Nunn v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 31 January 1966
• Docket Number: No. 65 C 198(2).,65 C 198(2).
• Citation: 248 F. Supp. 304
• Parties: Frederick NUNN et al., Plaintiffs, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a Missouri corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

248 F. Supp. 304

Frederick NUNN et al., Plaintiffs, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a Missouri corporation, Defendant.

No. 65 C 198(2).

United States District Court E. D. Missouri, E. D.

November 5, 1965.

As Modified January 31, 1966.

Victor Packman, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs.

Mark M. Hennelly and Robert W. Yost, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant.

MEREDITH, District Judge.

This cause was originally filed in the state court. It was properly removed to this Court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1441 since this Court would have had original jurisdiction of the matter under 28 U.S. C.A. § 1337, as will hereinafter appear. The plaintiffs are all negroes and members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which union is their certified collective bargaining representative, and they are classified as train porters. The defendant is a Missouri railroad corporation, created and existing under the laws of the State of Missouri, and engaged in interstate commerce with its principal offices at St. Louis, Missouri. On December 30, 1964, the defendant abolished the position of train porter on six of its passenger trains, to be effective January 4, 1965, resulting in the furloughing of six plaintiffs. On March 4, 1965, the defendant abolished the position of train porter on two additional trains, effective March 8, 1965, effecting three of the plaintiffs. On May 10, 1965, effective May 15, 1965, the position of train porter was abolished on two additional trains and the last three plaintiffs were furloughed. Plaintiffs are seeking relief from the action of the defendant in abolishing their jobs.

Plaintiffs allege in their petition that they are trainmen, enumerating certain duties traditionally performed by them which should qualify them for that title. But, they state that simply because they are negroes they have been classified for collective bargaining purposes as "train porters". It is the plaintiffs' contention that the action of the defendant in unilaterally abolishing their jobs violated § 6 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S. C.A. § 156. That section requires that:

"Carriers and representatives of the employees shall give at least thirty days' written notice of an intended change in agreements affecting rates of pay, rules, or working conditions * * *"

Section 6 is asserted to be applicable to the defendant's action here because "* * * crew consists on defendant's railroad train, and plaintiffs' job functions were based on rules, usage, custom and practice, and also implicit and express agreements which constituted their working conditions."

The defendant's action is alleged to be part of a plan to alter the working condition of train porters as a class and to transfer their job functions to white trainmen. Furthermore, it is alleged that this action is the culmination of a long history of racial discrimination against plaintiffs because they are negroes, thus violating the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 3; the Missouri Constitution, 1945, Article I, §§ 2 and 10, and Article XI, § 3, V.A.M.S.; and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The relief requested is that the Court require the plaintiffs to be restored to their jobs pending a determination of the issues for declaratory judgment, and that the actions of the defendant be declared illegal and void.

The history of this particular litigation is that a part of these plaintiffs filed a suit against this same defendant in this Court, cause number 65 C 15, and it was dismissed by Judge Harper as a minor labor dispute. Plaintiffs were granted permission to amend their complaint, which they did, but the amended complaint was thereafter voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. The plaintiffs then refiled substantially the same suit in the state court. Because of the prior dismissal and the importance of the matters alleged, the Court proceeded immediately to a hearing on the merits.

It is readily apparent that the extensive scope and multitudinous ramifications of the allegations contained in this petition encompass problems with which the railroad industry (including management, labor and specialized government agencies) has been struggling for many years. The time and effort which has been devoted to devising consistent, realistic and equitable solutions to these problems is representative of the central tenets of the national labor policy enunciated by Congress in the last thirty years. The Supreme Court has recently reiterated the proposition that this pervasive national labor policy requires that all problems effecting labor-management relations should be solved, so far as possible, through uniform administrative procedures, within which confines exists that expertise necessary to properly assess and balance all the intricate facets of such disputes. See Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 85 S.Ct. 614, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965), where the Court placed significant limitations on the right of a discharged employee to bring a common law action for breach of contract.

The policy favoring the administrative approach to employee-management problems in the railroad industry has been frequently stated. This uniform administrative process

"* * * is of great importance, reflecting, as it does, the needs and fair expectations of the railroad industry for which Congress has provided what might be termed a charter for its internal government." Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Day, 360 U.S. 548, 552, 79 S.Ct. 1322, 1324, 3 L. Ed.2d 1422 (1959).

The question whether a court has jurisdiction to deal with particular disputes brought before it, or whether, having jurisdiction, it should exercise that jurisdiction, must be approached in terms of "major" and "minor" disputes, as defined in the landmark case of Elgin, J. & E. R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 65 S. Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945). The Court classified as "major" disputes those concerning

"* * * the formation of collective agreements or efforts to secure them. They arise where there is no such agreement or where it is sought to change the terms of one, and therefore the issue is not whether an existing agreement controls the controversy. They look to the acquisition of rights for the future, not to assertion of rights claimed to have vested in the past." (l. c. 723, 65 S.Ct. l. c. 1290)

The second class of disputes, "minor" disputes, concerns

"* * * the existence of a collective agreement already concluded or, at any rate, a situation in which no effort is made to bring about a formal change in terms or to create a new one. The dispute relates either to the meaning or proper application of a particular provision with reference to a specific situation or to an omitted case." (l. c. 723, 65 S.Ct. l. c. 1290).

Past decisions have made it clear when, within this context of disputes, the courts should act. There can be no doubt that the court should issue an injunction to maintain or restore the status quo in those situations to which § 6 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 156, is applicable. These are "major" disputes and the danger of strike is usually present. The court's function in such case is to protect and preserve the integrity and meaningfulness of the processes designed for the peaceful solution of such disputes by enjoining premature changes in agreements. Railway Employees' Co-op. Ass'n v. Atlanta B. & C. Railway, 22 F.Supp. 510 (D.Ga.1938); Manning v. American Airlines, 329 F.2d 32 (2 Cir. 1964); Southern Ry. Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, etc., 119 U.S.App.D.C. 91, 337 F.2d 127 (1964). The court should also act to declare illegal and enjoin arrangements born of vicious and illogical discrimination, as in Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Howard, 343 U.S. 768, 72 S.Ct. 1022, 96 L.Ed. 1283 (1952). In that case, one union had used its power to coerce the employer into an agreement designed to "destroy colored workers' jobs in order to bestow them on white workers." (l. c. 774, 72 S.Ct. l. c. 1025). And, there is always the inherent equity power to intervene where the violation or obliteration of a right which Congress has created "to protect the interest of individuals or the public is clearly shown * * *" Order of Railway Conductors of America v. Pitney, 326 U.S. 561, 66 S.Ct. 322, 90 L.Ed. 318 (1946). Also see Manion v. Kansas City Terminal Ry. Co., 353 U.S. 927, 77 S.Ct. 706, 1 L.Ed.2d 722 (1957) and Westchester Lodge 2186, etc. v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 329 F.2d 748 (2 Cir. 1964).

We have taken great pains to define the perspective from which we view this cause because of the allegations of discrimination interwoven in this petition. In order to make out an issue of discrimination, which would justify the Court in declaring the defendant's action illegal and void, plaintiffs have relied heavily on the historical pattern by which they have been classified as "train porters". With regard to the § 6 issue, discussed infra, plaintiffs rely on that classification and the positional field to which it allegedly entitles them. But, here they indict that classification and cite it as indicative of the discrimination consistently practiced against them. It is contended that defendant has been one of the prime actors in that discrimination. Plaintiffs allege that defendant has consistently paid them less than brakemen, although they say they perform very much the same jobs. And, the present act of the defendant is said to be merely another step in that pattern; a repeated attempt to displace them by white brakemen, an act declared illegal in Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Howard, supra. In sum, plaintiffs' assertion would seem to be that, because they performed interchangeably some of the functions performed by employees classified as trainmen, and since all the train porters are negroes, abolition of their positions on the trains constitutes discrimination against them.

There are several grounds upon which the Court's jurisdiction to consider...