Crisler v. Crum
| Decision Date | 25 March 1927 |
| Docket Number | 25706 |
| Citation | 213 N.W. 366,115 Neb. 375 |
| Parties | AARON S. CRISLER, APPELLANT, v. JOSEPH M. CRUM ET AL., APPELLEES |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Lancaster county: WILLARD E STEWART, JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
C. C Flansburg, for appellant.
Wright & Thummell and H. E. Kuppinger, contra.
Heard before GOSS, C. J., ROSE, DEAN, DAY, GOOD and EBERLY, JJ.
Plaintiff is a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company and is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. He brought this action to enjoin the defendants, as officers of said brotherhood, from interfering with his seniority rights as an engineer and other vested rights of employment; to compel defendants to revoke and rescind orders by them made, which he claims had the effect of reducing his rank and pay as an engineer; to compel defendants to restore him to his former place and seniority as an engineer, and to remove defendant Crum from working as an engineer in the Wymore division of said railway company.
Defendants answered, admitting the making of the rules and orders complained of, but alleged that they were made with full authority and in accordance with the constitution, rules and regulations of the said brotherhood. A trial resulted in a decree for defendants. Plaintiff appeals.
There is practically no dispute as to the facts. From the record it appears that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Burlington railroad, bargains and contracts with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, hereinafter called the brotherhood, for engineers to man the trains of its railway system. Contracts are made between the officers of the brotherhood and the railway system which fix the rates of pay and conditions of employment, which are valid for one year, and continue in force until another contract is entered into, or until one party to the contract gives 30 days' notice of intention to terminate it. Pursuant to one of these contracts, plaintiff was employed as an engineer on the Burlington railroad.
The brotherhood is a voluntary, unincorporated association. Its general purpose is to combine the interests of locomotive engineers, promote their welfare and working conditions, and for other purposes, not necessary to enumerate. The brotherhood has a very elaborate system of laws, composed of a constitution, statute, and rules, regulating its affairs in almost every particular. Under its plan of organization, the supreme governing body is known as the Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and will be hereinafter referred to as the grand division. This body is composed of officers of the grand division and delegates selected by and representing local divisions. It meets triennially in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. It is the supreme law-making body of the brotherhood. Its principal officer is the grand chief engineer, and his decisions have the force and effect of law and are binding unless and until reversed by an appeal to the grand division. The brotherhood is subdivided into lodges, called divisions. Each division corresponds very closely to a division of the railway system with which it contracts. The local lodge or division is empowered to select a committee of adjustment, which has power to pass upon and adjust differences between the members of the local lodge or division. The scheme of government further provides for general committees of adjustment, there being one of such committees for each railway system contracting with the brotherhood. The general committees of adjustment are given powers to contract with the railway system for employment of engineers, fixing the rights, rates of pay, conditions of employment, and other matters. These committees also have power to make rules, not inconsistent with the laws or rules of the grand division, for the government of certain affairs of the brotherhood, pertaining to the engineers of the particular railway system. These committees are given power to settle all questions in dispute as to seniority and rights to runs, or jurisdiction of territory, between the members and divisions of the particular system of railways. If any one is aggrieved over the decision upon any controversy submitted to these committees, there is a provision for an appeal from the decision to the members of the brotherhood of the particular railway system. In the interim between meetings of the committee the chairman thereof has the same powers as the committee. The grand division has jurisdiction over all subjects pertaining to the brotherhood, and its enactments and decisions are the supreme law of the brotherhood.
The engineers of a local division of the brotherhood operate and man the trains of a corresponding division of the railway system, by which they are employed. The engineers of each local division are classified. The first class has what are known as assigned runs. Assigned runs are those held by an assemblage of engineers assigned to leave a terminal at a regular, specified time, to arrive back to the terminal at a regular time, with regular days of leaving and arriving. The second class is known as the pool, which is an assemblage of engineers assigned to irregular freight service, whose duties require them, under the rule, to run "first in and first out." The third class is called the extra board, which is an assemblage of engineers at a division point, to fill vacancies caused by engineers laying off for sickness or anything that would require an engineer, either in the pool or on an assigned run, to leave his run for any purpose, so that an extra engineer would be necessary to fill the temporary vacancy. The members of the extra board might be properly termed substitutes. Each engineer whether on an assigned run, a member of the pool, or of the extra board, has the right to select his runs according to seniority. By seniority is meant a right vested in engineers by a period of service in the division of which the engineer is a member. The engineer longest in the service at that division has first place, and the one next longest the second place, and so on. This right of seniority is recognized by the brotherhood and the railway companies and is a valuable right of the engineer.
The Burlington railroad has one division known as the St. Joseph division which operates trains out of the city of St. Joseph, Missouri. These trains run over tracks from St. Joseph, north through Napier, Missouri, to Council Bluffs and Omaha. It has another division known as the Wymore division, located at Wymore, Nebraska, and from this point trains are operated between Wymore and St. Joseph, and also between Lincoln, Nebraska, and St. Joseph, both by way of Napier. Both of these trains run over the track between Napier and St. Joseph, which is a part of the St. Joseph division. There is a local lodge or division of the brotherhood located at St. Joseph, known as No. 107, and another lodge or division, known as No. 621, located at Wymore. The Burlington tracks between Wymore and Napier and between Lincoln and Napier are within the Wymore division. The engineers of the St. Joseph division of the brotherhood operate and man the trains running over the St. Joseph division, while those at Wymore operate and run the trains in the Wymore division. It appears that sometimes, where a track is used by two or more divisions, it is what is known as a joint track and constitutes a part of each of the divisions operating over it. But where there is not a joint track, and the trains of one division run over a part of the track of another division, the brotherhood of the latter division is given the right to supply a proportionate part of the engineers to man the trains which run, in part, over the two divisions, the proportion being based on the number of miles of the runs within each division.
This condition gave rise to a controversy between the Wymore division and St. Joseph division of the brotherhood. The matter was taken to the general...
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