Section 2 Evolution of the Duty of Fair Representation

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

After passage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) (the Wagner Act), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq., in 1935, a broad array of private employers became legally bound to bargain and otherwise deal with their workers’ duly selected unions. Railroads had already had their labor relations similarly regulated through the Railway Labor Act (RLA), 44 Stat. 577, for nine years. Congress brought the growing airline industry under the RLA in 1936. Many of those workplaces and unions reflected the practices of the time and, as a result, practiced racial discrimination. Some companies were “white-only,” and others imposed rigid racial stratification in job classifications and compensation. Many unions mimicked those practices as well. Some refused membership to persons of color. Others maintained separate locals or affiliates for whites and African-Americans, frequently in the same shop or factory. Richard Kluger, Simple Justice, at 226–28 (2004). In turn, that racial dualism often resulted in less vigorous representation of minorities. As an historical aside, a number of unions championed civil rights and racial equality within both the labor movement and society generally. Id. at...