Bnsf Ry. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

• Decision Date: 12 November 2008
• Docket Number: No. 4:07-CV-274-Y.,4:07-CV-274-Y.
• Citation: 595 F.Supp.2d 722
• Parties: BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY v. BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND TRAINMEN, a Division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United Transportation Union.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas

595 F.Supp.2d 722

BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY v. BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND TRAINMEN, a Division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United Transportation Union.

Civil No. 4:07-CV-274-Y.

United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Fort Worth Division.

November 12, 2008.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

David M. Pryor, Carolyn Ritchie, Fort Worth, TX, for BNSF Railway Company.

Clinton J. Miller, III, Daniel R. Elliott, III, Cleveland, OH, Sanford R. Denison, Baab & Denison, Dallas, TX, for United Transportation Union.

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDMENT AND DENYING DEFEDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMARY JUDGMENT

TERRY R. MEANS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are the summary judgment motions of plaintiff BNSF Railway Company ("BNSF") [doc. # 35] and defendant United Transportation Union ("UTU") [doc. # 32] and the motion for partial summary judgment of intervenor Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ("BLET") [doc. # 37]. The Court concludes that BNSF's claim that this case can be resolved by interpreting existing agreements is arguably justified. As a result, this case involves a minor dispute and is subject to mandatory arbitration under the Railway Labor Act. Therefore, BNSF's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and the motions for summary judgment by BLET and UTU are DENIED.

I. Background

As railway carriers developed new technology that reduced the number of employees needed to operate a locomotive, disputes developed between some carriers and their employees' unions. The facts specific to this case are agreed. BNSF is an interstate railroad carrier. As part of its operations, BNSF employs both engineers and ground-service employees. Rather than negotiate employment-related issues with these groups' unions directly, BNSF is a member of the National Carrier's Conference Committee ("NCCC"). The NCCC negotiates with railroad employee labor organizations on behalf of its member carriers, including BNSF.

Defendant UTU is the exclusive bargaining representative for BNSF groundservice employees. Intervenor BLET is the exclusive bargaining representative of engineers employed by BNSF. At issue in this case is whether the engineers represented by BLET or certain ground-service employees represented by UTU have the authority to use remote-control-operation ("RCO") technology to control the movement of locomotives between train yards or terminals or similar points of departure and destination.

This is not the first dispute arising from attempts by NCCC carriers to employ this new technology because it has prompted BNSF and other national carriers to secure consolidation and reduction in employment through changes to their collective-bargaining agreements ("CBA") with unions such as UTU. Here, after being served with notices under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act by BNSF, UTU obtained court-ordered declaratory relief that crew staffing or "consist" is not subject to national collective bargaining. See United Transp. Union v. Alton & Southern Ry. Co., No. Civ. 05-190-GPM, 2006 WL 664181, at *6 (S.D.Ill. March 10, 2006). In response, the NCCC carriers proposed a wage freeze for employees then represented by UTU and a wage reduction for employees hired after the commencement of a new CBA. See BNSF Ry. Co. v. United Transp. Union, 462 F.Supp.2d 746, 750 (S.D.Tex.2006). The NCCC carriers sought declaratory and injunctive relief, arguing that UTU has a policy of unlawfully striking without notice, pointing to a strike conducted by UTU in April 2005. See id. at 751-52, 762-65; see also United Transp. Union v. BNSF Ry. Co., N. 05-cv-836 (S.D.Minn. May 16, 2005) (litigation arising out of the April 2005 strike). The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered summary judgment in favor of UTU, finding no violation of the RLA in UTU's striking practices and concluding that an injunction was not appropriate under the circumstances. See id. at 759-65.

A review of the historical roles of the employees represented will assist in understanding the dispute in this case. Traditionally, locomotives have been operated by engineers through the manipulation of the locomotives' brakes and throttle. Engineers have historically had exclusive control over the locomotives on long runs between points of departure and destination, known as "road service." Once inside a terminal or train yard, while the locomotives are moving at slower speeds, groundservice employees ("groundsmen") have controlled the movement of the locomotives. Groundsmen gave the engineer hand signals and voice commands by radio and the engineer operated the locomotives according to these prompts.

Over the course of the last several years, however, BNSF has begun to make use of RCO. RCO, as implemented by BNSF, allows locomotives to be operated remotely by sending commands to a computer installed inside the locomotives. Initially BNSF made use of RCO only in and around terminals and train yards, also known as "switching limits." The issue of which group of employees had the exclusive right to control the locomotives by RCO within switching limits was decided in separate litigation and a related arbitration. See generally Burlington N. & Santa Fe Rwy. Co. v. Bhd. of Locomotive Eng'rs, No. 01 C 7743, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1249 (N.D.Ill.2002); see also [BNSF Motion App. at 12-53 (arbitrator's award) ]. BNSF has since extended its use of RCO to locomotives in road service and this case centers on the dispute over which group of employees will operate the locomotives by RCO in that circumstance.

In August 2002 an agreement was reached between the NCCC and UTU ("the 2002 Agreement"). The initial paragraph of the 2002 Agreement provides:

THIS AGREEMENT, made this 20th day of August, 2002, by and between each of the carriers listed in Exhibit A [including BNSF] ... and the employees of such carriers shown thereon and represented by the United Transportation Union, regarding each such carrier's implementation and utilization of remote control technology for assignments including, but not limited to, yard engines, road switchers, locals and other comparable assignments, witnesseth ..."

[BNSF Motion App. at 6]. A September 2001 letter of intent regarding the agreement between UTU and BNSF tracks this language, and further provides "operation of remote control technology pursuant to this Letter with respect to assignments covered hereunder will be assigned to employees represented by the United Transportation Union." [UTU Motion App. at 11].

Prior to the 2002 Agreement, BLET threatened to strike against NCCC carriers, including BNSF, if ground-service employees were assigned RCO within switching limits. See Burlington N. & Santa Fe Rwy. Co., 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1249, at *4. BLET argued that engineers had the exclusive authority to operate locomotives. See id. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois enjoined BLET from striking and concluded that the dispute between BLET and the NCCC carriers was a "minor dispute" under the Railway Labor Act ("RLA") and, therefore, subject to the act's arbitration provisions. See id. at *26. In the subsequent three-way arbitration between BLET, UTU, and the carriers, the arbitrator determined that assigning RCO to UTU-represented ground-service employees did not infringe upon traditional engineer duties. [See BNSF Motion App. at 41-42].

In April 2007, BNSF and BLET entered into an agreement (the 2007 Agreement). The article defining the scope of the 2007 Agreement provides in relevant part:

1. (a) On any job or assignment in any class of road service, a BNSF locomotive engineer will operate every conventional (on-board, fixed control) and every non-conventional (remote control) locomotive or form of motive power used in assigned or unassigned service, whether such operation requires the use of conventional controls or any human control of any other operating equipment or system of controls. On any job or assignment in any class of road service, a locomotive engineer will be assigned use of any remote control locomotive equipment deployed by the company, provided such assignment would not preclude use of remote control equipment by others in addition to the engineer.

(b) On any job or assignment in any class of road service, a BNSF locomotive engineer will operate any on-rail equipment that may come into use in the future, when such operation requires any human operation or control, conventional or otherwise.

(c) If operation of the train or locomotive or other on-rail equipment in any class of road service calls for any onboard human presence (e.g., an "attendant," "overrider" or "lookout"), then a BNSF locomotive engineer will perform that function on that train, locomotive, or other on-rail equipment.

(d) If, in any form of on-rail road service, no onboard presence is required, but any human remote control operation occurs, even from a distant, fixed location, then such human operation of remote control will be performed by a BNSF locomotive engineer, provided such operation is not wholly incidental to another employee's duties (e.g., a dispatcher's).

[BNSF Motion App. at 55-56].

On May 7, 2007, BNSF filed its complaint in this Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against UTU. Noting that UTU had argued, in a suit it filed against another NCCC carrier, that the 2007 Agreement was invalid and created a major dispute, BNSF requests an injunction preventing UTU from striking. See BNSF First Amend. Comp. at ¶ 16; see also generally United Transp. Union v. CSX Transp., No. 1:07-CV-1549, 2008 WL 5210761 (N.D.Ohio July 10, 2008) (previous suit filed by UTU). BNSF also seeks a declaration that the controversy in this case is a "minor dispute" as defined by the Supreme Court in cases such as Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945) and ...