Pennsylvania Railroad v. Transport Workers Union

265 F. Supp. 685, 64 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2171, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11585
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 13, 1967
DocketCiv. A. No. 41856
StatusPublished

This text of 265 F. Supp. 685 (Pennsylvania Railroad v. Transport Workers Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pennsylvania Railroad v. Transport Workers Union, 265 F. Supp. 685, 64 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2171, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11585 (E.D. Pa. 1967).

Opinion

SUR MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION UNDER RAILWAY LABOR ACT, 45 U.S.C.A. § 151ff., AND PROOF

VAN DUSEN, District Judge.

The basic cause of this labor dispute is the contention of defendant TWU that the abolition of certain jobs at the plaintiff’s Altoona shops, resulting in the placing of over 3001 TWU members on furlough on January 11, would not have been necessary if plaintiff had not contracted its work out to outside contractors (N.T. 11 & pp. 28-31 and 39-40 of Kaelin deposition, being Document 16), and the frank statement of defendant TWU that it may not be able to control the furloughed employees from violating the collective bargaining agreements (see Exhibit P-1), so that picketing and disruption of plaintiff’s railroad operations are possible (N.T. 11-12).

Paragraphs 1-5, 7, 8, 10 and 14-19 of Plaintiff’s Requests for Findings of Fact, which defendants agree are accurate statements of fact, establish that (a) plaintiff is an interstate railroad which is an integral part of the national railway system, transporting many thousands of passengers (over 73,000 — see N.T. 40) to and from Philadelphia daily, (b) defendant TWU is a labor union, which represents, for the purposes of the Railway Labor Act, approximately 10,-000 of plaintiff’s employees, (c) Local 2013 is TWU’s railroad local in the Philadelphia area and it is truly and fairly representative of the other railroad local unions of TWU, including Local 2017, which represents the employees in the plaintiff’s Altoona Works, (d) the individual defendants are either international executive officers of TWÚ or officers of Local 2013, and (e) there are in effect collectively bargained agreements, con- . eluded under the Railway Labor Act between plaintiff and TWU, governing rates of pay, rules and working conditions for the above 10,000 employees (see Exhibit P-1). These collective bargaining agreements contain provisions relating to reduction in forces employed by plaintiff and providing for the abolishment of positions, as well as grievance procedures for the processing of any disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the agreements.2

On or about January 5, 1967, plaintiff, acting in accordance with the applicable agreements, caused notices to be posted advising of the abolishment of certain positions at the Altoona Works in Altoona, Pennsylvania, effective on or about January 12, 1967.3

■ The above-described abolishment of positions had been discussed with the executives of TWU in November 1966, at which time plaintiff’s representatives had promised to meet with such executives before announcing such furloughs (N.T. 51-52). At TWU’s request, certain furloughs planned for December 1966 were deferred by plaintiff until this month (N.T. 74). The promised meeting was held January 4, 1967, in Phila[687]*687delphia, at which time Mr. Kaelin insisted that plaintiff reconsider its decision to furlough the employees in the light of the action “we might take. We are not going to take this layoff. The men who lose their job can form pickets, they can march down our tracks * * * [into] Harrisburg and picket the State Capitol, just to bring to the attention of the new Governor, Mr. Shafer, the sort of thing that the Pennsylvania Railroad is doing to some of its senior employees. * * * These furloughed men could picket other railroad installations and that we could rest assured that the members of his Union would not cross the picket lines.” He also said that he would take “their case to the press” (N.T. 60). When plaintiff refused to reconsider its decision on the furloughs, Mr. Kaelin said (N.T. 61):4

“Well, if this is the case, you can expect real trouble. At the end of next week we are in a strike situation with the PTC, we have the same problem with the Red Arrow, we might as well bring the Pennsylvania into this and have a real show out of it.”

No grievances or other arbitration machinery has been invoked by the TWU under the collective bargaining contract (N.T. 61-62).

On January 5,1967, Mr. Kaelin invited the press to a conference at the Franklin Motor Inn in Philadelphia, at which the President and Vice President of Local 2017 were present. These officers of Local 2017 told Mr. Kaelin that the 300 furloughed workers might organize themselves into a band of pickets and might develop into traveling squads establishing picket lines on plaintiff’s railroad from New York to St. Louis (pp. 42-46 of Document 16). At that time, Mr. Kaelin suggested the furloughed men picket the executive offices of plaintiff at Six Penn Center Plaza, Philadelphia. Mr. Kaelin used this language when his deposition was taken on January 10 (pp. 52-53):

“My answer at the conference was that we have a moral right to adhere to the agreement. We are a responsible organization and we will; and it is not our intention to stymie the Railroad in any way with the exception that we will leave no stone unturned, that would not bother the Railroad, to let the people know of how the Railroad is treating the workers.”

Although Mr. Kaelin advised the members of the Altoona Works Local (2017) at a meeting on January 11 not to have any strike or work stoppage (N.T. 89), the members of that Local advocated that the leaders of TWU should tear up “the injunctions like Mike Quill did in New York” (N.T. 92-93).

The adverse effects of a work stoppage on the plaintiff railroad at this time, when a strike of the Philadelphia transit system is imminent, are described in the above-mentioned paragraphs 14-195 of Plaintiff’s Requests for Findings (Document 17). Plaintiff’s General Manager of Transportation testified as follows (N.T. 38):

“ ‘A When there is any announcement of a strike threat affecting the movement on our railroad, we get a number of calls from shippers, particularly traffic managers of large companies and people handling produce— also, importers and exporters where they have cars that are scheduled or sailings on export movement of ships —and this builds up as you get nearer to the time of the strike until you usually get — I usually acquire a calling list and they will check with me every day on whether there have been new developments and ask me to call them if there is a settlement.
[688]*688“ ‘Q Have you had a similar experience in connection with the strike threats that have been publicly announced during the past weeks ?
“ ‘A I have had some calls from it. -* * *
******
"A The night before last at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia Traffic Club, there were at least seven different traffic managers who asked me the progress of the trouble that was apparently boiling up, as they would put it, in the Altoona territory with the TWU.”

The position of the local unions of TWU, such as 2017 has been adequately represented by the able counsel for the defendants.

Discussion of Law

The evidence makes clear that there is a substantial threat of immediate and irreparable harm both to plaintiff and to the public from the admitted inability of the TWU executives to control over 300 furloughed workers (See pp. 2 & 5 above) who continue in an employment relationship with plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
265 F. Supp. 685, 64 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2171, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-railroad-v-transport-workers-union-paed-1967.