Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. BROTHERHOOD OF RAIL. TRAIN.

• Decision Date: 16 January 1967
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2908-66.
• Parties: ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plaintiffs, v. BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

262 F. Supp. 177

ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plaintiffs, v. BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 2908-66.

United States District Court District of Columbia.

January 16, 1967.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Francis M. Shea, Richard T. Conway, Martin J. Flynn and David W. Miller, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Milton Kramer, Washington, D. C., John H. Haley, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., and Martin W. Fingerhut, Washington, D. C., for defendant.

OPINION

HOLTZOFF, District Judge.

This is the trial of an action brought by three railroad companies,—Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, Boston and Maine Corporation, and Des Moines Union Railway Company—, against the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a union composed of railroad employees, for an injunction restraining the defendant from calling a strike because of a dispute over the size and composition of train and yard crews.

The gravamen of the action is the contention that the defendant has not exhausted its remedies under the Railway Labor Act, and that a strike prior to completed recourse to them is illegal. The Union seeks the adoption of a uniform rule on all railroads providing that every train and yard crew shall consist of a minimum of three persons: a conductor and two brakemen in the case of trains, and a foreman and two helpers in the case of yards. On the other hand, the railroads maintain that in many instances a smaller crew is sufficient to do the necessary work without endangering safety. In the parlance of the railroad industry, the composition of crews is colloqually known as "crew consist".

At the commencement of this action a ten-day temporary restraining order was issued by this Court on the plaintiffs' application. Simultaneously plaintiffs' counsel moved for a preliminary injunction. On the return day of this motion, the Court, with the consent of counsel for both sides, ordered that the trial of the action on the merits be advanced and consolidated with the hearing on the application for a preliminary injunction, as authorized by the recent amendment to Rule 65(a) (2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In a commendable manner, counsel for the defendant announced that he was authorized by his client to make a commitment that it would not call a strike until after the entry of judgment of this Court following the trial of the action. Under the circumstances, both sides deemed a continuation of the temporary restraining order or the granting of a preliminary injunction superfluous. Subsequent proceedings, including the trial, were conducted on the same high plane by all parties and their counsel.

As the controversy presented to the Court is founded on the construction and application of the Railway Labor Act, it is desirable at the outset to analyze and summarize the statutory scheme. The Railway Labor Act (Act of May 20, 1926, 44 Stat. 577, as amended by the Act of June 21, 1934, 48 Stat. 1186; 45 U.S.C. §§ 151-163) established a system for the amicable adjustment of labor disputes in the railroad industry. It contains a well-conceived, carefully planned, elaborate system for the settlement of differences between carriers and their employees by means of negotiation, mediation and arbitration. It provides in detail certain specified steps to be successively pursued in chronological order when such a controversy arises. Neither employers nor employees may unilaterally make or insist on any changes in agreements affecting rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, without first resorting to the remedies provided by the Act. Chief Justice Hughes stated that the major purpose of Congress in passing the Railway Labor Act was to provide a machinery to prevent strikes, Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Ry. Clerks, 281 U.S. 548, 565, 50 S.Ct. 88, 74 L.Ed. 608.

It is emphatically announced in the statute that "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, * * * 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." Sec. 2, 45 U.S.C. § 152, par. "First". The provision immediately following prescribes that, "All disputes between a carrier or carriers and its or their employees shall be considered, and, if possible, decided, with all expedition, in conferences between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the carrier or carriers and by the employees thereof interested in the dispute."

It is expressly provided that no carrier 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 the agreements, or in Section 6 of the Act, 45 U.S.C. § 156. It is then directed that the initial step to be taken either by a carrier or by an organization of employees in the event that either desires an alteration in existing arrangements, is to serve a thirty days' written notice of intention to achieve the change, Sec. 6, 45 U.S.C. § 156. Such notices have come to be known in the industry as "Section 6 notices". A time and place for the beginning of conferences between the representatives of the parties, are then to be agreed upon within ten days after the receipt of the notice. The date of the first conference must be within the thirty-day period named in the notice.

If conferences do not result in a settlement of the dispute, the next step is mediation. For that purpose the President of the United States was authorized to create a permanent agency, known as "The National Mediation Board", Sec. 4, 45 U.S.C. § 154. Any party to a dispute is authorized to invoke its services. In addition the Board may proffer its aid on its own initiative. The duty of the Board is to use its best efforts to bring the parties to an agreement by mediation. If its attempts are unsuccessful, the Board is directed to endeavor to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration. If arbitration is refused the Board must at once notify both parties in writing that its efforts at mediation have failed. For thirty days thereafter no change may be made in the rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, or established practices, Sec. 5, 45 U.S.C. § 155. At the end of this thirty-day period, the remedies under the Railway Labor Act are deemed exhausted, unless in the judgment of the Board the dispute threatens to interrupt interstate commerce substantially, and the Board so notifies the President. He may thereupon appoint an Emergency Board to investigate and report concerning the dispute. After the creation of the Emergency Board and for thirty days after it has submitted its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, may be made by the parties in the conditions out of which the dispute arose. Sec. 10, 45 U.S.C. § 160.

At the expiration of the thirty-day period following the termination of mediation or the submission of the report of the Emergency Board, as the case may be, if the dispute still remains unresolved, either party may act unilaterally and resort to self-help. Specifically, the carrier may proceed to make desired changes in rates of pay, rules, or working conditions and discharge employees whom it deems unnecessary. On the other hand, the employees' organization may call a strike, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 372 U. S. 284, 83 S.Ct. 691, 9 L.Ed.2d 759. Conversely, neither party may resort to self-help until all of the remedies provided by the Railway Labor Act have been exhausted, and the thirty-day period has elapsed.¹

The present controversy had its inception on November 2, 1959. At that time carriers comprising almost all Class I railroads in the United States, approximately 200 in number, served notices under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act, proposing uniform changes in various work and compensation rules. The proposal had two principal aspects. The first was an elimination of firemen on Diesel engines in freight and yard service. The second was an abrogation of all regulations concerning size and composition of train and yard crews. On September 7, 1960, counter notices were served by the various employees' organizations, including the defendant Brotherhood. The Unions by a subsequent clarification proposed the adoption of a uniform rule requiring not less than one conductor and two brakemen, or one foreman and two helpers on all train and yard crews.

Resort was had successively to the various remedies accorded by the Railway Labor Act, including an Emergency Board specially appointed by the President. All efforts at an amicable settlement, however, proved unavailing. A nationwide strike was imminent, which would have created a national disaster. Congress promptly passed a Joint Resolution, which was approved by the President on August 28, 1963, Public Law 88-108, 77 Stat. 132.² It directed a compulsory binding arbitration of the dispute by a special arbitration board, to consist in part of members to be designated by each of the contending groups, and in part of members to be selected by the President. Strikes and lockouts over the dispute were forbidden during the effective term of the statute. The Joint Resolution was to expire 180 days after the date of its enactment, except that it was to remain in effect for the period of the Award with respect to any award that might be made by the Arbitration Board. The time during which the award should continue in force was to be fixed by the Board, but was not to exceed two years from the date when it took effect.

In due course the special board, known as Arbitration Board 282, filed its Award, which became effective on January 25, 1964. It prescribed that the Award should remain in effect for two years, i. e.,...