Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority v. I.C.C.
| Decision Date | 21 September 1983 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CIO,1427,D,Nos. 1091,s. 1091 |
| Citation | 718 F.2d 533 |
| Parties | 114 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3007, 98 Lab.Cas. P 10,470 STATEN ISLAND RAPID TRANSIT OPERATING AUTHORITY, Petitioner, v. INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION and United States of America, Respondents. SYSTEM FEDERATION NO. 1, RAILWAY EMPLOYEES DEPARTMENT,, etc., Intervenors and Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. John G. DEROOS, etc., et al., Defendants-Appellants. BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. STATEN ISLAND RAPID TRANSIT OPERATING AUTHORITY, et al., Defendants-Appellants. ockets 80-4010, 82-7925. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Martin B. Schnabel, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Richard K. Bernard, Gen. Counsel, Brooklyn, N.Y.), for petitioner and defendants-appellants.
Louis Mackall, Attorney, I.C.C., Washington, D.C. (John Broadley, General Counsel, Henri F. Rush, Associate Gen. Counsel; William F. Baxter, Asst. Atty. Gen., John J. Powers, III and Frederic Freilicher, Attorneys, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., of counsel), for respondents.
Michael S. Wolly, Washington, D.C. (Edward J. Hickey, Jr., Mulholland & Hickey, Washington, D.C., of counsel; Paul G. Reilly, Jr., Reilly, Fleming & Reilly, New York City, of counsel), for intervenor and plaintiff-appellee System Federation No. 1.
Harold A. Ross, Cleveland Ohio (Ross & Kraushaar, Cleveland, Ohio), for intervenors and plaintiffs-appellees Broth. of Locomotive Engineers and Broth. of Railroad Signalmen.
James L. Highsaw, John J. Sullivan, Washington, D.C. (Highsaw & Mahoney, Washington, D.C.), for intervenors and plaintiffs-appellees Broth. of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks and Intern. Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Edward D. Friedman, Washington, D.C. (Friedman & Wirtz, Washington, D.C.), for intervenor and plaintiff-appellee United Transp. Union.
Sidney Fox, New York City (Shapiro, Shiff, Beilly, Rosenberg & Fox, New York City), for intervenors and plaintiffs-appellees Broth. of Locomotive Engineers, Broth. of Railroad Signalmen, Intern. Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, and United Transp. Union.
Before OAKES, CARDAMONE and PIERCE, Circuit Judges.
This case requires us to determine whether the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), which operates on a strip of railroad located on Staten Island, New York, is a "carrier" within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 First (1976), thus exempting its employees from the anti-strike provisions of the New York Civil Service Law Secs. 210-211 (McKinney 1983) (Taylor Law). The district court, having adopted the determination by the Interstate Commerce Commission that SIRTOA falls within the Railway Labor Act, ruled that the Taylor Law cannot be invoked to enjoin or punish strikes by SIRTOA's employees. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the ruling of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the decisions of the district judge.
The Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a public benefit corporation and a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), was organized in 1970 for the purpose of taking over passenger operations on a 14.5 mile strip of electric railroad line that runs between St. George and Tottenville on Staten Island, New York. The line predominantly serves some 21,500 persons per weekday by providing intrastate passenger service.
The predecessor of SIRTOA, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway Company (SIRT), is a subsidiary of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company (B & O), which for some 90 years operated rail service on Staten Island as part of its nationwide railroad system. SIRT continues to effect rail service on the line, in the interstate transportation of freight, with connections with the B & O and Consolidated Rail Corporation. Its current freight operation consists of one five-car train daily, five days a week, serving the Nassau Smelting Company. SIRT employees are covered by the terms of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Secs. 151-162 (1976 & Supp. V 1981) (RLA).
On May 29, 1970, the City of New York and SIRT entered into a purchase and sale Agreement whereby the City was to purchase the St. George/Tottenville line from SIRT. The Agreement provided, inter alia, that the City, or any contractor or successor, would take over and offer to electing SIRT employees 213 employment positions, "pursuant to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act ... the Railroad Retirement Act ... the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act ... and the Carriers Taxing Act." 1 (Agreement Sec. 6(d)). In a separate Freight Tracking Agreement (incorporated into the purchase and sale Agreement), SIRT reserved the right to operate freight service over the St. George/Tottenville line. Pursuant to that Freight Trackage Agreement, the City was to maintain, repair, and renew the trackage line at its own expense and to maintain it in reasonably good condition for SIRT's freight operations. Shortly after the May 29 Agreement was executed, the MTA established SIRTOA for the purpose of operating the line.
The proposed Agreement was submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for approval, as required by former section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA), 49 U.S.C. Sec. 1(18) (1976) (recodified at 49 U.S.C. Secs. 10901-10902 (Supp. V 1981)). On April 21, 1971, the ICC authorized the City's purchase of the line from SIRT, as well as the Freight Trackage Agreement (Finance Docket Nos. 26343, 26342, respectively). 2 In its Certificate and Order (Finance Docket No. 25717), the Commission ordered that the authority granted was conditioned on the consummation of the acquisition and trackage rights transactions approved therein, and was "subject to the conditions for the protection of affected employees as submitted in the agreements of record." Besides the May 29, 1970 Agreement, "agreements of record" included those dated February 5, 1971, wherein the City, "pursuant to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, the Railroad Retirement Act, and the Railroad Unemployment Act," undertook to employ certain SIRT employees and assumed the collective bargaining contracts of SIRT. The ICC's approval of the reservation of trackage rights to SIRT was based on a specific finding that the transaction approved therein came within the scope of former section 5(2) of the ICA, (recodified at 49 U.S.C. Secs. 11343-11345 (Supp. V 1981)). SIRTOA assumed operation of the line for St. George/Tottenville passenger service on July 1, 1971.
In July 1974, the unions comprising System Federation No. 1, pursuant to the RLA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 156, notified SIRTOA of their intention to negotiate a change in their agreements covering "pay, rules, or working conditions." Having exhausted the various statutory negotiation and mediation stages mandated by the RLA, the parties were unable to reach accord. On January 17, 1977, the union members picketed at various points on the railroad. The strikers returned to work, however, after being served that same day with a temporary restraining order issued by the New York State Supreme Court, Kings County. The restraining order was subsequently vacated, and SIRTOA's motion for a preliminary injunction was denied. While appeal was pending in the Appellate Division, Second Department, the matter was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. On SIRTOA's motion, the case was remanded to state court by Judge Weinstein, who concluded that the federal court should abstain from deciding matters involving "complex administrative operations of the City and State."
After a full trial in state court, SIRTOA obtained a permanent injunction "enjoining the defendants, their members, officers, representatives, and all other persons acting on their behalf or in concert with them, from engaging in causing, instigating, encouraging or lending support or assistance to any strike, work stoppage, or slowdown in the operating of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority railroad." Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, No. 878-77 (S.Ct., Kings County, February 28, 1977). The Appellate Division affirmed, stating:
[It is] undeniable that SIRTOA is essentially an intrastate passenger or commuter operation, fully akin to the city's rapid transit system.... The connection between SIRTOA and interstate commerce is extremely tenuous .... It is not a vital link in the national transportation system, the continued operation of which is important to the national flow of commerce; and the instant labor dispute does not present problems of national or even regional magnitude, which problems would require uniform treatment on a national scale.... [B]alancing SIRTOA's minimal and tenuous connection to interstate commerce, exemplified by one freight run per day for the convenience of one customer, against the State's direct and compelling interest in preventing strikes by public employees and ensuring the continuation of commuter rail service for thousands of Staten Island residents, it is clear that these public employees may properly be enjoined under the Taylor Law, from striking against SIRTOA as a means of "self help" in their continuing dispute.
Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 57 A.D.2d 614, 615-16, 393 N.Y.S.2d 773, 775-76 (2d Dep't 1977). Leave to appeal was denied by the New York State Court of Appeals, 42 N.Y.2d 804, 397 N.Y.S.2d 1028, 366 N.E.2d 1364 (1977), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari, 434 U.S. 934, 98 S.Ct. 421, 54 L.Ed.2d 293 (1977).
On April 3, 1978, certain SIRTOA employees, members of unions comprising System Federation No. 1, instituted a strike against the railroad company. The...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Doctor's Associates, Inc. v. Distajo
... ... change in the applicable legal context," Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Auth. v. ICC, 718 ... "[A] United States District Court has no authority to review final judgments of a state court in ... ...
-
Algie v. RCA Global Communications, Inc.
...the interests of the same person." 1B Moore's Federal Practice, supra, ? 0.4111 at III-215. See, e.g., Staten Island Rapid Trans. Operating Auth. v. ICC, 718 F.2d 533, 542 (2d Cir.1983); Connell v. Weiss, 1988 WL 78364 at *2-3 (S.D.N.Y. July 21, 1988); Horger v. New York University Medical ......
-
Haitian Centers Council, Inc. v. McNary
...OF JUDGMENTS § 28(2) (1982). We have accepted the view put forth in the Restatement's § 28(2), Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Auth. v. ICC, 718 F.2d 533, 543 (2d Cir.1983), as have other courts, e.g., Kania v. Fordham, 702 F.2d 475, 476 n. 2 (4th Cir.1983) ("Relitigation of an issue ......
-
Clark-Cowlitz Joint Operating Agency v. F.E.R.C., CLARK-COWLITZ
...in "inequitable administration of the law." See Restatement (Second) of Judgments Sec. 28(a); see also Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Auth. v. ICC, 718 F.2d 533, 542 (2d Cir.1983). We think that would be the precise consequence of applying preclusion in this case for the reason we di......