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Negotiating In Good Faith: Management's Obligation To Maintain The Status Quo During Collective Bargaining Under The Railway Labor Act - International Ass'n Of Machinists & Aerospace Workers V. Transportes Aereos Mercantiles Pan Americandos, S.A., Jay M. Dade

Journal of Dispute Resolution

When an employer and employee-representative union engage in collective bargaining negotiations, their negotiating activities are covered under the auspices of the Railway Labor Act.2 The Act, particularly applicable today in the tumultuous airline industry, established a rather elaborate mechanism for negotiation, mediation, voluntary arbitration, and conciliation to avoid interruptions to interstate commerce, to protect employees' freedom of association with respect to labor unions, and to provide prompt and orderly dispute settlements. 3 Indispensable to this scheme, Section 152, First of the Act imposes a statutory obligation upon the parties to such negotiations to bargain in good faith.4 In International Ass …