Illinois Central Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

288 F. Supp. 504, 69 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2616, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8747
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 1, 1968
DocketNo. 68 C 1382
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 288 F. Supp. 504 (Illinois Central Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Central Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 288 F. Supp. 504, 69 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2616, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8747 (N.D. Ill. 1968).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER DISPOSING OF MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

PERRY, District Judge.

This cause coming on to be heard on the plaintiff’s MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION; and

It appearing that on July 24, 1968, the plaintiff filed its COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTION and that such case was assigned to the Honorable Edwin A. Robson, Judge of this Court; and

It further appearing that on the same day, July 24, 1968, the plaintiff filed its EMERGENCY MOTION PURSUANT TO VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND TO SET FOR HEARING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, and that said motion was presented to the Honorable Joseph Samuel Perry, Judge of said Court, then sitting as emergency judge for said Court; and that at such hearing an attorney appeared to represent all the defendants in said suit; and

It further appearing that on July 24, 1968, the parties, through their attorneys, agreed that the plaintiff’s protested training and the defendants’ scheduled strike would be postponed pending determination by the Court of the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order, and that the hearing was thereupon continued to July 25, 1968; and

It further appearing that on July 25, 1968, the Court heard further from the parties and at the conclusion of the hearing suggested that the parties proceed to a hearing on a preliminary injunction so that, if either party wishes, it may take an appeal, to which the parties agreed, and that the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order was continued to July 29, 1968, on agreement by the parties, through their attorneys, that the plaintiff’s protested training and the defendants’ scheduled strike would be postponed pending determination by the Court of the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction; and

It further appearing that on July 29, 1968, the plaintiff filed its MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, and that hearings were had on said motion on July 29 and 30, 1968, and on August 1, 1968, at which the Court heard the testimony of witnesses of both parties and received in evidence written material offered by them; and

It further appearing that the Court has considered the pleadings and the briefs filed by the attorneys for the parties, and has heard oral arguments of the attorneys for the parties;

The Court makes its FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER DISPOSING OF MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The plaintiff is a common carrier engaged in interstate commerce by railroad and is a “carrier” within the meaning of that term as defined in the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. § 151) and is subject to the provisions of that Act and of the Interstate Commerce Act.

2. The defendant BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, an unincorporated association, is a labor organization, national in scope, with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, which is the representative, under the Railway Labor Act, of the craft or class of locomotive engineer employees of the plaintiff.

[506]*5063. The individual defendants are officers of the Brotherhood or employees of the plaintiff in the craft or class of locomotive engineers.

4. The defendant Brotherhood as the representative of the craft or class of locomotive engineers and the plaintiff have entered into a collective bargaining agreement concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, as required by the Railway Labor Act, under which locomotive engineers work for the plaintiff. This collective bargaining agreement does not contain a “scope rule,” that is, specific provisions describing exactly what work the craft or class of locomotive engineers is to perform. Historically, many collective bargaining agreements of the operating crafts of railway employees lack such a “scope rule.” As early as 1923 the plaintiff recognized in writing the right of engineers to “man” its engines. In 1944 the plaintiff and the defendant Brotherhood entered into a written agreement, which is still in effect on the plaintiff’s railroad, which provided that “the existing duties and responsibilities of engineers will not be assigned to others.”

5. At all times prior to late April or early May, 1968, the plaintiff did not request or require its locomotive engineers to relinquish the controls of the locomotive in their charge to the plaintiff’s Travelling Engineers or other management personnel for the purpose of permitting such management personnel to train the plaintiff’s administrative or supervisory personnel to operate the plaintiff’s locomotives.

6. In April, 1968 the plaintiff stated to the defendant Brotherhood that the plaintiff was considering inauguration of a Strike Program intended to train its administrative or supervisory personnel so as to maintain partial operation of the railroad in the event of a strike by its trainmen employees represented by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, but that details of the Strike Program had not been worked out. The defendant Brotherhood replied that if the contemplated Strike Program affected the duties and responsibilities of locomotive engineers in the operation of locomotives in their charge the defendant Brotherhood would object and would take such action as it deemed appropriate.

7. . In late April or early May, 1968, the defendant Brotherhood learned that the plaintiff had inaugurated its Strike Program and was requesting and requiring its locomotive engineers to relinquish the controls of the locomotive in their charge to the Travelling Engineers or other management personnel of the plaintiff for the purpose of training the plaintiff’s administrative or supervisory personnel to operate the plaintiff’s locomotives. As part of this Strike Program the plaintiff’s Travelling Engineers or other management personnel stated to the locomotive engineer in charge of the locomotive that he should turn over the throttle of the locomotive to such management personnel or to the trainee, that the locomotive engineer was relieved from responsibility for the locomotive, that the locomotive engineer should place himself elsewhere in the locomotive or, in some instances, in a following diesel locomotive unit, but that if the locomotive engineer left the engine and returned to his home he would be discharged. Locomotive engineers who were thus- requested or required to relinquish the controls of the locomotive in their charge were paid as though they had performed their duties and responsibilities as locomotive engineers.

8. The defendant Brotherhood protested against this action of the plaintiff in requesting or requiring the locomotive engineers to relinquish the controls of the locomotive in their charge and from the action of the carrier in relieving them of their duties and responsibilities, but the plaintiff denied the protest.

9. After obtaining authorization pursuant to the rules of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the defendant Brotherhood served on the plaintiff a [507]*507notice dated June 3, 1968, the first paragraph of which was as follows:

“This will serve as a formal notice under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act of the desire of employees represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to revise and supplement existing agreements in accordance with proposal attached hereto, identified as Attachment ‘A’.”

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288 F. Supp. 504, 69 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2616, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-central-railroad-v-brotherhood-of-locomotive-engineers-ilnd-1968.