San Antonio & A. P. Ry. Co. v. Collins

61 S.W.2d 84
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 1933
DocketNo. 1357—5925
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 61 S.W.2d 84 (San Antonio & A. P. Ry. Co. v. Collins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
San Antonio & A. P. Ry. Co. v. Collins, 61 S.W.2d 84 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1933).

Opinion

RYAN, Judge.

E. J. Collins entered the service of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company as a switchman in its yards at Houston, Tex., on or about May 4, 1909. The switch engine upon which Collins was employed was discontinued on May 13, 1921, and a reassignment had of yard engines in the Houston yard, under which, effective on May 14,1921, [85]*85as per bulletin posted on May 3, 1921, “the second .trick yard engine at Houston goes back to the former time, 8 A. M. to 4 P. M., instead of 4 P. M. to 12 midnight. There is a vacancy for one engine foreman and three helpers in the Houston yard, 8 P. M. to 4 A. M. shift.”

There was in effect at that time an agreement or contract between the railway company and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, governing wages and -working conditions for yardmen, said 'brotherhood representing a majority of the craft or class of employees known as yardmen and, - as admitted Iby the railway company, authorized to make an agreement applicable to all employees in such craft or class; this agreement was effective since May 1, 1920; a similar agreement had been entered into under date of January Í5, 1913, which was continuously in effect after that date to May 1,1920.

It was admitted by the company that all such employees entering and remaining in service since January 15, 1913, “up to the present time are assumed to have had knowledge of said agreement, and to have entered and remained in the service with a knowledge and understanding that they would be governed thereby, and that it is the duty of the railway company to comply in all respects with the agreement entered into, in good faith, with the organization representing the majority of the switchmen on its railway.”

It was also admitted that the change in the hours of service of a yard engine amounted to the discontinuance of one job and the creation of a new job.

Collins claims that under the rule of seniority, provided in the contract, he should have been assigned to the engine that performs in the Houston yard, in the shift from 8 p. m. to 4 a. m., under sections B and C, art. 21, of the contract, as follows:

“(B) Seniority rights of. yardmen will date from the time they last enter the service.
“(C) The right to preference of work and promotion will be governed by seniority in the service. The yardman longest in the service will be given the preference.”

The bulletin posted on May 3, 1921, was signed by Collins and W. G. Elam, the latter holding seniority from August 31, 1917, eight years and twenty days younger in the service than Collins. Such posting of bulletin seems to have been governed''by certain provisions of article 24 of the contract, viz.:

“(A) When a vacancy occurs on a regular yard engine, or a new yard is established, or an additional engine is put on, same will be bulletined for a period of five days. Senior yardmen signing will be placed on same.
■ “Yard vacancies will be bulletined for foremen and helpers separately. The senior applicant signing bulletin will be awarded the position. ■ •
“Should more than one bulletin be posted at the same time, yardmen signing same will write opposite their names first, second or third choice, and so on.
“The Company will see that bulletins are' determined as soon as possible, having bulletins at outside points forwarded to the Division Superintendent at Yoakum on first passenger train after bulletin comes down.
“(B) Should a bulletin be posted and no signatures appear on same, a man may be hired and placed in the vacancy, who will hold position thus obtained until displaced on account of reduction of crews or seniority changes.
“(C) When a regular yardman loses his position, either by reduction of crews or seniority changes, he may take any position his seniority entitles him to, either as foreman or helper.”

Although Elam was junior to Collins in seniority, he was given the position on the newly created second trick engine working from 8 p. m. to 4 a. m., as stated by the company, in order to comply with.section A, art. 25, of the agreement. Section K, art. 24 thereof, reads as follows, viz.: “(K) In assigning men under these or other seniority rules, the. provisions of Section A of Article 25 will be complied with.”

Collins was not a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen. Elam was a member of said brotherhood, which it appears at that time did not have 85 per cent, of the yardmen at Houston in its membership, and therefore it is claimed by the company that Collins’ seniority must yield to Elam's membership in the brotherhood.

The contention on the company’s part is that it is obligated to preferentially furnish employment to members of said brotherhood up to 85 per cent, of the yardmen employed at Houston, and that Elam, a member thereof, toeing next in seniority to Collins, was properly placed in the job, instead of the latter.

On the other hand, the contention of Collins is that section B of said article 25 applies to him, regardless of such membership, because he was then in the company’s service, and expressly provides that section A shall not operate retroactively, and preserves to him all his seniority rights.

Article 25, Sections A and B, read as follows:

“(A) The B. of R. T. represented in this agreement, will toe insured and agreed to maintain not less than eighty-Qve (S5) per cent of the yardmen employed in each yard, and will be given preference in employment.
“(B) The foregoing will not be retroactive and will not displace men now in service.”

The company did, however, notify Collins that he could have any job which his seniority entitled him to in either of the company’s [86]*86yards at San Antonio or Kennedy, in accordance with article 24, yardmen’s agreement. Collins never reported for work at either the San Antonio or Kennedy yards, and in no way attempted to exercise his seniority rights thereat.

It was agreed that Collins could, by reason of his seniority rights, have supplanted men in the San Antonio or. Kennedy yards without disturbing the 85 per cent, rule (section A, art. 25 of the contract), and to have placed him on the bulletined job would have disturbed that rule for the Houston yard, in that less than 85 per cent, of the yardmen in service there would then have been members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen ; also that Collins was not dropped from the seniority rolls of the company until after the expiration of ninety days from the day he was notified that he could place himself in either the San Antonio or the Kennedy yards.

Article 37.of the contract reads as follows: “It is understood and agreed that the right to make and interpret contracts, rules, rates and working agreements for yardmen, regular or extra, shall be vested in regularly constituted Committee of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,” and it was agreed that such committee of the brotherhood interpreted the said contract as prohibiting the placing of Collins on said bulletined job.

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Bluebook (online)
61 S.W.2d 84, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/san-antonio-a-p-ry-co-v-collins-texcommnapp-1933.