Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. v. International Broth. of Teamsters Local 174
| Decision Date | 16 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-35859,97-35859 |
| Citation | 170 F.3d 897 |
| Parties | 160 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2769, 137 Lab.Cas. P 10,386, 1999-1 Trade Cases P 72,480, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1879, 1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 2429 BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY; Santa Fe Railway Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS LOCAL 174, an unincorporated association; Robert A. Hasegawa, an individual; Eric Smith, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Dimitri Iglitzin, Schwerin Campbell Barnard LLP, Seattle, Washington, for the defendants-appellants.
Roy T. Englert, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Washington, D.C., for the plaintiffs-appellees.
Donald Munro, Shea & Gardner, Washington, DC, for amicus.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; Walter T. McGovern, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-97-01052-WTM.
Before: THOMPSON, TASHIMA, Circuit Judges, and STAGG, District Judge. *
Opinion by Judge STAGG; Dissent by Judge TASHIMA.
Union sought to compel railroad, by threat of picketing, to enter into agreement whereby railroad would be bound to subcontract only with employers who had existing collective-bargaining relationships with union. Railroad resisted, filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"), and filed suit in the Western District of Washington, seeking to preliminarily and permanently enjoin union under the federal antitrust laws, 15 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., and the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. ("RLA"). After a hearing, the district court granted the preliminary injunction, and the union appealed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). We affirm.
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company ("Burlington Northern") is an interstate rail common carrier with operations in 28 states. Burlington Northern operates two major intermodal facilities in the Seattle, Washington area: the Puget Sound Hub or "South Seattle" hub, which handles domestic traffic, and the Seattle International Gateway or SIG, which handles international traffic. A combined average of 1,200 intermodal containers are loaded and unloaded at these two hubs each day by subcontractors hired by Burlington Northern.
Eagle Systems, Inc. ("Eagle Systems"), had a contract with Burlington Northern to perform loading and unloading services at its South Seattle hub. In the Spring of 1997, Burlington Northern informed Eagle Systems that it intended to terminate said contract as of June 9, 1997. Thereafter, Burlington Northern entered into a contract with another company, Parsec, Inc. ("Parsec"), to perform the loading and unloading work at its South Seattle facility. As a result of this action, approximately 53 Eagle System employees lost their jobs. The employees of Eagle System are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 174 ("Local 174"). The employees of Parsec are represented by a union that is not affiliated with the Teamsters. Burlington Northern has never had a collective-bargaining agreement with Local 174, and the union has not invoked any procedures to obtain representational rights with the railroad.
On June 17, 1997, Burlington Northern received a letter from Local 174 which provided in pertinent part:
It has come to our attention that [Burlington Northern] at times in the past has chosen to subcontract ramp and deramp work located within the geographical jurisdiction of [Local 174] to employers who have themselves as of the time of the subcontract not entered into a collective bargaining agreement with Local 174 or otherwise committed themselves to employ Local 174 members to perform the work covered by the subcontract....
....
Local 174 understands that [Burlington Northern] may have existing contracts with such subcontractors, and Local 174 does not in any way request or desire that [Burlington Northern] terminate any such contracts, cease using, selling, handling, transporting, or otherwise dealing in the products of any such contractor, or cease or modify in any way the business relationship [Burlington Northern] has with any such contractor or any other person. Nor does Local 174 wish [Burlington Northern] to encourage, induce, force or require any such contractor or any other person to recognize or bargain with Local 174 or any other labor organization.
Local 174 does, however, wish to obtain a commitment from [Burlington Northern], that in the future, [Burlington Northern] will refrain from entering into contractual relationships with any subcontractor who does not at the that time have a current agreement with Local 174....
Local 174 hopes that [Burlington Northern] will voluntarily comply with this request and execute an agreement with Local 174 providing that, in the future, [Burlington Northern] will refrain from entering into contractual relationships with any subcontractor who does not at the time have a current agreement with Local 174 such that Local 174 members will be employed by them to perform any ramp, deramp, drayage, warehouse, breakbulk, container freight station, or any other type of work within the jurisdiction of Local 174 to be performed by the subcontractor for [Burlington Northern] within Local 174's jurisdiction, and further providing that payments will be paid to the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust on behalf of the subcontractor's employees....
If [Burlington Northern] does not respond to Local 174's satisfaction regarding this matter, Local 174 may commence picketing at our discretion any time after 12:01 midnight on June 30, 1997, at [Burlington Northern's] South Seattle Hub and/or at the site of other [Burlington Northern] facilities and operations, and may at our discretion continue picketing thereafter in support of Local 174's demand that [Burlington Northern] execute with Local 174 the agreement just described.
Appellants' Excerpts of Record at 5-6. In response to this letter, Burlington Northern filed an unfair labor practices charge with the NLRB on June 24, 1997. The NLRB referred the charge to its Division of Advice and ultimately dismissed Burlington Northern's claim. See Brief of Appellants, App. A. This decision is currently on appeal to the NLRB's Office of Appeals.
In addition to filing a charge with the NLRB, Burlington Northern filed a complaint in the Western District of Washington against Local 174 and two of its officers, Robert Hasegawa, and Eric Smith (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Local 174"), alleging violations of the RLA and the federal antitrust laws and seeking to enjoin Local 174, preliminarily and permanently, from engaging in any unlawful strike, picketing, or work stoppage at any of its facilities. On June 26, 1997, Burlington Northern moved the court for a temporary restraining order, and at a June 30, 1997 hearing on the motion, Local 174 stipulated to the court that it would maintain the status quo, i.e., refrain from picketing, pending the disposition of the railroad's motion for a preliminary injunction.
Following an August 8, 1997 hearing, the district court entered an Order granting Burlington Northern's motion for a preliminary injunction. 1 The district court found that as the case did not involve a labor dispute, neither the RLA nor the anti-injunction provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., applied. 2 Furthermore, the court found that under the circumstances, a preliminary injunction was warranted (1) because the unions's threatened action against Burlington Northern had the potential to cause irreparable harm to the railroad and (2) because it was substantially likely that the object of said action (i.e., the proposed agreement) was violative of the federal antitrust laws. Local 174 appeals from this interlocutory order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).
Local 174 contends that the district court erred by granting Burlington Northern's motion for a preliminary injunction. Specifically, Local 174 argues:
(1) that regardless of the merits of Burlington Northern's antitrust claim, because the dispute between the parties "involves or grows out of a labor dispute," the Norris-LaGuardia Act deprived the district court of the jurisdiction to issue a preliminary injunction against it;
(2) that because its activities are protected by the "nonstatutory exemption" from the federal antitrust laws, the district court could not have concluded that Burlington Northern was likely to succeed on the merits of the antitrust claim;
(3) that, even aside from the aforementioned issues, Burlington Northern cannot possibly succeed on the merits of the antitrust claim; and
(4) that because Burlington Northern voluntarily submitted this action to the jurisdiction of the NLRB, the district court should have deferred to that agency's primary or exclusive jurisdiction.
Burlington Northern maintains that the district court did not abuse its discretion in relying on the federal antitrust laws to enjoin Local 174 from picketing its facilities. Specifically, Burlington Northern argues (1) that the district court had jurisdiction to issue a preliminary injunction because the dispute between it and Local 174 arose outside of a labor dispute and (2) that the district court correctly concluded that it had a substantial likelihood of success on its antitrust claim against the union. Alternatively, Burlington Northern contends that, even if the court finds that the instant dispute involves a labor dispute within the meaning of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, the preliminary injunction should, nonetheless, be affirmed because Local 174's threatened actions violate the RLA's comprehensive scheme for resolving labor disputes in the railway industry. Finally, Burlington Northern submits that this matter is not subject to the primary or exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB.
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