United Transp. Union v. CHICAGO & ILLINOIS MIDLAND

• Decision Date: 06 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-3014.,89-3014.
• Citation: 731 F. Supp. 1336
• Parties: UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION, Plaintiff, v. CHICAGO & ILLINOIS MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois

731 F. Supp. 1336

UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION, Plaintiff, v. CHICAGO & ILLINOIS MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant.

No. 89-3014.

United States District Court, C.D. Illinois, Springfield Division.

March 6, 1990.

Clinton J. Miller, III, United Transportation Union, Cleveland, Ohio, William K. Cavanagh, Springfield, Ill., for plaintiff.

Charles E. Holt, Graham & Graham, Springfield, Ill., for defendant.

OPINION

RICHARD MILLS, District Judge:

At issue is whether the Defendant railroad is required to engage in nationwide, multi-employer collective bargaining or whether the railroad can bargain on its own behalf at the local level. We find that the Chicago & Illinois Midland Railway Company is not required to engage in nationwide handling of the wage and rules proposals that are in dispute.

This cause is before the Court on Defendant's motion to dismiss or in the alternative for summary judgment. Also before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. (As both sides have submitted affidavits and other documents in support of their respective motions, the Court will treat Defendant's motion as a motion for summary judgment.) In addition, Defendant has filed a counterclaim seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

Thus, Defendant's motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's complaint will be allowed and Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment will be denied. Furthermore, summary judgment will be entered in favor of Defendant on its counterclaim.

I — Facts

Defendant Chicago & Illinois Midland Railway Company (C & IM) is a Class 2 railroad incorporated in Illinois. C & IM owns approximately 97 miles of mainline track and a lesser amount of side track in the five Illinois counties of Christian, Sangamon, Menard, Mason, and Tazewell. The railroad has 177 active employees, 18 of which are represented by the United Transportation Union (UTU). C & IM provides common carrier service by railroad but is primarily engaged in hauling coal.

Plaintiff UTU is an unincorporated association operating as a labor union. UTU represents railroad industry employees throughout the United States and Canada. The crafts represented by UTU are firemen, conductors, brakemen, yardmen, yardmasters, and some engineers. UTU is comprised of three organizational levels: (1) the international; (2) over 300 general committees of adjustment; and (3) approximately 800 locals.

On May 18, 1988, C & IM served bargaining notices pursuant to § 6 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 156. Under § 6 of the RLA, a party to a railroad collective bargaining agreement who desires a change in the terms of the agreement must serve written notice of the desired change on the other party to the agreement. UTU served § 6 notices on July 25, 1988.

Thereafter, the parties met several times to discuss wage and rules issues. In a meeting on October 13, 1988, UTU Vice President Cliff Bryant stated that the § 6 notices belonged in national handling. No further meetings were held.

Plaintiff filed its complaint on January 18, 1989. The complaint alleges that part of the obligation of the parties under § 2 First of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 152 First, is to handle § 6 notices nationally where the historical methodology of handling and practical appropriateness of mass bargaining indicate national handling is appropriate and one of the parties insists on national handling. Thus, Plaintiff requests that the Court grant it declaratory and permanent injunctive relief ordering Defendant to negotiate UTU's July 25, 1988, § 6 notice on a national basis. To accomplish this, Plaintiff requests that the Court issue an injunction directing Defendant to give its power of attorney to negotiate to the National Railway Labor Conference.

Defendant filed a counterclaim on March 3, 1989. The counterclaim alleges that Defendant is not required to engage in national handling and further alleges that Plaintiff's attempt to force Defendant to negotiate nationally is a violation of the Railway Labor Act. Defendant seeks a judgment declaring that C & IM has the unilateral right to select its representative for purposes of negotiating § 6 notices; that C & IM is not required to bargain over its choice of representative for contract negotiations; that UTU's attempts to force C & IM to negotiate on a national basis violate the Railway Labor Act; and declaring that the refusal of UTU to negotiate directly with C & IM on a local basis violates the Railway Labor Act. C & IM also seeks an injunction requiring UTU to participate in good faith negotiations with C & IM over the terms and conditions of the 1988 § 6 notices.

II — Summary Judgment Standard

Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), summary judgment should be entered "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Unquestionably, in determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, the evidence is to be taken in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608-09, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Nevertheless, the rule is also well established that the mere existence of some factual dispute will not frustrate an otherwise proper summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Thus, the "preliminary question for the judge is not whether there is literally no evidence, but whether there is any upon which a jury could properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it upon whom the onus of proof is imposed." Id. at 251, 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (quoting Improvement Co. v. Munson, 14 Wall. 442, 448, 20 L.Ed. 867 (1872)); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Applying this standard, the Court now turns to the case at bar.

III — Analysis

Disposition of these cross motions for summary judgment hinges on which of two competing interpretations of a statute the Court accepts. C & IM's relations with its employees are governed by, inter alia, the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq. Under the RLA, a carrier and its employees have the duty to "exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, and to settle all disputes...." 45 U.S.C. § 152 First. Either party can begin negotiations to change wage, rules, or working condition agreements by serving a notice pursuant to § 6 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 156, on the other party. The carrier and its employees are then required to confer in an attempt to resolve any dispute arising out of the § 6 notices. Furthermore, both the carrier and its employees have the right to select their own representative to resolve disputes, without interference, influence or coercion by the other party. 45 U.S.C. §§ 152 Second, 151 Sixth, 152 Third.

A. Plaintiff's Position

Plaintiff asserts that the Railway Labor Act and relevant case law require national handling of certain railway labor disputes. To support this contention Plaintiff relies almost entirely on a line of cases decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The earliest of the cases on which Plaintiff relies is Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Atlantic Coastline R.R., 383 F.2d 225 (D.C.Cir.1967), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 1047, 88 S.Ct. 790, 19 L.Ed.2d 839 (1968). In that case, the parties were involved in a dispute over the makeup of yard and road crews. The plaintiff served identical § 6 notices on approximately 80 carriers. Those carriers, one of which was the defendant, served their own § 6 notices on the plaintiff.

The union and various carriers began to negotiate on a local basis. Although the carriers requested that the dispute be referred to national handling if the local negotiations broke down, the union refused from the outset.

Local negotiations did break down and the parties invoked the services of the National Mediation Board. The carriers requested that mass mediation be scheduled but instead the board docketed each dispute separately.

Subsequently, several carriers, including the Atlantic Coastline R.R., filed suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The defendants asserted, inter alia, that the union breached a statutory obligation by refusing the request for national handling. The district court ultimately held that the RLA authorized the carriers to demand national handling.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the district court but did so on the basis that the facts of the particular case did not warrant a finding that the carrier could insist on national handling. The Court went on to state, however:

The Railway Labor Act does not universally and categorically compel a party to a dispute to accept national handling over its protest. Such bargaining is certainly lawful, however. Whether it is also obligatory will depend on an issue-by-issue evaluation of the practical appropriateness of mass bargaining on that point and of the historical experience in handling any similar national movements.

Id. at 229. The last quoted sentence is the language on which Plaintiff's entire case is based.

Atlantic Coastline has been cited in several other cases from the D.C. Court of Appeals and the District Court for the District of Columbia. Delaware & Hudson Ry. Co. v. UTU, 450 F.2d 603 (D.C.Cir. 1971), involved an attempt by 170 carriers to enjoin the union from conducting a selective strike against fewer than all of the carriers. Although the court found that the union did have the right to conduct selective strikes, the court cited Atlantic Coastline for the...