Griffin v. Gulf & S. I. R. Co.

• Citation: 21 So.2d 814,198 Miss. 458
• Decision Date: 23 April 1945
• Docket Number: 35790.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Parties: GRIFFIN et al. v. GULF & SHIP ISLAND R. CO. et al.

21 So.2d 814

198 Miss. 458

GRIFFIN et al. v. GULF & SHIP ISLAND R. CO. et al.

No. 35790.

Supreme Court of Mississippi

April 23, 1945

Culkin, Laughlin & Thames, of Vicksburg, for appellants.

Chas. A. Helsell and Jos. H. Wright, both of Chicago, Ill., May & Byrd, of Jackson, Gardner, Backstrom & Gardner, of Gulfport, and Hannah Simrall & Foote, of Hattiesburg, for appellees.

SMITH Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree sustaining a demurrer to and dismissing a bill of complaint.

It appears from the bill and exhibits thereto that the appellants are negro locomotive firemen on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad without the right to join any of the railroad labor unions. In 1937 pursuant to a provision of the Railway Labor Act, Title 45 U.S.C.A. § 152, they appointed the Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers as their collective bargaining agent and that Brotherhood shortly thereafter obtained an agreement from the Railroad Company that its negro firemen should become parties to a contract entered into in 1923 by the Railroad and the Brotherhood for the benefit of the Railroad Company's 'Locomotive Engineers, white Firemen and Hostlers'. Section 26 of this contract provides that 'seniority rights of Engineers and Firemen will commence with first trip made or day's work performed'. In 1926, after the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad had been incorporated into the Illinois Central System, a number of engineers were transferred from the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroads to the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers obtained an agreement without the appellees' knowledge, that ten of these transferred engineers, if demoted to firemen, could displace a similar number of junior colored firemen.

In 1941 a disagreement arose between the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad officials and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers as to whether this agreement as to demoted engineers was temporary or permanent, the Railroad officials claiming that it was temporary and could be terminated by them. This dispute was presented to the Railroad Adjustment Board in accordance with a provision therefor in the 'Railway Labor Act'. Both sides presented their contentions and the reasons therefor in writing, but neither of them disclosed to the Board the Railroad's agreement as to the seniority rights of its negro firemen made in 1937. These firemen, the appellants here, did not know of this proceeding and were also without the right to appear therein, except by their bargaining agent, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. On June 1 1941, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers entered into another written contract with the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad Company, styled 'Schedule of Rules and Rates of Pay for Locomotive Engineers, Firemen and Hostlers'. Article 15 of this contract provides that 'seniority rights of Engineers and Firemen will commence with first trip made or day's work performed.' Article 35 thereof provides that 'the rules, rates and conditions herein set forth constitute an agreement effective June 1, 1941, and will supersede any former agreements, rules and interpretations thereon (except local working rules not covered by this agreement) and will not be revised or abrogated until after thirty (30) days' notice in writing by either party to the other'.

This agreement, as the appellees admit, is not limited to white firemen but includes all firemen, both white and colored. The Railroad Adjustment Board rendered its decision on December 17, 1941, without...