Transportation-Com. Emp. U. v. St. Louis-San Francisco R. Co.

• Decision Date: 08 August 1968
• Docket Number: No. 68 C 60(2).,68 C 60(2).
• Parties: TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION, and Transportation-Communication Employees Union, Frisco System Division 32, Plaintiffs, v. ST. LOUIS-SAN FRANCISCO RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

296 F. Supp. 507

TRANSPORTATION-COMMUNICATION EMPLOYEES UNION, and Transportation-Communication Employees Union, Frisco System Division 32, Plaintiffs, v. ST. LOUIS-SAN FRANCISCO RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant.

No. 68 C 60(2).

United States District Court E. D. Missouri, E. D.

August 8, 1968.

Haley, Bardgett & Williamson, St. Louis, Mo., Milton Kramer, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Paul R. Moody, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM

MEREDITH, District Judge.

The Transportation-Communication Employees Union and the Transportation-Communication Employees Union, Frisco System Division 32, filed suit under 28 U.S.C. § 1337 against the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company seeking an injunction prohibiting the abolishment of certain employee job positions or in the alternative prohibiting the operation of certain computer equipment. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company (Frisco) filed a permissive counterclaim against the Transportation-Communication Employees Union and the Transportation-Communication Employees Union, Frisco System Division 32 (Union), under the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (q), seeking review of certain awards rendered by Public Law Board No. 34. With consent of the parties, the Union's complaint was dismissed without prejudice by Court order entered February 23, 1968. The dismissal did not affect the counterclaim filed by Frisco.

Pursuant to 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second, Frisco and the Union entered into an agreement on May 16, 1967, establishing Public Law Board No. 34 to hear and decide seventy-four matters then in dispute between them. Public Law Board No. 34 (Board) proceeded to hear and render awards on the disputed matters submitted to it. Among the awards which it rendered were awards Nos. 18, 23, 24, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, and 72. Frisco alleges that the Board failed to comply with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq., in issuing the above twelve awards because it failed to confine itself to matters within the scope of its jurisdiction in the following respects:

(1) The Board failed to confine itself to the issues submitted to it for decision;

(2) The holding of the Board that the term "radio" was included within the scope rule of the labor agreement in issue constituted an unlawful change in the terms of a labor agreement which the Board had no jurisdiction to accomplish, changes in labor agreements in the railway industry being confined solely to the method and manner prescribed by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 151, et seq.;

(3) The function of the Board delegated to it, i. e., interpretation and application of labor agreements, was exceeded when the Board rewrote the labor agreement to include jobs, functions and media within the scope rule not included by labor and management nor even contemplated by them when the scope rule was written;

(4) The Board completely ignored the provisions of law for the purpose of changing a labor agreement, i. e., 45 U.S.C.A. § 156, and substituted a law-making and agreement-writing function for the orderly processes enacted by Congress;

(5) The Board failed and refused to follow the dictates of statutes and governing court decisions in rendering said awards.

Frisco requested the Court to review the twelve awards and set them aside. The Union counterclaimed requesting the Court to enforce the awards under the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p), and to award attorney fees to the Union.

The Union made a motion for judgment on the pleading, which it later requested to be treated as a motion for summary judgment. Frisco also made a motion for summary judgment.

Public Law Board No. 34 was created by agreement of the parties under the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second. That section of the Railway Labor Act provides that the awards of the boards created thereunder "shall be final and binding upon both parties to the dispute". The statute provides that "compliance with such awards shall be enforcible by proceedings in the United States district courts in the same manner and subject to the same provisions that apply to proceedings for enforcement of compliance with awards of the Adjustment Board." The provisions of the Railway Labor Act relating to review by the United States district courts of orders and awards of the Adjustment Board (National Railroad Adjustment Board) are found in 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q). The district courts are given jurisdiction to enforce the orders of the Adjustment Board and are granted a very limited jurisdiction to set aside such orders.

Research has failed to reveal a case in which an award of a board created under the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second, has been enforced or reviewed by the courts. The extent of this Court's jurisdiction under the statute to review the decisions of such boards must be determined. Title 45, U.S.C. § 153, Second, on its face, seems to limit the jurisdiction of the United States district courts to enforcement of the awards of the boards. That section of the statute refers only to enforcement, it does not talk of the setting aside of an award as does 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q). If the United States district courts have jurisdiction to do anything other than enforce such orders, it must arise by incorporation of all the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q), into 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second, by the phrase "in the same manner and subject to the same provisions that apply to proceedings for enforcement of compliance with awards of the Adjustment Board."

The Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq., was amended in 1966. Among the provisions amended are those under consideration, 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q), and 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second. The legislative history of the 1966 amendments indicates conclusively that Congress intended for the United States district courts to have jurisdiction to review the awards of the boards created by agreement of the parties under 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second, to the same extent that the district courts were granted jurisdiction to review orders of the Adjustment Board under 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q). See S.Rep.No.1201, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., June 2, 1966, 2 U.S. Cong. & Admin.News (1966), p. 2285 at 2289. See also Dominquez v. National Airlines, Inc., 279 F.Supp. 392 (S.D.N.Y. 1968) (dictum).

The review by this Court of the awards issued by Public Law Board No. 34 is severely limited by statutory provisions and judicial precedent. The statute, 45 U.S.C. § 153, First, (p) and (q), provides that an award of the Adjustment Board (and, therefore, of the boards created under 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second) may be set aside only for: failure to comply with the provisions of title 45, U.S.C.; failure of the order to conform, or confine itself, to matters within the scope of the boards' jurisdiction; or for fraud or corruption by a member of the division making the order. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that district courts may only set aside an order if the board's decision is "wholly baseless and completely without reason." Gunther v. San Diego & A. E. Ry., 382 U.S. 257, 86 S.Ct. 368, 15 L.Ed.2d 308 (1965). The legislative history of the 1966 amendments to the Railway Labor Act shows that Congress intended that the courts were to continue to have the power to set aside orders of the boards which were "actually and indisputedly without foundation in reason or fact." S.Rep.No.1201, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., June 2, 1966, 2 U.S.Cong. & Admin.News (1966), p. 2285 at 2287.

One category of disputes submitted to the Board concerned twelve separate incidents in which Frisco assigned the transmission of radio communication to certain employees. The Union alleged that the Scope Rule of the collective bargaining agreement between Frisco and the Union had been violated by failure to assign such work to employees represented by it. The Union requested compensation for the employees to whom it alleged the work should have been assigned. The twelve awards under review by this Court were submitted to the Board by Frisco and by the Union for the Board's determination of whether the Scope Rule of the collective bargaining agreement included communications by "radio".

The Union contended that "radio" was included in the Scope Rule of the Telegraphers' Agreement. Frisco contended that "radio" was not included in the Scope Rule. The Board determined that the Scope Rule of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties did include "radio" communications.

The complaint of Frisco before this Court is that the Board exceeded its jurisdiction and rewrote the agreement between the parties when it determined that the Scope Rule included "radio". Frisco contends that the Union has accomplished a change in the collective bargaining agreement under the guise of processing a grievance. The Union and Frisco by agreement set up Local Board No. 34 to hear and decide certain disputes which were in existence between them. Twelve of these disputes involved the interpretation of the Scope Rule, and whether that rule included certain communications by radio. Frisco stated in its statement to Public Law Board No. 34 in case No. 18 (award No. 18) that "this is a Scope Rule dispute." The present position of Frisco is apparently that the Board had jurisdiction to determine that the Scope Rule did not cover the acts in question, but that the Board did not have...