Rail Crisis, which was sparked by the bankruptcies of major rail carriers and lead to the creation of Amtrak and Conrail. For the years after 1973, legislative matters are housed in other Record Groups. The Government Records Group includes files on the sale of Conrail by the Reagan administration and the legislation surrounding its purchase (the NERSA Act). Files concerning the legislation that deregulated the railroad industry: the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (3Rs Act), the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (4Rs Act), and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, are located both in the Government Records Group and in the RLEA Record Group's Legislative Committee files.



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 plans and proposals for their attempt to purchase Conrail from the U.S. government.



The CRU Records Group, which is filed with the 1974 RLEA Record Group, contains their records from 1969-1974. They were interfiled with the RLEA records when the two organizations reunited. The CRU Records Group follows the same file schema as RLEA. For more information on these records, please see Series III below.



The Railroads Records Group includes files on the following: the bankruptcy proceedings of Northeast carriers [n.b.: the bulk of the records concerning the Penn Central bankruptcy are found in collections 5484 and 5552]; correspondence files with industry groups that represent carriers; filing by RLEA and CRU with various courts to compel bankrupt carriers to honor employee protection agreements; and reports on the financial health of carriers' hospital associations.



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



The International Affairs Records Group shows the sharpest divide between the RLEA and CRU. After the organizations split, the membership in international trade groups was maintained by CRU but not by RLEA. The RLEA records reflect this, and only contain select newsletters and correspondence with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and its various departments and reports on foreign railroaders participating in exchange programs. CRU, on the other hand, maintained their affiliation with ITF, and their International Affairs records group includes files on their role in the ITF, as well as files on foreign visitors and their involvement in the Pan-American Railway Congress. See Series III for more detail.



The Commuter Problems Records Group includes files on 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. Also found in this Record Group are filings of Section 13(c) Agreements, employee protective agreements between transit authorities and railway labor unions.