Grand International Brotherhood, Etc. v. Marshall, 2076.

• Decision Date: 09 June 1938
• Docket Number: No. 2076.,2076.
• Citation: 119 S.W.2d 908
• Parties: GRAND INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS et al. v. MARSHALL et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 908

119 S.W.2d 908

GRAND INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS et al. v. MARSHALL et al.

No. 2076.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Waco.

June 9, 1938.

Rehearing Granted in Part July 7, 1938.

Rehearing Denied September 29, 1938.

Appeal from District Court, Freestone County, Seventy-Seventh District; H. F. Kirby, Judge.

Suit by Walter Marshall and others against the Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and others to enjoin the named defendant from interfering with the plaintiffs' alleged seniority rights as railway engineers to man certain trains. From a decree granting an injunction, the defendants appeal.

Reversed and remanded for new trial.

Thompson, Knight, Baker, Harris & Wright and J. Hart Willis, all of Dallas, and Harold C. Heiss, of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellants.

B. A. Golding, of Houston, and L. W. Shepperd, of Groesbeck, for appellees.

ALEXANDER, Justice.

This suit was brought by Walter Marshall and R. L. Strong against Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and certain other parties not necessary to be here mentioned to enjoin said brotherhood from interfering with the plaintiffs' alleged seniority rights as railway engineers to man all passenger engines operating south of Dallas over the line of the Burlington-Rock Island Railway Company as applied to certain through passenger trains being run over the lines of the Rock Island and Burlington-Rock Island from Fort Worth through Dallas to Teague. At the conclusion of the evidence the trial court granted a permanent injunction as prayed. The defendants appealed.

Briefly stated, the facts are substantially these: The plaintiffs Marshall and Strong are and have been members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for a number of years. Said brotherhood is an unincorporated voluntary association of locomotive railway engineers. Its purpose is to provide, among other things, for collective bargaining on the part of its members and to secure, regulate and protect their rights as railway employees. It contracts with the railway companies for and on behalf of its members and reserves to itself the exclusive right to determine who of the railway companies' employees shall man the various trains as engineers and it is solely within this brotherhood that seniority rights among railway engineers are recognized, regulated and protected. For many years prior to 1930, Marshall and Strong had been employed as engineers on the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway Company, and, under the rules of the brotherhood, had acquired certain seniority in the right to man the passenger engines on the trains of said company on its division between Waxahachie and Teague. The evidence further shows that the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway Company went into the hands of a receiver and in 1930 it was merged into or absorbed by the Burlington-Rock Island Railway Company and plaintiffs thereby became employees of that company. Shortly thereafter, the Chicago, Rock Island & Gulf Railway Company (called Rock Island), whose road ran from Fort Worth to Dallas and who held a lease right to operate trains over the M. K. & T. railway line from Dallas to Waxahachie, and the Burlington-Rock Island Railway Company, whose road ran from Waxahachie through Teague to Houston entered into a joint traffic agreement for the transportation of freight over said roads from Fort Worth through Dallas and Teague to Houston. On January 16, 1933, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, in conjunction with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, the Order of Railway Conductors and Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, entered into an agreement for the apportionment among the employees of said railroads the work involved in the operation of the trains over said route. At that time there was no regular through passenger service over said route. Said agreement, however, apportioned the work involved in the operation of any special passenger traffic over said route on the basis of two-thirds to the employees of the Burlington-Rock Island Railway Company and one-third to the employees of the Rock Island. This arrangement was accepted by the railway companies involved and put into effect but was subject to cancellation by either party upon thirty days notice. Late in 1936, the Rock Island and the Burlington-Rock Island entered into a new traffic arrangement for the operation of through passenger service over the route in question from Fort Worth via Dallas and Teague to Houston. Thereupon, a new dispute arose between the employees of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway Company, the Rock Island and the Burlington-Rock Island as to whose employees should man the passenger trains in question. Local and general committees from the four orders above mentioned, representing the employees of the various roads involved, were unable to agree and the matter was referred to the Grand Chief Engineer, or president, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and the heads of the other three orders above mentioned for decision. The heads of said orders appointed representatives to investigate the matter and report the facts, with their recommendations, for a decision. One O. K. Hedges was appointed to represent the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Upon investigation, it developed that the route in question ran from Fort Worth to Dallas, a distance of thirty-four miles over the Rock Island line over which the employees of that company had superior rights, from Dallas to Waxahachie, a distance of thirty miles over a line leased by the Rock Island from the M. K. & T. Railway Company, which portion of the route was treated as neutral territory, and from Waxahachie to Teague, a distance of sixty-seven miles over the Burlington-Rock Island line and over which the employees of that company had superior rights. The employees of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway Company claimed a portion of the work because that company operated trains over the Rock Island from Fort Worth to Dallas under a lease contract. After a proper hearing by said investigators and a report by them, said Grand Chief Engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, in conjunction with the heads of the three other unions above mentioned, rendered a decision on May 19, 1937, apportioning the work incident to the operation of said through passenger service by allotting to the employees of the Rock Island one-third and to the employees of the Burlington-Rock Island two-thirds. The employees of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway Company were denied any portion thereof. Said decision was accepted by the railroad...