Rolax v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co.

• Decision Date: 18 July 1950
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 670.
• Citation: 91 F. Supp. 585
• Parties: ROLAX et al. v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

91 F. Supp. 585

ROLAX et al. v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. et al.

Civ. A. No. 670.

United States District Court E. D. Virginia, Richmond Division.

February 23, 1950.

As Amended by Supplemental Opinion July 18, 1950.

Joseph C. Waddy, and Charles H. Houston, Washington, D. C., Oliver W. Hill, Richmond, Virginia, and Thurgood Marshall, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Collins Denny, Jr., Richmond, Virginia, for defendant Railroad.

William G. Maupin, Norfolk, Virginia, Ralph M. Hoyt, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for defendant Brotherhood.

HUTCHESON, Chief Judge.

This action was filed under the Railway Labor Act, Title 45, U.S.C.A., Chapter 8. The two plaintiffs, who are Negro locomotive firemen, sued individually and as representatives of all the Negro locomotive firemen employed by the defendant, Atlantic Coast Line Railway Company. In general, the basis of the complaint is that the defendant, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, hereafter referred to as the Brotherhood, and the Atlantic Coast Line, hereafter called Coast Line, have discriminated against the Negro firemen under terms of the collective bargaining agreement entered into between the Brotherhood and the Coast Line, known as the Southeastern Carriers Conference Agreement of February 18, 1941, by which 50% of the available firing job assignments were allocated to colored firemen and 50% to white firemen in the order of seniority between the two groups, and a collective bargaining agreement with Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railway, effective June 1941, under which only white firemen would be assigned jobs on diesel locomotives, which latter agreement, referred to as Article 16(p), has been abrogated, effective January 10, 1947.

On December 20, 1948, six additional Negro firemen intervened as members of the same craft or class. They will also be referred to as plaintiffs.

The relief sought is a declaratory judgment stating the rights and duties of the parties; discovery relating to agreements pending or negotiated concerning job assignments or employment rights; an injunction from the assertion of any claim or recognition of the Southeastern Carriers Conference Agreement, or any other agreement making a distinction between white and colored firemen on the ground of race or color; an injunction against the Brotherhood from acting or purporting to act as representative of the entire class or craft of firemen so long as it refuses to represent the plaintiffs and other colored firemen fairly and in good faith and to give them notice and opportunity to be heard and report on all actions adversely affecting their employment rights proposed or taken by it; compensatory and punitive damages; restoration of seniority rights; general relief; attorneys' fees and costs.

Certain motions to dismiss were filed and overruled. Responsive pleadings were subsequently filed and requests for admissions and numerous affidavits were filed.

On October 13, 1949, a written agreement was filed, which, in substance, provided that colored firemen should be permitted to qualify for service on diesel passenger engines under the same terms and conditions as white firemen, which agreement became effective on October 11, 1949.

The introduction of evidence and argument of counsel consumed seven days.

Some knowledge of the historical background of this subject matter is helpful for an understanding of the issues involved.

Beginning with the early days of the railroad in this area, with equipment of a primitive nature, white men were employed as engineers, charged with the responsibility of operating locomotives. With some exceptions the fireman who shoveled coal into the furnace and performed other unskilled duties was a colored man. In argument it was said that in those days the requisites of a fireman were a strong back and a weak mind. So far as it conveys the idea that the fireman had little responsibility but arduous duties, the description is not inapt. This condition prevailed through the gradual development of the steam locomotive. Seniority rights were unknown and the choice of a fireman was usually left to the engineer. As might have been anticipated, there grew up a tradition of the road to the effect that only white men were employed as engineers and upon entering service the colored fireman did not expect promotion and ordinarily worked under the engineer who had selected him. The average fireman was illiterate, but reliable, and there existed a state of co-operation and mutual respect between the engineer and his fireman who occupied the cab of the locomotive during years of constant and close association. The fireman had no employment rights and ordinarily was paid less than his white counterpart.

In 1919, for the first time, the white firemen and enginemen, as a result of their organized strength, were able to obtain benefits accruing from collective bargaining and contracts of employment were entered into between the labor organizations and the railroads pertaining to hours, wages, working conditions and other terms of employment. It was then, for the first time, that the now well-recognized seniority rights were established as between the employees and the railroads. The contracts made provision for seniority rights and other benefits without regard to distinction between the white fireman and the colored fireman. So far as information of the Court reveals, no colored fireman has ever been promoted to the position of engineer, that position being filled by white employees recruited from the ranks of firemen. Under a plan put into effect white firemen on the Atlantic Coast Line are required to take an examination for promotion to the position of engineer after approximately three years' service. The testimony of experienced railroad men, both white and colored, demonstrates convincingly the necessity of prior experience as a fireman to develop into a competent engineer. During this time white men who entered the ranks of firemen for both the purpose of present employment and obtaining necessary experience for promotion, who successfully passed the examination, were promoted, and those who failed to pass the examination were discharged from the service. As a result colored firemen in a considerable number acquired seniority rights superior to the incoming white firemen and thereby became entitled to preferred job assignments without being required to take the examination for promotion to which the white fireman was subjected, failure of which meant dismissal from the service.

During the late 1920's there had accumulated at the top of the fireman roster a large block of colored firemen, who, under the seniority rule, were entitled to preferential assignment on firing jobs and being ineligible for further promotion created a block which made it difficult for white firemen entering the service to obtain job assignments sufficient to afford firing experience necessary to become an engineer within a reasonable time. Due to this condition an agreement was entered into between the Brotherhood and the railroad, under which 2/3 of the available firing jobs were allocated to colored firemen, who were classified as non-promotable, and the remaining 1/3 were allocated to the white firemen undergoing training necessary to become engineers. This arrangement continued, with modification in percentage until 1941, when the railroads constituting the Southeastern Carriers Association were notified by the Brotherhood of its desire to modify the bargaining contract so as to increase the ratio of promotable firemen on assigned jobs to 50%. The Carriers protested this proposal; whereupon the Brotherhood obtained the Services of the National Mediation Board and after protracted conferences the Carriers agreed to the suggested change and entered into what is known as the "Southeastern Carriers' Conference Agreement of February 18, 1941".

Prior to the acquisition by the Coast Line of the A. B. & C., an agreement was entered into on the latter road, effective June 1941, under which only white firemen would be assigned jobs on diesel locomotives. This was later modified, and as before mentioned, has now been abrogated in its entirety, effective October 11, 1949, and is here mentioned only in passing as it is not involved in this case except incidentally.

The result of the February 1941 agreement has been to deprive some of the colored firemen of job assignments to which they would otherwise be entitled by virtue of their seniority. The plaintiffs insist upon being permitted to exercise what is known as straight seniority, the result of which is to fill the greater portion of firing jobs with colored firemen to the exclusion of the white firemen. It was testified that in the absence of the ratio arrangement a white fireman entering the service would not obtain sufficient experience to become an engineer until after about ten years service instead of the present period of about three years.

A brief review of the history of other litigation of a similar nature may be helpful to a clearer understanding of the issues here involved. Some years since there was filed in the Norfolk Division of this Court an action under the short style of Tunstall v. Brotherhood, Infra, seeking to enjoin the Brotherhood and the Norfolk Southern from the enforcement of the Southeastern Carriers Conference Agreement of 1941. A similar action was brought in one of the state courts of Alabama at about the same time under the short style of Steele v. L. & N. Railroad Company, Infra.

The then District Judge before whom the Tunstall case was brought, was of opinion this Court did not have jurisdiction and dismissed the complaint. That action was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in 1944. Tunstall v. Brotherhood, 140 F.2d 35. In 1944 the Supreme Court reversed that decision in the case of Tunstall v. Brotherhood, 323 U.S. 210, 65 S.Ct. 235, 89 L.Ed. 187, and at the same time rendered its opinion in ...