CSX Transp., Inc. v. United Transp. Union

• Decision Date: 14 June 1991
• Docket Number: No. CIV-88-1404C,CIV-90-481C.,CIV-88-1404C
• Citation: 765 F. Supp. 797
• Parties: CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION, F.A. Hardin, J.A. Cianciotti, R.W. Early, United Transportation Union, Yardmasters Department, B.R. Carver, Richard P. DeGenova, American Train Dispatchers Association, R.J. Irvin, Hugh E. Martin, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, L.D. McFather, J.A. LeClair, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, G.N. Zeh, B.J. Twigg, Transportation Communications International Union, R.D. Kilroy, Dwight A. Vance, L.H. Tackett, Transportation Communications International Union, C.E. Wheeler, M.L. Crawford, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, J.F. Peterpaul, A.J. Sarcone, W.D. Snell, International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, J.L. Walker, D.S. Anderson, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, D.C. Buchanan, A.R. Hicks, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, E.P. McEntee, George L. Laitile, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, V.M. Speakman, Jr., C.T. Green, Defendants. AMERICAN TRAIN DISPATCHERS ASSOCIATION, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, and Transportation Communications International Union (TCU), Plaintiffs, v. CSX TRANSPORTATION UNION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

765 F. Supp. 797

CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION, F.A. Hardin, J.A. Cianciotti, R.W. Early, United Transportation Union, Yardmasters Department, B.R. Carver, Richard P. DeGenova, American Train Dispatchers Association, R.J. Irvin, Hugh E. Martin, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, L.D. McFather, J.A. LeClair, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, G.N. Zeh, B.J. Twigg, Transportation Communications International Union, R.D. Kilroy, Dwight A. Vance, L.H. Tackett, Transportation Communications International Union, C.E. Wheeler, M.L. Crawford, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, J.F. Peterpaul, A.J. Sarcone, W.D. Snell, International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, J.L. Walker, D.S. Anderson, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, D.C. Buchanan, A.R. Hicks, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, E.P. McEntee, George L. Laitile, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, V.M. Speakman, Jr., C.T. Green, Defendants.

AMERICAN TRAIN DISPATCHERS ASSOCIATION, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, and Transportation Communications International Union (TCU), Plaintiffs, v. CSX TRANSPORTATION UNION, Defendant.

Nos. CIV-88-1404C, CIV-90-481C.

United States District Court, W.D. New York.

June 14, 1991.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld (Ronald M. Johnson, of counsel), Washington, D.C., and Kavinoky & Cook (Courtland R. LaVallee, of counsel), Buffalo, N.Y., for CSX Transp., Inc.

Highsaw, Mahoney & Clarke (John O'Brien Clarke and L. Pat Wynns, of counsel), Washington, D.C., and Collins, Collins & DiNardo (John F. Collins, of counsel), Buffalo, N.Y., for defendants in CIV-88-1404C and plaintiffs in CIV-90-481C.

BACKGROUND

CURTIN, District Judge.

The parties to the present actions are CSX Transportation, Inc. ("CSXT"), a "carrier" within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act ("RLA"), 45 U.S.C. § 151, First, and the United Transportation Union ("UTU") and American Train Dispatchers Association ("ATDA"), as well as other unions and individuals (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Unions"), all of whom are "representatives" of former CSXT rail employees within the meaning of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 151, Sixth. They have been before this court previously. Decker v. CSX Transp., Inc., 672 F.Supp. 674 (1987) ("Decker I"), vacated, 688 F.Supp. 98 (W.D.N.Y.1988), aff'd sub nom., CSX Transp., Inc. v. United Transp. Union, 879 F.2d 990 (2d Cir.1989), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 720, 107 L.Ed.2d 740 (1990) ("Decker II"). These prior cases have outlined in extensive detail the factual background leading to the present disputes. See id. However, a brief review of that background is also in order here.

CSXT owns and operates approximately 21,000 miles of rail line. The prior and present disputes both arise from CSXT's efforts to sell 369 miles of rail line between Buffalo, New York, and Eidenau, Pennsylvania. CSXT sought to sell that line because of its marginal profitability shortly after acquiring it in 1987 from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad ("B & O"), which had been merged into CSXT. As a result of that merger, CSXT assumed responsibility for all collective bargaining agreements that had existed between the former B & O and the Unions representing employees on the Buffalo-Eidenau line.

On September 16, 1987, CSXT entered into a letter of intent to sell the Buffalo-Eidenau line to a newly formed corporation, Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, Inc. ("B & P"). As a corporation not previously in the railroad business, B & P was not statutorily required to employ, or to enforce the collective bargaining agreements of, any of the 226 former CSXT employees of the Buffalo-Eidenau line. Decker II, 688 F.Supp. at 101-02. Under its sales agreement with CSXT, however, B & P did pledge to offer jobs to at least 160 of those former employees, albeit on different terms. Id. at 101.

Given the significant loss of jobs which would result from the sale, and the potentially less favorable employment terms for those jobs that remained, the Unions sought to prevent the sale until bargaining between the Unions and CSXT over the effects of the sale could be completed. Accordingly, just prior to the signing of the letter of intent to sell, the Unions served notices on CSXT pursuant to RLA § 6, 45 U.S.C. § 156, seeking "an intended change in agreements affecting rates of pay, rules, or working conditions." Id. By filing these notices, the Unions sought to amend their then-existing collective bargaining agreements with CSXT to include or strengthen labor-protective provisions during a line sale. The Unions acknowledged that these agreements did not provide sufficient labor protections in the event of a sale. See Decker II, 879 F.2d at 1000.¹

To understand the Unions' actions, we must digress briefly to explain the importance of § 6 in the structure of the railroad industry's labor-management relations. In the railroad industry, new collective bargaining agreements are not always negotiated according to a predetermined schedule. Cf. Burlington Northern R.R. v. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, 481 U.S. 429, 432, 107 S.Ct. 1841, 1844, 95 L.Ed.2d 381 (1987). Instead, the Railway Labor Act offers § 6, 45 U.S.C. § 156, which enables either party at any time, by filing the proper notice, to initiate negotiations over newly proposed provisions to such collective bargaining agreements. Section 6 then triggers an "elaborate machinery for negotiation, mediation, voluntary arbitration, and conciliation" between the parties. Detroit & Toledo Shore Line R.R. v. United Transp. Union, 396 U.S. 142, 148-49, 90 S.Ct. 294, 298-99, 24 L.Ed.2d 325 (1969). See also id. at 149 n. 14, 90 S.Ct. at 298 n. 14 (detailing negotiation steps). Most importantly for labor, however, until such negotiations are complete, § 6 requires preservation of the status quo.

In every case where such notice of intended change has been given, ... rates of pay, rules, or working conditions shall not be altered by the carrier until the controversy has been finally acted upon as required by section 155 of this title, by the Mediation Board....

RLA § 6, 45 U.S.C. § 156 (emphasis added). This status quo obligation extends also to the unions, who may not strike during negotiation periods. Shore Line, 396 U.S. at 149-50, 90 S.Ct. at 298-99. In this way, Congress established a framework to stabilize the often volatile labor-management relations in the railroad industry. Chicago & Northwestern Transp. Co. v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, 855 F.2d 1277, 1281 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 966, 109 S.Ct. 493, 102 L.Ed.2d 529 (1988).

After filing § 6 notices, the Unions then filed suit in state court, subsequently removed to this court, to enjoin CSXT from altering the status quo until it had bargained with the Unions over the effects of the sale on CSXT's employees. CSXT defended this suit on two grounds: first, that moratorium provisions in the collective bargaining agreements barred suit, Decker II, 688 F.Supp. at 102 & n. 4, and second, that the line sale was subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission ("ICC"), thus rendering the RLA inapplicable. Id. at 102. This court initially dismissed this suit on the ground that the ICC's jurisdiction preempted the RLA. Decker I, 672 F.Supp. 674, vacated, 688 F.Supp. 98. This decision was later vacated on motion by the Unions. Decker II, 688 F.Supp. at 107-09, aff'd, 879 F.2d 990. Before this court could reconsider that question, however, CSXT filed suit in this court seeking a declaratory judgment that it had no statutory obligation to bargain with the Unions prior to the line sale, and an injunction against Union self-help, including strikes. The Unions counterclaimed, again asking that the status quo be maintained and the sale enjoined until the RLA's dispute resolution procedures could be exhausted. See Decker II, 688 F.Supp. at 103.²

At that stage of the controversy, once this court had concluded that the labor protection provisions of the RLA were not preempted by the Interstate Commerce Act ("ICA"), Decker II, 688 F.Supp. at 107-09, aff'd, 879 F.2d 990, the main question was whether the line sale and attendant layoffs of union employees on the Buffalo-Eidenau line was a "major" or "minor" dispute under the RLA. Id. at 109-12, aff'd, 879 F.2d at 995-1002.

There are two very different dispute resolution procedures under the RLA. Although the statute does not mention them, the Supreme Court has labelled them "major" and "minor."

The first "major" relates to disputes over the formation of collective agreements or efforts to secure them. They arise where there is no such agreement or where it is sought to change the terms of one, and therefore the issue is not whether an existing agreement controls the controversy. They look to the acquisition of rights for the future, not to assertion of rights claimed to have vested in the past.

The second class "minor", however, contemplates the existence of a collective agreement already concluded or, at any rate, a situation in which no effort is made to bring about a formal change in terms or to create a new one. The dispute relates either to the meaning or proper application of a particular provision with reference to a specific situation or to an omitted case.... In either case the claim is to rights accrued, not merely to have new ones created for the future.

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Ry. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 723, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 1290, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945). See also Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, 491 U.S. 299, 302-07, 109 S.Ct. 2477, 2479-83, 105 L.Ed.2d 250 (1989). "Major disputes seek to create contractual rights,...