45 U.S.C. § 152 : US Code - Section 152: General duties

Search 45 U.S.C. § 152 : US Code - Section 152: General duties

First. Duty of carriers and employees to settle disputes
It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and
employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain
agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions,
and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application
of such agreements or otherwise, in order to avoid any interruption
to commerce or to the operation of any carrier growing out of any
dispute between the carrier and the employees thereof.
Second. Consideration of disputes by representatives
All disputes between a carrier or carriers and its or their
employees shall be considered, and, if possible, decided, with all
expedition, in conference between representatives designated and
authorized so to confer, respectively, by the carrier or carriers
and by the employees thereof interested in the dispute.
Third. Designation of representatives
Representatives, for the purposes of this chapter, shall be
designated by the respective parties without interference,
influence, or coercion by either party over the designation of
representatives by the other; and neither party shall in any way
interfere with, influence, or coerce the other in its choice of
representatives. Representatives of employees for the purposes of
this chapter need not be persons in the employ of the carrier, and
no carrier shall, by interference, influence, or coercion seek in
any manner to prevent the designation by its employees as their
representatives of those who or which are not employees of the
carrier.
Fourth. Organization and collective bargaining; freedom from
interference by carrier; assistance in organizing or maintaining
organization by carrier forbidden; deduction of dues from wages
forbidden
Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain
collectively through representatives of their own choosing. The
majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to
determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for
the purposes of this chapter. No carrier, its officers, or agents
shall deny or in any way question the right of its employees to
join, organize, or assist in organizing the labor organization of
their choice, and it shall be unlawful for any carrier to interfere
in any way with the organization of its employees, or to use the
funds of the carrier in maintaining or assisting or contributing to
any labor organization, labor representative, or other agency of
collective bargaining, or in performing any work therefor, or to
influence or coerce employees in an effort to induce them to join
or remain or not to join or remain members of any labor
organization, or to deduct from the wages of employees any dues,
fees, assessments, or other contributions payable to labor
organizations, or to collect or to assist in the collection of any
such dues, fees, assessments, or other contributions: Provided,
That nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit a
carrier from permitting an employee, individually, or local
representatives of employees from conferring with management during
working hours without loss of time, or to prohibit a carrier from
furnishing free transportation to its employees while engaged in
the business of a labor organization.
Fifth. Agreements to join or not to join labor organizations
forbidden
No carrier, its officers, or agents shall require any person
seeking employment to sign any contract or agreement promising to
join or not to join a labor organization; and if any such contract
has been enforced prior to the effective date of this chapter, then
such carrier shall notify the employees by an appropriate order
that such contract has been discarded and is no longer binding on
them in any way.
Sixth. Conference of representatives; time; place; private
agreements
In case of a dispute between a carrier or carriers and its or
their employees, arising out of grievances or out of the
interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of
pay, rules, or working conditions, it shall be the duty of the
designated representative or representatives of such carrier or
carriers and of such employees, within ten days after the receipt
of notice of a desire on the part of either party to confer in
respect to such dispute, to specify a time and place at which such
conference shall be held: Provided, (1) That the place so specified
shall be situated upon the line of the carrier involved or as
otherwise mutually agreed upon; and (2) that the time so specified
shall allow the designated conferees reasonable opportunity to
reach such place of conference, but shall not exceed twenty days
from the receipt of such notice: And provided further, That nothing
in this chapter shall be construed to supersede the provisions of
any agreement (as to conferences) then in effect between the
parties.
Seventh. Change in pay, rules, or working conditions contrary to
agreement or to section 156 forbidden
No carrier, its officers, or agents shall change the rates of
pay, rules, or working conditions of its employees, as a class, as
embodied in agreements except in the manner prescribed in such
agreements or in section 156 of this title.
Eighth. Notices of manner of settlement of disputes; posting
Every carrier shall notify its employees by printed notices in
such form and posted at such times and places as shall be specified
by the Mediation Board that all disputes between the carrier and
its employees will be handled in accordance with the requirements
of this chapter, and in such notices there shall be printed
verbatim, in large type, the third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs of
this section. The provisions of said paragraphs are made a part of
the contract of employment between the carrier and each employee,
and shall be held binding upon the parties, regardless of any other
express or implied agreements between them.
Ninth. Disputes as to identity of representatives; designation by
Mediation Board; secret elections
If any dispute shall arise among a carrier's employees as to who
are the representatives of such employees designated and authorized
in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, it shall be
the duty of the Mediation Board, upon request of either party to
the dispute, to investigate such dispute and to certify to both
parties, in writing, within thirty days after the receipt of the
invocation of its services, the name or names of the individuals or
organizations that have been designated and authorized to represent
the employees involved in the dispute, and certify the same to the
carrier. Upon receipt of such certification the carrier shall treat
with the representative so certified as the representative of the
craft or class for the purposes of this chapter. In such an
investigation, the Mediation Board shall be authorized to take a
secret ballot of the employees involved, or to utilize any other
appropriate method of ascertaining the names of their duly
designated and authorized representatives in such manner as shall
insure the choice of representatives by the employees without
interference, influence, or coercion exercised by the carrier. In
the conduct of any election for the purposes herein indicated the
Board shall designate who may participate in the election and
establish the rules to govern the election, or may appoint a
committee of three neutral persons who after hearing shall within
ten days designate the employees who may participate in the
election. The Board shall have access to and have power to make
copies of the books and records of the carriers to obtain and
utilize such information as may be deemed necessary by it to carry
out the purposes and provisions of this paragraph.
Tenth. Violations; prosecution and penalties
The willful failure or refusal of any carrier, its officers or
agents, to comply with the terms of the third, fourth, fifth,
seventh, or eighth paragraph of this section shall be a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof the carrier, officer, or
agent offending shall be subject to a fine of not less than $1,000,
nor more than $20,000, or imprisonment for not more than six
months, or both fine and imprisonment, for each offense, and each
day during which such carrier, officer, or agent shall willfully
fail or refuse to comply with the terms of the said paragraphs of
this section shall constitute a separate offense. It shall be the
duty of any United States attorney to whom any duly designated
representative of a carrier's employees may apply to institute in
the proper court and to prosecute under the direction of the
Attorney General of the United States, all necessary proceedings
for the enforcement of the provisions of this section, and for the
punishment of all violations thereof and the costs and expenses of
such prosecution shall be paid out of the appropriation for the
expenses of the courts of the United States: Provided, That nothing
in this chapter shall be construed to require an individual
employee to render labor or service without his consent, nor shall
anything in this chapter be construed to make the quitting of his
labor by an individual employee an illegal act; nor shall any court
issue any process to compel the performance by an individual
employee of such labor or service, without his consent.
Eleventh. Union security agreements; check-off
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, or of any
other statute or law of the United States, or Territory thereof, or
of any State, any carrier or carriers as defined in this chapter
and a labor organization or labor organizations duly designated and
authorized to represent employees in accordance with the
requirements of this chapter shall be permitted -
(a) to make agreements, requiring, as a condition of continued
employment, that within sixty days following the beginning of
such employment, or the effective date of such agreements,
whichever is the later, all employees shall become members of the
labor organization representing their craft or class: Provided,
That no such agreement shall require such condition of employment
with respect to employees to whom membership is not available
upon the same terms and conditions as are generally applicable to
any other member or with respect to employees to whom membership
was denied or terminated for any reason other than the failure of
the employee to tender the periodic dues, initiation fees, and
assessments (not including fines and penalties) uniformly
required as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership.
(b) to make agreements providing for the deduction by such
carrier or carriers from the wages of its or their employees in a
craft or class and payment to the labor organization representing
the craft or class of such employees, of any periodic dues,
initiation fees, and assessments (not including fines and
penalties) uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or
retaining membership: Provided, That no such agreement shall be
effective with respect to any individual employee until he shall
have furnished the employer with a written assignment to the
labor organization of such membership dues, initiation fees, and
assessments, which shall be revocable in writing after the
expiration of one year or upon the termination date of the
applicable collective agreement, whichever occurs sooner.
(c) The requirement of membership in a labor organization in an
agreement made pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph
shall be satisfied, as to both a present or future employee in
engine, train, yard, or hostling service, that is, an employee
engaged in any of the services or capacities covered in the First
division of paragraph (h) of section 153 of this title defining
the jurisdictional scope of the First Division of the National
Railroad Adjustment Board, if said employee shall hold or acquire
membership in any one of the labor organizations, national in
scope, organized in accordance with this chapter and admitting to
membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services;
and no agreement made pursuant to subparagraph (b) of this
paragraph shall provide for deductions from his wages for
periodic dues, initiation fees, or assessments payable to any
labor organization other than that in which he holds membership:
Provided, however, That as to an employee in any of said services
on a particular carrier at the effective date of any such
agreement on a carrier, who is not a member of any one of the
labor organizations, national in scope, organized in accordance
with this chapter and admitting to membership employees of a
craft or class in any of said services, such employee, as a
condition of continuing his employment, may be required to become
a member of the organization representing the craft in which he
is employed on the effective date of the first agreement
applicable to him: Provided, further, That nothing herein or in
any such agreement or agreements shall prevent an employee from
changing membership from one organization to another organization
admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of
said services.
(d) Any provisions in paragraphs Fourth and Fifth of this
section in conflict herewith are to the extent of such conflict
amended.