Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co.
| Decision Date | 17 April 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-1631,91-1631 |
| Citation | 961 F.2d 1245 |
| Parties | 140 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2203, 121 Lab.Cas. P 10,106, 121 Lab.Cas. P 10,166 BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYEES, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GRAND TRUNK WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Stuart M. Israel, Miller, Cohen, Martens & Ice, Southfield, Mich., Donald F. Griffin (Argued and Briefed), Richard S. Edelman, Highsaw, Mahoney & Clarke, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs-appellees.
I. Michael Greenberger (Argued and Briefed), Shea & Gardner, Washington, D.C., John A. Ponitz, Grand Trunk R. Co., Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellant.
Before: JONES and NELSON, Circuit Judges; and LIVELY, Senior Circuit Judge.
This case involves a disagreement over a certification by the National Mediation Board (NMB or Board) under the Railway Labor Act (RLA or the Act), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. More specifically, it requires us to decide whether the matter presented to and resolved by the NMB was a "representation dispute." The RLA grants exclusive jurisdiction over such disputes to the NMB, and there is no judicial review of the Board's decisions. The district court treated the matter before the NMB in this case as something other than a true representation dispute and granted summary judgment in favor of the unions, interpreting the NMB's decision as urged by the unions. The railroad appeals, and we reverse.
In 1981 the Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (GTW) acquired the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad (DT & I) and the Detroit Toledo Shore Line Railroad (DTSL), merging them into GTW. Initially GTW honored all agreements with the plaintiff unions that had been in effect prior to the merger. Following the merger, GTW and the unions negotiated single, unified collective bargaining agreements for all the electricians and carmen on the merged GTW. But GTW continued to deal with the same union officers who had been representatives of six other crafts or classes of employees under agreements with DT & I and DTSL.
In 1989, however, after the unions denied GTW's request that they name a single representative to negotiate for each craft or class of employees system-wide, GTW petitioned the NMB to resolve its dispute with the unions over the status of representatives who had been certified for DT & I and DTSL before the merger. This request was made pursuant to Section 2 Ninth of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 152, which states, in pertinent part,
[I]f any dispute shall arise among a carrier's employees as to who are [the designated and authorized] representatives ... it shall be the duty of the Mediation Board, upon request of either party to the dispute, to investigate such dispute and to certify to both parties ... the name or names of the individuals or organizations that have been designated and authorized to represent the employees involved in the dispute....
The petition requested the NMB to find that "the merged GTW system constituted a single bargaining unit for each of the crafts or classes of employees represented by the unions." GTW also requested the NMB to determine what effect the creation of a single transportation system had on the representation certifications of DT & I, DTSL and GTW. The railroad argued that the fragmented representation resulting from continued recognition of pre-merger The Board issued an opinion on June 18, 1990, 17 NMB 79 (1990), finding that, following merger, the three railroads constituted a single entity. The NMB also concluded that certification of system-wide bargaining representatives would not impair the classes formerly represented by union officers from former DT & I and DTSL units. The NMB refused, however, to designate specific spokespersons for each class of employees.
bargaining units prevented effective bargaining.
GTW then notified its employees and the unions that all union representation on behalf of former DT & I and DTSL employees would be provided by the comparable union committee that represented GTW employees. GTW notified the NMB of the procedures it had implemented and advised that the unions were resisting the changes.
The unions 1 filed this action in the district court seeking a declaratory judgment that GTW violated the Act by failing and refusing to treat with officials of the unions who had been designated to administer collective bargaining agreements applicable to certain crafts and classes of GTW employees, that is, the representatives of former DT & I and DTSL employees. They also sought an injunction against any such future violations. The complaint stated that the plaintiff unions represented various GTW employees under agreements with the three railroads that existed prior to the merger. Following the decision of the NMB, GTW began denying claims and grievances of employees when submitted by "subordinate units" of the unions, which GTW did not recognize as proper representatives of its employees. The unions sought an order requiring GTW to recognize representatives of these subordinate units as certified representatives of the employees who originally worked for the pre-merger railroads.
In its answer GTW admitted that it had sought a decision from the NMB that would "remove the fragmentation of collective bargaining units on the GTW property and permit GTW to bargain with a single representative of each craft or class on its property." GTW asserted that the NMB decision extinguished the certifications of the pre-merger representatives, and that it could not handle claims or grievances submitted by those persons. GTW maintained that its actions were in accord with the Board decision, and denied that the unions were entitled to declaratory or injunctive relief.
Both sides then filed motions for summary judgment with supporting documents, briefs and responses. The district court held a hearing on the cross-motions, and took the case under submission.
The district court, Judge Julian A. Cook, promptly issued a decision. His order began with a brief recital of the history of the relationship between the unions and the pre-merger carriers and with the merged GTW. The order then discussed the NMB decision on GTW's petition. The court noted that the NMB found that the three railroads had combined to form a single system and that extinguishment of the certifications on the DT & I and DTSL would not deprive any employee of union representation on the merged railroad. The same unions represented each craft and class on the three carriers, and GTW had extended system-wide recognition to the three unions as representatives of their respective crafts and classes.
The district court then turned to the NMB's disposition of GTW's request for the designation of specific spokespersons for each craft or class of employees. As the court pointed out, the NMB had denied this request because it was "not within the purview of the [NMB] to designate specific individuals to act on behalf of labor organizations."
(quoting NMB decision of June 18, 1990).
The district court found from case law that the RLA does not permit either management or a union to designate the other's bargaining representative. See United Transportation Union v. Grand Trunk Western R.R., 901 F.2d 489, 490 (6th Cir.) ("But the Act expressly preserves each party's right to choose its own bargaining representative."), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 55, 112 L.Ed.2d 31 (1990). The district court found that GTW was seeking to force the unions to designate one bargaining representative from each union, but that it had no authority to reject the bargaining agents who had been chosen by the unions.
Thus, the district court found the unions' interpretation of the NMB decision to be correct, and granted their motion for summary judgment. The district court merely declared the law and did not enter an injunction. The court recognized that the NMB has "exclusive jurisdiction over all representational disputes," and referred to this case as "this action (or perhaps more appropriately, inaction)," but did not discuss its own jurisdiction.
On appeal GTW contends that the proceedings it initiated before the NMB involved a pure "representation dispute" and that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the unions' action. GTW argues that the district court thus had no authority to "interpret" the NMB decision, and should have dismissed the case. The unions, on the other hand, assert that there was no jurisdictional bar to the district court deciding the issues presented in their amended complaint. They contend that the NMB had exhausted its "limited statutory jurisdiction" and a court order was required to gain GTW's compliance with the agency's decision.
We agree with GTW. The RLA, § 2 Ninth clearly gives the NMB exclusive jurisdiction over "[d]isputes as to the identity of representatives." The statute requires the NMB to investigate such disputes and "to certify to both parties, in writing within thirty days ... the name or names of the individuals or organizations that have been designated and authorized to represent the employees involved in the dispute, and certify the same to the carrier." It provides further that the carrier "shall treat with the representative so certified as the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this chapter." 45 U.S.C. § 152 Ninth.
The language of the statute supports the arguments of both sides. The first certification to be made "to both parties," refers to "individuals or organizations,"...
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