Hiatt v. Union Pacific R. Co.
| Decision Date | 03 August 1994 |
| Docket Number | 93-CV-0210-B.,No. 93-CV-0209-B,93-CV-0209-B |
| Citation | 859 F. Supp. 1416 |
| Parties | Leonard K. HIATT, Robert A. Bagby, Marvin Crabaugh, Gary W. Boatright, Ronald L. Roberson, Carl D. Houk, Jerrold B. Hutchings, Duane K. Hinkle, Larry L. Burback, Stephen J. Miller, Kim R. Hardman, Kenneth R. Covington, Michael E. Valentine, Gary L. Yanken, Patrick M. Herrley, Mike I. Carlson, Randall O. Swarthout, Sammy L. Cross, Darrell D. Miller, Ronald L. Stoddard, James D. Tolle, Larry S. Clark, Robert T. Epler, Richard W. Cavender, Dale Young, Robert F. McIntosh, Julian R. Nelson, Walter T. Gronek, Ronald E. Ostendorf, Ronald R. Johnson, Melvin E. Sayre, Robert F. Lannon, Gerald T. Dueling, Philip J. Eberhardt, Roxie L. Jackson, Russell P. Eggers, Ron G. Van Nortwick, Thomas M. McMurtry, Larry R. Mann, Maurice F. McDonald, Donald A. Raschke, Cleo D. Schroeder, Kenneth W. McIntosh, Robert A. Podjenski, Gilbert R. Throm, Donald K. Peters, Robert G. Wenzel, Cecil B. Miller, Leroy W. Roth, James L. Wells, Charles F. Smartt, James W. Jenkins, John J. Stamate, Gerry W. Spinden, David E. Dupree, Donald R. Smith, James P. Manary, Ronald B. Hunt, Robert E. Williams, Dennis J. Smith, Gary E. Metcalf, Benny L. Covington, Robert E. Wedgwood, Norman R. Thomas, Jon L. Stone, Steven L. Brown, John R. Holloway, Warren H. Bush, Edward W. Berardino, Plaintiffs, v. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a Utah Corporation; and United Transportation Union, Defendants. Jerome J. SMITH, Michael R. Ramold, Michael X. Kosmicki, Richard J. McCune, Daniel L. Eastman, Donald E. Looker, Robert A. Harger, Steven L. Burbach, Donald S. Seghi, Roland G. Beard, Earl J. Vance, Bruce O. Stafford, Richard K. Loehning, Jr., Tracy B. Miller, Gary L. Jones, Robert M. Hagy, William A. Myers, Gene F. Noonan, Kenneth J. Puchalski, Robert L. Keenan, Robert F. Garland, David A. Growe, Michael P. O'Neil, Timothy J. Hoppe, Albert G. Kelsch, Steven F. Massey, John M. Crawford, Tarrell L. Newman, Bill G. Hamilton, Verl W. Moore, Charles W. Rohe, Albert W. Greenwood, Gerald A. Gompert, Gary L. Katiepolt, Dick C. Jones, Jon Lutz, Charles D. Barnhill, Larry G. Wright, Thomas W. Schaefer, John C. Rosenstock, Steven E. Bishop, Roger G. Mazanec, Edward Jay Dietz, Steve V. Brew, Lavern L. Brown, Donald Masek, Donald Rosekrans, Robert H. Hall, Jack A. Reighard, Roger E. Rohrbouck, James Moritz, Harold Jones, Plaintiffs, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, a Delaware Corporation; and United Transportation Union, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Wyoming |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Richard Rideout, Cheyenne, WY, and John W. McKendree, Denver, CO, for plaintiffs.
John B. Rogers, Robert G. Pickering, Cheyenne, WY, Brenda J. Council, Union Pacific R. Co., Omaha, NE, Keven C. Brodar, United Transp. Union, Cleveland, OH, for defendants.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
The above-entitled matter having come before the Court on the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss or, in the alternative, for Summary Judgment, the Plaintiffs' Combined Opposition thereto, as well as the supplemental briefs of the parties as per this Court's order, and the Court, having reviewed the materials in the file, having heard oral argument from the parties and being fully advised in the premises, hereby FINDS and ORDERS as follows:
Background
This case revolves around the interpretation and effect of an act of Congress which was signed into law on April 18, 1991, by then-President George Bush. See Pub.L. No. 102-29, 105 Stat. 169 (1991). The complaints in these two cases, which have been consolidated for pretrial purposes by an order of this Court, were filed by former employees of defendants Union Pacific Railroad ("UPRR") and Burlington Northern Railroad ("BNRR"). The plaintiffs named UPRR, BNRR and the United Transportation Union ("UTU") as defendants in these actions. All of the named plaintiffs had been employed by the defendants as brakemen until they were forced to accept mandatory promotions to conductor. It is this mandatory promotion issue that is at the heart of these disputes.
The complaints allege that the actions of the defendants in implementing certain portions of Public Law 102-29, namely the "crew consist procedures," discriminated against the plaintiffs on the basis of their age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (1988) ("ADEA"). The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the defendants' actions violated the ADEA, a prospective injunction against further violations, an order directing the defendants to take affirmative steps to eliminate the effects of their actions, an order reinstating their brakemen's seniority and compensatory damages, attorneys' fees and costs.
All three defendants have filed motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, with respect to the complaints. Before the Court can address the merits of these motions, however, it is necessary to review the relevant statutory framework and the events that formed the basis for these suits.1
The labor dispute that led to the present litigation requires an understanding of the congressionally designated procedures for resolving labor disputes in the railroad industry and the negotiation and collective bargaining processes.
The Railway Labor Act ("RLA"), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1988) regulates the process of collective bargaining in the railroad industry. It establishes a multi-tiered process by which either party to a collective bargaining agreement may formally propose to change the terms of an existing agreement.2 This formal procedure requires a party proposing a change to the agreement to serve a notice pursuant to § 6 of the RLA. Id. § 156. After service of a § 6 notice, the RLA requires the parties to enter into negotiations regarding the proposed changes to the collective bargaining agreement. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, then they may invoke the statutorily defined assistance of the National Mediation Board ("NMB"). Id. § 155. If the NMB is unsuccessful in mediating an agreement, then the parties may submit the dispute to binding arbitration. Id. § 157. If arbitration is not pursued, and the NMB believes that the failure to reach an agreement may threaten interstate commerce, then the NMB is required by statute to notify the President of this situation. Id. § 160. The President is then authorized to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate the matter and issue a recommendation. Id.
Of course, one obvious problem with the procedures contained in the RLA is in the absence of any limits on the number of § 6 notices that may be served by any party to a collective bargaining agreement. Thus, the parties could, in theory, seek to renegotiate the terms of their collective bargaining agreements ad infinitum. In an effort to avoid this possibility and to bring some stability to these agreements, the parties to these agreements (the carriers and the unions) often place a moratorium clause within their agreements. These moratoria provisions are simply bilateral agreements whereby each side agrees that it will not invoke the RLA procedures to reopen negotiations on a particular aspect of a collective bargaining agreement for a specific period of time.
In 1980, Congress passed the Staggers Rail Act, Pub.L. No. 96-448, which essentially deregulated the rail industry. Since that time, the nation's major rail carriers, including defendants UPRR and BNRR, have attempted to reduce the size of their train crews. Historically, the number of men necessary to form a crew was determined by what are known as crew consist agreements. A traditional train crew consisted of an engineer, a conductor, a fireman and either two or three brakemen. Due to technological advances, however, including the advent of the diesel locomotive, the positions of fireman and third brakeman have become obsolete and have been virtually eliminated. See Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Akron & Barberton Belt, 385 F.2d 581, 588-92 (D.C.Cir.1967).
The present litigation began when the unions and the carriers entered into a crew consist agreement on December 5, 1980. This agreement provided that all standard road freight and yard crews would consist of "not less than" one conductor and two brakemen. Subsequent reductions in these positions was to be entirely on the basis of attrition. The parties also agreed to a moratorium with respect to the crew consist aspect of this agreement for a specified period of time.
The carriers, however, have recently demonstrated an increased resistance to the brakeman's position because of their belief that its function is obsolete. As a result, the carriers have attempted to eliminate as many of those positions as possible for obvious economic reasons. Unfortunately for the carriers, reduction by attrition has been too slow and the moratoria provision in the crew consist agreement has prevented the carriers from attempting to reopen negotiations on this issue. As a result, the carriers have retained what they perceive to be the excess brakeman's positions.
In July of 1988, a majority of the UTU's local arms served § 6 notices on the carriers in an effort to modify particular portions of the then-existing collective bargaining agreements. Specifically, the unions sought to improve the wages and health care benefits of their members, which included almost all of the firemen, conductors, brakemen, yardmen and yardmasters employed by the carriers. The service of the § 6 notices opened the negotiations process described above, but only with respect to the matters designated therein.
In October of 1988, the carriers filed their own § 6 notices which contained a counter-proposal seeking dramatic wage cuts for its employees. Sensing an opportunity to renegotiate the important crew consist issue,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
DiBiase v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.
...Hazen, there can be no disparate impact liability under the ADEA), aff'd, 43 F.3d 1461 (3d Cir.1994) (table); Hiatt v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 859 F.Supp. 1416, 1434 (D.Wyo.1994) ("[I]t is inappropriate to incorporate the disparate impact theory of discrimination enumerated [by the Supreme ......
-
Hyman v. First Union Corp., CIV. A. 94-1043(RCL).
...of job performance and is not a completely inapposite stereotype with no correlation to job performance." Hiatt v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 859 F.Supp. 1416, 1436 (D.Wyo. 1994), aff'd, 65 F.3d 838 (10th Cir.1995), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 116 S.Ct. 917, 133 L.Ed.2d 847 The very nature of the......
-
Aramburu v. Boeing Co.
...Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977) (disparate impact based on gender). Hiatt v. Union Pacific R. Co., 859 F.Supp. 1416, 1432 (D.Wyo.1994). Based upon these authorities, the court is uncertain whether the plaintiff is actually asserting a disparate impac......
-
Hiatt v. Union Pacific R. Co.
...as "Plaintiffs" and, similarly, to the various defendants as "Defendants." The opinion of the district court, see Hiatt v. Union Pac. Co., 859 F.Supp. 1416 (D.Wyo.1994), recounts in full the somewhat extensive background to this case. We offer here only the abridged story. From the advent o......