International Broth. of Elec. Workers v. I.C.C.
| Decision Date | 25 November 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-1629,87-1629 |
| Citation | 862 F.2d 330 |
| Parties | 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3017, 274 U.S.App.D.C. 103, 57 USLW 2328, 110 Lab.Cas. P 10,831 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD of ELECTRICAL WORKERS, Petitioner, v. INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION and the United States of America, Respondents, Chicago & North Western Transportation Company, Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Michael S. Wolly, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.
Evelyn G. Kitay, Atty., I.C.C., with whom Robert S. Burk, Gen. Counsel, John J. McCarthy, Jr., Deputy Associate Gen. Counsel, I.C.C., John J. Powers, III and Robert J. Wiggers, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., were on the joint brief, for respondents. John Fonte, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., also entered an appearance, for respondent U.S.
Stuart F. Gassner and Christopher A. Mills, Chicago, Ill., were on the brief for intervenor, Chicago & North Western Transp. Co.
Before EDWARDS, BUCKLEY and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HARRY T. EDWARDS.
In 1981, the Interstate Commerce Commission ("ICC" or "the Commission") authorized Chicago and North Western Transportation Company ("CNW") to abandon two rail lines. Under the terms of the authorization, CNW was required to apply employee protective conditions on behalf of workers adversely affected by the planned abandonments. When a dispute arose over the implementation of the employee protective conditions, the matter was properly submitted to arbitration for resolution. Following arbitration, however, the ICC asserted authority to review the arbitrator's decision. The petitioner, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ("IBEW" or "union"), 1 argued that the ICC had no jurisdiction to review the arbitration award, but the ICC disagreed. Upon reviewing the award, the ICC upheld the arbitrator's decision in favor of the aggrieved employee. IBEW now petitions this court to reverse the ICC's decision that it has authority to review arbitration judgments settling disputes over the interpretation, application or enforcement of labor protective conditions.
The question posed for this court is one of first impression. Although the ICC has required the use of arbitration for a number of years to resolve disputes over labor protective conditions, neither the agency nor the courts heretofore have had occasion to decide whether the ICC may assert jurisdiction to review an arbitrator's decision. In our view, the ICC's determination that it may review arbitration awards under the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. Sec. 10903 (1982) ("ICA"), is permissible and not contrary to precedent. We further find that the ICC has provided a rational basis for asserting jurisdiction to review arbitration awards in select cases. Accordingly, we deny the petition for review.
In 1981, acting pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Sec. 10903 (1982), the ICC authorized CNW to abandon two rail lines. 2 In approving the abandonments, 3 the Commission required CNW to observe the employee protective conditions formulated by the ICC in Oregon Short Line R. Co.--Abandonment-Goshen, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979) ("Oregon III "). The Oregon III conditions require compensation for employees adversely affected by rail line abandonments. The conditions specify, in addition, that arbitration may be used in the event that the carrier and its employees cannot agree on the disposition of claims for protective benefits. Article I, section 11, of Oregon III provides:
11. Arbitration of disputes--(a) In the event the railroad and its employees or their authorized representatives cannot settle any dispute or controversy with respect to the interpretation, application or enforcement of any provision of this appendix ... within 20 days after the dispute arises, it may be referred by either party to an arbitration committee.
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(c) The decision, by majority vote, of the arbitration committee shall be final, binding, and conclusive and shall be rendered within 45 days after the hearing of the dispute or controversy has been concluded and the record closed.
Following the ICC's authorization of the CNW abandonments, a dispute arose over payments due to Daniel Scheele, a CNW electrician. IBEW presented claims to CNW for the employee's moving expenses and the losses incurred in selling Scheele's home in Oelwein. 4 CNW refused to pay the claims and, pursuant to Oregon III, the matter was submitted to a Board of Arbitration ("the Board"). In January 1986, the Board held that Scheele was entitled to a sum of $17,377.98, which included the loss sustained on the sale of his home, some mortgage interest payments, moving expenses, and an interest penalty.
In March 1986, CNW filed a petition for administrative review of the Board's decision. 5 CNW argued that the Commission had authority to review the award on two grounds: first, CNW read Oregon III as a delegation of the Commission's authority to resolve disputes over labor protective conditions, which preserved the Commission's final say on the matter; second, CNW pointed to 49 U.S.C. Sec. 10903(b)(2), which requires the Commission to impose employee protective measures in rail abandonment situations. IBEW opposed CNW's petition on the ground that neither Oregon III, nor the ICA, nor any Commission precedent regarding protective conditions, provided support for such a review. 6
On April 28, 1987, the Commission held that it had jurisdiction to review arbitration decisions; upon review of the merits of the case, the ICC upheld the Board's award of benefits to Scheele. The Commission stated, however, that in this and in future cases it would limit its review to "recurring or otherwise significant issues of general importance regarding the interpretation of our labor protective conditions." 3 I.C.C.2d at 736.
In its decision, the Commission first noted that "there is no specific Commission precedent to rely on in resolving this [jurisdictional] issue." Id. at 732. Previous ICC "cases [did] not address the question presented here: what happens after an issue has been submitted to arbitration." Id. at 735 (emphasis in original). Pointing to precedent involving the former Civil Aeronautics Board ("CAB"), the Commission found that "proper implementation of the statute may compel our review when an arbitration decision raises issues concerning our statutory responsibility to impose labor protection." Id. at 733. The Commission also looked to earlier instances in which the Commission had to answer questions raised "as to whether collective bargaining agreements ... conform[ed] with statutory requirements for protection, and questions defining the scope or coverage of imposed conditions." Id. (footnotes omitted). While expressing the "continue[d] belie[f] that mandatory arbitration is appropriate for the final resolution of causation issues," the Commission concluded that "nothing in the mandatory arbitration requirement forecloses us from considering whether our abandonment decisions (and labor protection conditions) have been properly interpreted or carried out as we intended." Id. at 735 (footnote omitted).
The petitioner claims that, because the ICC has no authority to review arbitration decisions settling disputes over the interpretation, application or enforcement of labor protective conditions, the agency exceeded its jurisdiction in reviewing the Board's award in this case. 7
This case comes to us in a somewhat unusual posture, because the ICC upheld the union's position on the merits of the arbitration award. Given this state of the record, it might be claimed that there is no justiciable controversy before the court. However, at oral argument, counsel for both the ICC and the petitioner asserted that IBEW has standing to pursue this appeal, that the case is not moot and that the appeal is ripe for review. We agree.
First, with respect to IBEW's standing to maintain this appeal, the union's interest in resolving the jurisdictional issue is sufficient to meet any constitutional requirements. The ICC stated that "[t]he principal issue raised by CNW's petition is our jurisdiction to review the Board's award to Mr. Scheele." 3 I.C.C.2d at 732 (emphasis added). Therefore, in pursuing this appeal, the petitioner is not merely quibbling over the agency's rationale in a case in which it has prevailed. The main focus of the union's defense before the agency was that the ICC lacked jurisdiction even to consider this type of case. Even if the resolution of this issue is seen as "collateral" to the merits of the case, the union has been adversely affected by the Commission's holding. Because of the ICC's decision to review arbitration awards, the union will be subject to agency review in future cases involving disputes over employee protective conditions. 8
This injury is similar to interests held to be sufficient to confer appellate standing on an otherwise prevailing party. In Electrical Fittings Corp. v. Thomas & Betts Co., 307 U.S. 241, 59 S.Ct. 860, 83 L.Ed. 1263 (1939), the interest identified was the prospect that an unfavorable ruling would act as collateral estoppel in subsequent litigation. Id. at 242, 59 S.Ct. at 860-61; see also Deposit Guaranty Nat'l Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326, 337, 100 S.Ct. 1166, 1173, 63 L.Ed.2d 427 (1980) (). The plaintiffs in Deposit Guaranty National Bank were found to have a continuing stake in a case where they had prevailed on the merits but had lost on the class certification issue. Their interest was the desire to shift part of the litigation costs to the other class members. 445 U.S. at 336, 100 S.Ct. at 1173.
Because the petitioner in this case will be forced to litigate future arbitration awards...
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