Switchmen's Union v. Central of Georgia Railway Co.

341 F.2d 213, 58 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2354
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 2, 1965
DocketNo. 21016
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 341 F.2d 213 (Switchmen's Union v. Central of Georgia Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Switchmen's Union v. Central of Georgia Railway Co., 341 F.2d 213, 58 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2354 (5th Cir. 1965).

Opinions

TUTTLE, Chief Judge.

This appeal, while consolidated by the district court, really consists of three separate law suits, two of which, BLE and BLF&E v. Central of Georgia Railway Company, differ so materially from the third, Switchmen’s Union v. Central, of Georgia and Southern Railway Company, that the cases must be considered! separately.

The two Brotherhood suits were filed simultaneously in the Middle District of Georgia against the Central of Georgia Railway Company alone. The complaints in those two cases simply alleged that, at a time when a subsisting agreement, was in effect between the Central of' Georgia and its two groups of employees as to which the Brotherhoods were the bargaining representatives, the Central of Georgia unilaterally transferred all of its employees in certain yards from the Central of Georgia payroll to the-payroll of the Southern Railway Company; that this changed rates of pay,, rules and working conditions of its employees without compliance with Section 156 of Title 45 U.S.C.A. to the irreparable damage of the employees and that, such conduct should be enjoined.

The Switchmen’s Union complaint, brought, as noted above, against both-Central of Georgia and Southern Railway Companies upon alleging similar facts, also relied on allegations that the two-railroad companies were purporting to act by reason of an Interstate Commerce Commission order authorizing the purchase of controlling stock in the Central by the Southern; and that the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission did not authorize a consolidation of the several yards involved; that under an existing labor agreement known as “the-Washington Agreement” no such consolidation could be undertaken except upon 90 days notice and an opportunity by the respective Brotherhoods to negotiate-with relation to the employment conditions arising from such consolidation; that the attempted consolidation without, compliance with the terms of the Washington Agreement violated the terms of' the Interstate Commerce Commission order authorizing the acquisition of control by the Southern, thus giving a right, to the affected employees to an injunction to maintain the status q-uo until the-provisions of the Washington- Agreement. [215]*215dealing with the 90 day notice were complied with.

By reason of the fact that the Su-preme Court has recently assumed jurisdiction in an appeal from a judgment by .a three-judge district court in the East■ern District of Virginia, dealing with the same Interstate Commerce Commis.sion order here pleaded in the suit filed by the Switchmen’s Union, as a result of which the Supreme Court has directed the three-judge district court to remand to the Interstate Commerce Commission its said order with directions that the ■Commission “amend its report and order .as necessary to deal with appellant’s request that §§ 4, 5, and 9 be included as protective conditions, specifically indicating why each of these provisions is either omitted or included,” Railway Labor Executives Assn. v. United States, :85 S.Ct. 307, we think it premature for this Court to pass upon the appeal in the ■Switchmen’s Union case. The correctness of the trial court’s determination in that case may well be determined by the action of the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to the expected mandate just referred to, and the further orders of the district court and possibly the Supreme Court thereafter.

In view of the fact that the Brotherhood cases against Central of Georgia, here on appeal, in no way relate to the Washington Agreement we deem it appropriate to deal with the appeal in that •case, even though in doing so we have to •consider the Interstate Commerce order which we have heretofore referred.to. This order, entered upon the application ■of the Southern Railway System, authorized the Southern to acquire the controlling stock of Central. This occurred in a proceeding entitled “Southern Railway — Control—Central of Georgia Railway Company, Finance Docket No. 21,-400, 317 I.C.C. 557 and 317 I.C.C. 729”. 'This order of the Interstate Commerce 'Commission becomes significant in this •case because, although not pleaded by the appellant Brotherhoods in their complaints, it was introduced in evidence in support of a motion to dismiss by the Central of Georgia and the order of the trial court dismissing the complaints may be taken as orders of dismissal on motion for summary judgment in accordance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule No. 12(b).

The appellee, Central of Georgia Railway Company, defends its conduct in transferring its employees in the several yards in question to the Southern Railway Company on the ground that this was authorized by the I.C.C. order itself. It is contended that this amounted simply to a termination by Central of unneeded employees accompanied by an offer to them of employment by Southern. Thus, it was argued, Central was not guilty of changing the terms of any existing agreement with respect to rates of pay, rules or working conditions as prohibited without a Section 6 notice by the Railway Labor Act, but was merely dispensing with the services of unneeded employees.

A resolution of this appeal depends upon the correct solution of two questions. (1) Did the order of Interstate Commerce Commission authorize the consolidation or coordination of facilities which resulted in the termination of the employment of the Central employees; (2) If the order authorized this consolidation or coordination, did the termination violate Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act prohibiting unilateral change in “agreements affecting rates of pay, rules or working conditions” except upon notice and opportunity to negotiate with ultimate recourse to the Mediation Board?

• As to the first question, the brief of the appellees offers us little help. Having treated all cases alike, the briefs do not discuss the precise question whether the Interstate Commerce order, which on its face purports only to grant the right to Southern Railway Company to acquire the stock, and thus the control of Central of Georgia Railway Company, also permits the consolidation of yards belonging to the two related companies. Nevertheless viewing the language of the I.C.C. report upon which the order is based, we conclude that the order author[216]*216ized the Central to surrender its yards, and the operation thereof, to the parent company the Southern Railway Company. This action was clearly contemplated by all parties to the Interstate Commerce proceedings under the heading “Employees.” In the report it is stated,

“Applicant [Southern Railway Company] estimates that the proposed consolidation of Central’s freight agencies, yards, shops, and accounting department into those of applicant will result in the elimination of between 814 and 824 jobs held by Central employees and 4 held by applicant’s employees. * *

“Consummation of the proposed transaction unquestionably will result in substantial hardship to many employees and their families. However, we are not persuaded that the application should be denied for this reason. While the number of available j'obs will be reduced, at least temporarily, the remaining j'obs will be made more secure. In this connection, it is noteworthy that, without any coordination such as that planned, the average number of persons employed by Central has been reduced from 6,737 in 1945 to 3,421 in 1960.

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341 F.2d 213, 58 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/switchmens-union-v-central-of-georgia-railway-co-ca5-1965.