Order of Railroad Telegraphers v. Chicago and North Western Co, 100

Citation362 U.S. 330,80 S.Ct. 761,4 L.Ed.2d 774
Decision Date18 April 1960
Docket NumberNo. 100,100
PartiesORDER OF RAILROAD TELEGRAPHERS et al., Petitioners, v. CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN R. CO., a Corporation
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

See 362 U.S. 984, 80 S.Ct. 1056.

Mr. Lester P. Schoene, Washington, D.C., for petitioners.

Mr. Carl McGowan, Chicago, Ill., for respondent.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

According to the verified complaint filed in a United States District Court in Illinois by the respondent, Chicago & North Western Railway Company, against the petitioners, the Order of Railroad Telegraphers and its officials, 'This is an action for injunction to restrain and enjoin the calling and carrying out of a wrongful and unlawful strike or work stoppage on plaintiff's railroad.' Section 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act provides, however, that 'No court of the United States shall have jourisdiction to issue any restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction in any case involving or growing out of any labor dispute to prohibit any person or persons * * * from * * * (a) Ceasing or refusing to perform any work or to remain in any relation of employment; * * *'1 The main question in this case then was, and still is, whether this prohibition of the Norris-LaGuardia Act bars an injunction in the circumstances of this case.

Respondent railroad, owning and operating a rail system of over .,000 miles in the States of Illinois, Wis- consin, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming, is an integral part of the nationwide railway system important to the transportation of passengers and freight in interstate commerce. When the railroad began operations, about 100 years ago, traffic was such that railroad stations were established about 7 to 10 miles apart. Trucks, automobiles, airplanes, barges, pipelines and modern roads have reduced the amount of railroad traffic so that the work now performed at many of these stations by agents is less than one hour during a normal eight-hour day. Maintenance of so many agencies where company employees do so little work, the complaint alleges, is wasteful and consequently in 1957 the railroad filed petitions with the public utility commissions in four of the nine States in which it operated asking permission to institute a 'Central Agency Plan whereby certain stations would be made central agencies * * *' and others abolished. The plan would necessarily result in loss of jobs for some of the station agents and telegraphers, members of the petitioner union. A few weeks after the state proceedings were filed and before any decision had been made, the petitioner union, the duly recognized, certified and acting collective bargaining agent for the railroad's employees, notified the railroad under § 6 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 156, 45 U.S.C.A. § 156, that it wanted to negotiate with the railroad to amend the current bargaining agreement by adding the following rule:

'No position in existence on December 3, 1957, will be abolished or discontinued except by agreement between the carrier and the organization.'

The railroad took the position, according to its complaint, that this request did not constitute a 'labor dispute under the Railway Labor Act,' that it did not raise a bargainable issue, and that the union had no right to protest or to seek relief except by appearing before the state public utility commissions which had power to determine whether station agencies could be discontinued, a power which private parties could not thwart by entering into a bargaining agreement. The respondent added that maintenance of the unnecessary agencies was offensive to the national transportation policy Congress adopted in the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. §§ 1—27, 49 U.S.C.A. §§ 1—27, and that the duties that Act imposed on railroads could not be contracted away.

The union contended that the District Court was without jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief under the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act because this case involved a labor dispute, and that the railroad had refused to negotiate in good faith on the proposed change in the agreement in violation of § 2, First, of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 152, First, 45 U.S.C.A. § 152, subd. 1, which requires the railroad to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules and working conditions. Therefore, the union argued, an injunction in federal court is barred if for no other reason because of § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act which provides:

'No restraining order or injunctive relief shall be granted to any complainant who has failed to comply with any obligation imposed by law which is involved in the labor dispute in question, or who has failed to make every reasonable effort to settle such dispute either by negotiation or with the aid of any available governmental machinery of mediation or voluntary arbitration.' 29 U.S.C. § 108, 29 U.S.C.A. § 108.

See Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Toledo, P. & W.R.R., 321 U.S. 50, 64 S.Ct. 413, 88 L.Ed. 534.

After hearings, the District Court found, so far as is relevant here, that the railroad 'refused to negotiate, confer, mediate or otherwise treat with defendant Teleg- raphers on the proposed change in agreement set forth in the Section 6 notice,' although the railroad 'did show willingness to negotiate upon the central agency plan, including a possibility concerning severance pay'; that the proposed contract change referred to in the § 6 notice 'relates to the length or term of employment as well as stabilization of employment' and that collective bargaining as to the length or term of employment is commonplace; that 'The dispute giving rise to the proposed strike is a major dispute and not a minor grievance under the Railway Labor Act, and no issue involved therein is properly referable to the National Railroad Adjustment Board';2 and that the contract change proposed in the § 6 notice related to 'rates of pay, rules and working conditions,' and was therefore a bargainable issue under the Railway Labor Act. On its findings and conclusions of law, the District Court granted temporary relief but declined to grant a permanent injunction on the ground that it was without jurisdiction to do so.

On appeal the Court of Appeals did grant a permanent injunction upon its decision that 'The District Court's finding that the proposed contract change related to 'rates of pay, rules, or working conditions,' and was thus a bargainable issue under the Railway Labor Act, is clearly erroneous.'3 It held that the Norris-LaGuardia Act did not apply to bar an injunction against this strike4 and we granted certiorari, 361 U.S. 809, 80 S.Ct. 56, 4 L.Ed.2d 58, to consider this important question.5

We hold, with the District Court, that this case involves or grows out of a labor dispute within the meaning of the Norris-LaGuardia Act and that the District Court was without jurisdiction permanently to enjoin the strike.

Section 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act specifically withdraws jurisdiction from a District Court to prohibit any person or persons from '(c)easing or refusing to perform any work or to remain in any relation of employment' 'in any case involving or growing out of any labor dispute' as 'herein defined.'6 Section 13(c) of the Act defines a labor dispute as including,

'any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.'7

Unless the literal language of this definition is to be ignored, it squarely covers this controversy. Congress made the definition broad because it wanted it to be broad. There are few pieces of legislation where the congressional hearings, committee reports, and the language in the legislation itself more clearly point to the necessity for giving an Act a construction that will protect the congressional policy the Act adopted. Section 2 of this Act specifies the public policy to be taken into consideration in interpreting the Act's language and in determining the jurisdiction and authority of federal courts; it is one of freedom of association, organization, representation and negotiation on the part of workers.8 The hearings and committee reports reveal that Congress attempted to write its bill in unmistakable language because it believed previous measures looking toward the same policy against nonjudicial intervention in labor disputes had been given unduly limited constructions by the courts.9

Plainly the controversy here relates to an effort on the part of the union to change the 'terms' of an existing collective bargaining agreement. The change desired just as plainly referred to 'conditions of employment' of the railroad's employees who are represented by the union. The employment of many of these station agents inescapably hangs on the number of railroad stations that will be either completely abandoned or consolidated with other stations. And, in the collective bargaining world today, there is nothing strange about agreements that effect the permanency of employment. The District Court's finding that '(c)ollective bargaining as to the length or term of employment is commonplace,' is not challenged.

We cannot agree with the Court of Appeals that the union's effort to negotiate about the job security of its members 'represents an attempt to usurp legitimate managerial prerogative in the exercise of business judgment with respect to the most economical and efficient conduct of its operations.'10 The Railway Labor Act and the Interstate Commerce Act recognize that stable and fair terms and conditions of railroad employment are essential to a well-functioning national...

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