Federal Labor Relations Statutes: An Overview

Abstract

[Excerpt] Congress has enacted three major laws that govern labor-management relations. The first law, the Railway Labor Act (RLA), was enacted in 1926. The RLA applies to railway and airline carriers. In 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which applies to private sector employers other than railroad and airline carriers, and in 1978, Congress enacted the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), which applies to most federal employees. This report provides an overview of these three labor relations laws by giving a brief history of each law and discussing how each statute operates and is administered.