Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

190 F. Supp. 829, 47 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2727, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3746
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 18, 1961
DocketCiv. No. 3749
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 190 F. Supp. 829 (Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 190 F. Supp. 829, 47 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2727, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3746 (W.D. Ky. 1961).

Opinion

BROOKS, Chief Judge.

This cause coming on for a further and final hearing and the Court, having considered all pleadings, oral testimony, affidavits, exhibits, and the briefs and arguments of counsel, finds the facts and renders conclusions of law as follows:

Findings of Facts

1. The plaintiff (herein referred to as L&N or carrier) is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Kentucky, and is a common carrier by railroad subject to the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.).

2. The defendants Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (herein referred to as BLF&E, BLE, ORC&B and BRT, respectively, or as the labor organizations) are unincorporated labor organizations within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act. The BLF&E is the collective bargaining representative for firemen and hostlers employed by plaintiff; the BLE is the collective bargaining representative for engineers employed by the plaintiff; the ORC&B is the collective bargaining representative for plaintiff’s conductors and brakemen; and the BRT is the collective bargaining representative for trainmen employed by the plaintiff.

3. The defendants Jake Paschall, H. J. Roadcup, L. G. Mullinix and J. M. King are the General Chairmen, throughout the property of the plaintiff, of the BLF&E, BLE, ORC&B and the BRT, respectively. All of the employees of the plaintiff represented by the four labor organizations are defendants herein and are too numerous to name. The defendants Jake Paschall, H. J. Roadcup, L. G. Mullinix and J. M. King fairly and adequately represent herein all persons employed by the plaintiff as firemen and hostlers, engineers, conductors and brakemen, and trainmen, respectively.

4. By this action the plaintiff seeks a permanent injunction against a strike threatened by the four labor organizations to enforce a money award of the First Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board (herein referred to as Adjustment Board or Board) in a case involving Fireman B. G. Humphries.

5. This proceeding is the result of an actual case involving a dispute between the L&N and the BLF&E over the discharge of Fireman Humphries, a member of the BLF & E. Fireman Humphries was discharged from the service of the L & N on March 31, 1956, after a hearing on a charge of assaulting, on February 15, 1956, while he was off duty, two other employees of the L&N who. were on duty and on the property of the carrier.

6. On April 11, 1956, the General Chairman of the BLF&E, on behalf of Fireman Humphries, formally protested the dismissal in a letter to the Director of Personnel of the L&N and demanded that Humphries be restored to service with former seniority unimpaired and paid for time lost. This grievance was discussed between representatives of the BLF&E and the L&N during several conferences, the last of the conferences at this stage being held on or about June 7, 1957. The L&N refused to reinstate Humphries. During these conferences no discussion was had as to whether Mr. Humphries had earnings in outside employment or whether, if so, such earnings were to be considered in arriving at the amount of back pay that would be due the claimant should he be reinstated to service. Because the L&N would not accede to the demands to reinstate Humphries, the BLF&E threatened to call a strike.

7. On June 13, 1957, the L & N submitted the claim of Fireman Humphries to the Adjustment Board for its decision. The claim was submitted by the L&N to [831]*831the Adjustment Board in the exact language as the claim had been submitted to the L&N by the General Chairman of the BLF&E. The claim, in both instances, was stated as follows:

“Request that Fireman B. G. Humphries, Louisville Main Stem First Division, be reinstated to service with former seniority unimpaired and paid for all time lost. Article 31.”

8. The regular members of the Adjustment Board could not agree as to whether this claim of Fireman Hum-phries should be denied or sustained and a referee was assigned to break the deadlock. On May 14, 1958, the Adjustment Board, with the referee sitting as a member, issued its Award 18720 which held:

“Claim sustained with pay for time lost as the rule is construed on the property.”

On the same day, an order was entered by the Adjustment Board directing that its Award 18720 be complied with on or before June 14, 1958.

9. The evidence shows without contradiction that the rule referred to in Award 18720 is a part of Article 31 of the agreement between the L&N and the employees represented by the BLF&E, the specific section of the rule being Article 31(f) which provides as follows:

“If the discipline administered is not sustained, it will be cancelled and the fireman in question will be paid for any time lost by him resulting from the investigation or action taken.
“Note: This section applies only where a fireman is held out of service on account of his responsibility, and does not refer to loss of time on account of being held off of his run to attend investigation.”

10. On May 17, 1958, the Director of Personnel of the L&N ordered that Fireman Humphries be restored to the service. On the same date the L&N, following a procedure it had followed in the past in such instances to obtain information for the purpose of deducting outside earnings, requested that Fireman Humphries furnish the carrier with a statement of his earnings in other employment, if any, while out of L&N service. The General Chairman of the BLF&E was advised of this request by the L&N on the same date.

It has been the consistent position of the defendants that outside earnings shall not be deducted, and it has been the consistent position of the plaintiff that outside earnings shall be deducted.

11. Fireman Humphries has failed and refused to furnish the L&N with any statement concerning his earnings in other employment while out of L&N service. The General Chairman of the BLF&E, on May 20, 1958, advised the L&N’s Director of Personnel that Award 18720 and Article 31(f) of the agreement did not authorize any deduction for earnings in outside employment and demanded that the L&N pay to Fireman Humphries the full amount he would have earned with the L&N without any deduction for earnings in outside employment.

12. On June 26, 1958, the Director of Personnel of L & N advised the General Chairman of the BLF&E, in part, as follows:

“We have secured from our Accounting Department necessary data for determining what Mr. Hum-phries would have earned as fireman between March 31,1956 and May 29, 1958, had he not been discharged, and are ready to discuss with you the money payment due him under Award 18720. But we certainly cannot agree with you that his outside earnings during the time he was out of L&N service should not be deducted.
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“Fireman Humphries has declined to furnish statement of his outside earnings. If and when this is done, we are ready to make whatever money payment may be due him under Award 18720.”

[832]*83213.

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190 F. Supp. 829, 47 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2727, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-nashville-railroad-v-brotherhood-of-locomotive-engineers-kywd-1961.