Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 235.0

74 

UNION PACIFIC R. CO. v. LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS 

Opinion of the Court 

RLA  contains  instructions  concerning  the  place  and  time  of 
conferences,  but  speciﬁes  that  the  statute  does  not  “super­
sede the provisions of any agreement (as to conferences) . . . 
in  effect  between  the  parties,”  § 152  Sixth;  it  is  undisputed 
that  in  common  practice  the  conference  may  be  as  informal 
as a telephone conversation. 

If the parties fail to achieve resolution “in the usual man­
ner up to and including the chief operating ofﬁcer of the car­
rier designated to handle [minor] disputes,” either party may 
refer  the  matter  to  the  NRAB.  § 153  First  (i).  Submis­
sions to the Board must include “a full statement of the facts 
and  all  supporting  data  bearing  upon  the  disputes.”  Ibid.; 
see  29  CFR  § 301.5(d),  (e)  (submissions  “must  clearly  and 
brieﬂy  set  forth  all  relevant,  argumentative  facts,  including 
all  documentary  evidence”).  Arbitration  is  launched  when 
the  party  referring  the  dispute  ﬁles  a  notice  of  intent  with 
the  NRAB;  after  Board  acknowledgment  of  the  notice,  the 
parties  have  75  days  to  ﬁle  simultaneous  submissions. 
NRAB, Uniform Rules of Procedure (rev. June 23, 2003). 

In  creating  the  scheme  of  mandatory  arbitration  superin­
tended  by  the  NRAB,  the  1934  Amendment  largely  “fore­
close[d] litigation” over minor disputes.  Price, 360 U. S., at 
616;  see  Railway  Conductors  v.  Pitney,  326  U. S.  561,  566 
(1946)  (“Not  only  has  Congress . . .  designated  an  agency 
peculiarly  competent  to  handle  [minor  disputes],  but  .  .  .  it 
also  intended  to  leave  a  minimum  responsibility  to  the 
courts.”).  Congress  did  provide  that  an  employee  who  ob-

such  carrier  or  carriers  and  of  such  employees,  within  ten  days  after  the 
receipt of notice of a desire on the part of either party to confer in respect 
to such dispute, to specify a time and place at which such conference shall 
be  held:  Provided,  (1)  That  the  place  so  speciﬁed  shall  be  situated  upon 
the line of the carrier involved or as otherwise mutually agreed upon; and 
(2) that the time so speciﬁed shall allow the designated conferees reason­
able  opportunity  to  reach  such  place  of  conference,  but  shall  not  exceed 
twenty  days  from  the  receipt  of  such  notice:  And  provided  further,  That 
nothing  in  this  chapter  shall  be  construed  to  supersede  the  provisions  of 
any agreement (as to conferences) then in effect between the parties.”