Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/352/480/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 05:03:52+00:00

Document:
Under § 2, Eleventh (a) and (c) of the Railway Labor Act, petitioners, a railroad and a union, entered into a union shop contract requiring trainmen employed by the railroad to become and remain members of the petitioner union or another union "national in scope" and "organized in accordance with" the Act. A trainman employed by the railroad was a member of the petitioner union, but he resigned from that union and joined a competing union which he believed to be "national in scope" and "organized in accordance with" the Act, but which had never qualified under § 3, First, as one of the unions eligible to elect the labor members of the National Railroad Adjustment Board. After hearings, a System Board of Adjustment established under § 3, Second, determined that the trainman's new union did not satisfy the union shop provision of the contract, and the railroad discharged him. He sued for an injunction compelling petitioner union to accept him as a member and the railroad to accept him as an employee.
Held: Section 2, Eleventh (c) makes available for alternative membership under such a contract only such unions as have already qualified as electors under § 3, First, and the trainman did not state a claim on which relief can be granted. Pp. 352 U. S. 481-497.
(a) The purpose of § 2, Eleventh (c) was to prevent compulsory dual unionism or the necessity of changing from one union to another when an employee temporarily changes crafts. Pp. 352 U. S. 489, 352 U. S. 492.
(b) The purpose was not to give employees a blanket right to join unions other than the designated bargaining representative of their craft. Pp. 352 U. S. 488, 352 U. S. 493.
(c) Nor was it the purpose to benefit rising new unions by permitting them to recruit members among employees who are represented by another union. Pp. 352 U. S. 488-489, 352 U. S. 492-493.
under a union shop contract, Congress has never deemed it to be the "right" of employees to choose between that union and a competing union. P. 352 U. S. 494.
(e) Under § 2, Eleventh (c), an employee has available to him alternative membership only in such unions as have already qualified as electors under § 3. Pp. 352 U. S. 494-496.
229 F.2d 171 reversed and remanded.
union shop contract in 1952 which required trainmen employed by the Railroad to become members of and retain membership in the Brotherhood or in another labor organization "national in scope" and "organized in accordance with" the Railway Labor Act. Respondent Rychlik was employed as a trainman by the Railroad and was a member in good standing of the Brotherhood until February, 1953. At that time, he resigned from the Brotherhood and joined the United Railroad Operating Crafts (UROC), a competing union which respondent believed in good faith to be "national in scope" and "organized in accordance with" the Act, and therefore available for alternative membership under Section 2, Eleventh and the union shop provision of the contract, even though UROC had never qualified itself under Section 3, First of the Act as one of the unions "national in scope" eligible to elect the labor members of the National Railroad Adjustment Board. [Footnote 2] On July 31, 1954, Rychlik, continuing his membership in UROC, also joined the Switchmen's Union of North America, concededly a union "national in scope" within the meaning of the statute and the contract.
each from the Railroad and the Brotherhood. [Footnote 4] This Board determined that membership in UROC did not satisfy the union shop provision of the contract, which mirrored the requirements of the Act, and that therefore Rychlik had failed to maintain continuous union membership in accordance with the contract, not having joined the Switchmen's Union until some 16 months after resigning from the Brotherhood. Accordingly, Rychlik was discharged by the Railroad.
the decision of the court below and an earlier decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [Footnote 10] and the importance of these questions in the administration of the Railway Labor Act, we granted certiorari. 351 U.S. 930.
"any one of the labor organizations, national in scope, organized in accordance with this Act and admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services. . . . [Footnote 13] "
"by such labor organization of the employees, national in scope, as have been or may be organized in accordance with the provisions of section 2. . . . [Footnote 14]"
dissident or rising new unions recruit new members. Rather, the sole aim of the provision was to protect employees from the requirement of dual unionism in an industry with high job mobility, and thus to confer on qualified craft unions the right to assure members employment security, even if a member should be working temporarily in a craft for which another union is the bargaining representative. And this right is given only to those unions which have already qualified as being "national in scope" and "organized in accordance with" the Act for the purpose of electing the union members of the NRAB under Section 3.
So Congress faced the problem of reconciling the union shop with some protection to employees who shifted from one craft to another one represented by a different labor organization under a union shop contract. [Footnote 22] The solution, of course, was evident: to provide that, if a fireman, for example, is temporarily promoted to engineer, he can satisfy the union shop contract of the engineers although still remaining a member of the union representing the firemen.
"Provided further, That no such [union shop] agreement shall require membership in more than one labor organization. [Footnote 23]"
"This proviso was attached because some question was raised as to the status, under this bill, of employees who are temporarily promoted or demoted from one closely related craft or class to another. This practice, with minor exceptions, occurs only among the train- and engine-service employees. Thus, a fireman may be promoted to a position as engineer for a short time and then, due to a reduction in force, be returned to his former position as fireman. It is the intention of this proviso to assure that, in the case of such promotion or demotion, as the case may be, the employee involved shall not be deprived of his employment because of his failure or refusal to join the union representing the craft or class in which he is located if he retains his membership in the union representing the craft or class from which he has been transferred. [Footnote 24]"
"[The amendment does] nothing more nor less than what the committee desires to do, and what was the intent of the committee in offering its amendment, that no employee of a railroad should be required to belong to more than one labor organization. The only difference between the committee amendment and the amendments now before the Senate, which have been agreed upon by all the railroad organizations, is that the amendments now before the Senate spell out in must more detail the purposes of the committee amendment than did the committee amendment. But the intent and the purpose . . . are exactly the same. [Footnote 27]"
This amendment passed as introduced, [Footnote 28] and now forms subsection (c).
such as clerks working under a union shop contract have no right at all to join a union other than the bargaining representative. In other words, once a union has lawfully established itself for a period of time as the authorized bargaining representative of the employees under a union shop contract, Congress has never deemed it to be a "right" of employees to choose between membership in it and another competing union. If Congress intended to confer such a right, it would scarcely have denied the right to nonoperating employees of the railroads or industrial employees under the National Labor Relations Act. The purpose of Section 2, Eleventh (c) was simply to solve the problem of inter-craft mobility under railroad union shop contracts.
This interpretation of the Act solves the problem which Congress faced without conferring on employees "floating" rights which Congress did not intend to grant. For the problem of inter-craft mobility vanishes if the promoted fireman can remain in the firemen's brotherhood even though his new craft is represented by a different union, and the firemen's brotherhood will, of course, already have qualified under the Act as an elector under Section 3. Furthermore, this interpretation avoids troublesome questions which would arise were we to hold that employees have a right to belong to any union which happens to be national in scope and organized in accordance with the Act. For, while Section 3, First provides an impartial administrative scheme to deal with precisely this question, Section 2, Eleventh (c), assuming it does not refer to an already defined group of unions qualified under Section 3, is silent on the procedure to determine whether a union meets its requirements. An entire new administrative scheme would have to be fashioned by the courts out of thin air to deal with this question, or the courts themselves would have to deal with it without prior administrative action. If System Boards, for example, are to be given jurisdiction to make such determinations, is there to be judicial review? What is to be the scope of such review? How is the inherent bias of the established-union members of these boards to be overcome? Would the determination of one Board (or one Circuit) that such a union as UROC is "national in scope" be binding on another Board or another Circuit?
Moreover, to sanction such a "floating" right in employees would make only for confusion and uncertainty in labor relations in the railroad industry. No employee could with safety join an alternative union, for he could not know until after-the-fact adjudication whether that union meets the requirements of Section 2. On the other hand, interpreting Section 2 to refer to those unions which have already qualified as electors under Section 3 means that an employee will always know or can easily ascertain the unions which he can join as an alternative to his bargaining representative. A new union, such as UROC, could make itself available for such alternative membership by seeking certification as an elector through the impartial procedure of Section 3, First (f). And the decision of the "board of three" provided by that Section would be prospective, uniform throughout the nation, and would be the ruling of an administrative body established to deal with precisely this question.
We hold, therefore, that Section 2, Eleventh (c) of the Act makes only such unions available for alternative membership under a union shop contract, such as this one, as have already qualified as electors for the labor members of the NRAB under Section 3, First. Since UROC has not so qualified, respondent has not stated a claim on which relief can be granted. The decision below must therefore be reversed, and the case remanded to the District Court with instructions to dismiss the complaint.
64 Stat. 1238 (1951), 45 U.S.C. § 152, Eleventh (a) and (c). These and other pertinent provisions of the statute are discussed later.
48 Stat. 1189 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 153, First.
48 Stat. 1193 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 153, Second. This Section authorizes carriers and unions to set up "system, group, or regional boards of adjustment" to decide disputes otherwise within the jurisdiction of the National Railroad Adjustment Board, with a right in any party dissatisfied with such an arrangement to return to the jurisdiction of the Adjustment Board upon 90 days' notice. No such election was made here.
The first hearing was on August 27, 1953, at which time the Board postponed decision pending further exploration into the status of UROC. The second hearing was on August 23, 1954. In the interim, Rychlik, on July 31, 1954, had joined the Switchmen's Union, and presented evidence of that membership at the second hearing. Rychlik's employment was continued until shortly after the Board's adverse decision on January 3, 1955.
128 F.Supp. 449, 452. The District Court, holding in effect that its jurisdiction to review the System Board was limited to ascertaining whether the Board had acted within the scope of its statutory and contract authority and whether its decision was free of fraud or corruption and the hearing consonant with procedural due process, found that no such infirmities had been shown, and, in particular, that the presence of two Brotherhood representatives on the System Board did not automatically vitiate its proceedings. It further held that Rychlik's belated membership in the Switchmen's Union did not satisfy the statutory and contract requirements of continuous maintenance of membership in a qualified union, and that the court need not decide whether UROC was a labor organization "national in scope" since, under Section 3, First (f) of the Railway Labor Act, determination of that question was within the exclusive competence of the National Mediation Board. See pp. 352 U. S. 487-488, infra.
The briefs below show that the validity of this premise was not challenged by any of the parties before the Court of Appeals.
As to this issue, the Court of Appeals relied on its previous decision in United Railroad Operating Crafts v. Wyer, 205 F.2d 153.
Neither in the Court of Appeals nor here has Rychlik claimed that his membership in the Switchmen's Union made his discharge illegal. In both courts, he has stood only upon his membership in UROC.
Pigott v. Detroit, Toledo & Ironton R. Co., 221 F.2d 736.
No contention is made that, apart from the statute, respondent had a cause of action on the union shop contract itself -- that is, that the contract conferred on him rights wider than those given as a matter of federal right by the statute. On such a cause of action, federal jurisdiction would depend on showing diversity of citizenship.
"Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act . . . any carrier or carriers as defined in this Act and a labor organization or labor organizations duly designated and authorized to represent employees in accordance with the requirements of this Act shall be permitted --"
64 Stat. 1238 (1951), 45 U.S.C. § 152, Eleventh (a).
"The requirement of membership in a labor organization is an agreement made pursuant to subparagraph (a) shall be satisfied, as to both a present or future employee in engine, train, yard, or hostling service . . . if said employee shall hold or acquire membership in any one of the labor organizations, national in scope, organized in accordance with this Act and admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services; and no [checkoff] agreement made pursuant to subparagraph (b) shall provide for deductions from his wages for periodic dues, initiation fees, or assessments payable to any labor organization other than that in which he holds membership: Provided, however, that as to an employee in any of said services on a particular carrier at the effective date of any such agreement on a carrier, who is not a member of any one of the labor organizations, national in scope, organized in accordance with this Act and admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services, such employee, as a condition of continuing his employment, may be required to become a member of the organization representing the craft in which he is employed on the effective date of the first agreement applicable to him: Provided, further, That nothing herein or in any such agreement or agreements shall prevent an employee from changing membership from one organization to another organization admitting to membership employees of a craft or class in any of said services."
64 Stat. 1238 (1951), 45 U.S.C. § 152, Eleventh (c).
The National Mediation Board was set up by Section 4, First of the Act. 48 Stat. 1193 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 154, First. It is an independent federal agency with three members, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Its function, in the main, is to try to settle "major" disputes in the railroad industry, which are not within the jurisdiction of the NRAB.
"In the event a dispute arises as to the right of any national labor organization to participate as per paragraph (c) of this section in the selection and designation of the labor members of the Adjustment Board, the Secretary of Labor shall investigate the claim of such labor organization to participate, and if such claim in the judgment of the Secretary of Labor has merit, the Secretary shall notify the Mediation Board accordingly, and within ten days after receipt of such advice the Mediation Board shall request those national labor organizations duly qualified as per paragraph (c) of this section to participate in the selection and designation of the labor members of the Adjustment Board to select a representative. Such representative, together with a representative likewise designated by the claimant, and a third or neutral party designated by the Mediation Board, constituting a board of three, shall within thirty days after the appointment of the neutral member, investigate the claims of the labor organization desiring participation and decide whether or not it was organized in accordance with section 2 hereof and is otherwise properly qualified to participate in the selection of the labor members of the Adjustment Board, and the findings of such boards of three shall be final and binding."
48 Stat. 1190 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 153, First (f).
See Frankfurter, Some Reflections on the Reading of Statutes, in The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Volume 2, No. 6 (1947).
In 1934, a prohibition against the union shop and the checkoff was put into the Railway Labor Act at the request of the unions themselves, since employers had used these devices to establish and maintain company unions. See S.Rep. No. 2262, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 2-3 (1950); Hearings before the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, on H.R. 7789, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 3-4, 7-8, 16-17 (1950).
See id. at pp. 10, 28, 29, 37; H.R.Rep. No. 2811, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., p. 4 (1950).
Hearings before the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, on H.R. 7789, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. (1950); Hearings before a Senate Subcommittee of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, on S. 3295, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. (1950).
House Hearings, supra, at pp. 30-31, 32-33, 35-36, 42-43, 78-81, 126, 192-194; Senate Hearings, supra at pp. 18-19, 67-68, 69, 73, 78-79. See also Levinson, Union Shop Under the Railway Labor Act, 6 Labor L.J. 441, 443-448 (1955).
See H.R.Rep. No. 2811, supra, at pp. 5-6.
96 Cong.Rec. 16268. See also id. at 16261, 16328-16330.
Had Congress wanted to confer blanket "union shopping" rights on employees, it presumably would have allowed nonmembers of a union to join any union (qualified under Section 2, Eleventh) at the time a union shop agreement was first put into effect. However, the next to last proviso of Section 2, Eleventh (c) states that, when a union shop provision is first signed, employees not belonging to a qualified union may be required to join that union which represents the craft in which they are employed at the time the agreement becomes effective. See note 13 supra. Thus, when this agreement between petitioners was first put into effect, Rychlik, had he belonged to no union at all, would have been required to join the Brotherhood specifically, and could not have chosen to join even such competing unions which are concededly national in scope, not to speak of UROC. In other words, this proviso completely negates the argument that the purpose of the statute was to allow employees to choose between unions.
"The representatives of the railway organizations sat around a table together and worked out the details of the amendment, and then brought it to the Senator from Ohio and the Senator from Alabama, and we saw that the amendment was exactly similar to the committee amendment, except that it spelled out in more detail the safeguards which were deemed necessary in order to properly do the job."
See note 14 supra. The "organized in accordance" language refers to Section 2, Fourth, which prohibits company unions, and which had also been on the books since 1934. 48 Stat. 1187 (1934), 45 U.S.C. § 152, Fourth.
"organized in accordance with section 2 hereof and is otherwise properly qualified to participate in the selection of the labor members of the Adjustment Board,"
and argues that the words "otherwise properly qualified" must refer to qualifications not listed in Section 2, Eleventh (c). But we think it clear that these words merely incorporate by reference the qualifications listed in Section 3, First (a) for union electors, and the latter section defines these qualifications in terms identical to the union shop section. See 69 Harv.L.Rev. 1512, 1514.
so I join in reversing the judgment. But I get there by a different route from the Court's. In my view of the Railway Labor Act, the District Court had no jurisdiction of this action, and the complaint should be dismissed for want of it, not on the merits.
The governing outlook for construing the Railway Labor Act is hospitable realization of the fact that it is primarily an instrument of industrial government for railroading by the industry itself, through the concentrated agencies of railroad executives and the railroad unions. For details, see the dissenting opinions in Elgin, Joliet & Eastern R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U. S. 711, 325 U. S. 749; 327 U. S. 327 U.S. 661, 327 U. S. 667. The dominant inference that the Court has drawn from this fact is exclusion of the courts from this process of collaborative self-government. See, e.g., General Committee v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co., 320 U. S. 323; Order of Railway Conductors v. Pitney, 326 U. S. 561; Slocum v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. Co., 339 U. S. 239. Neither Moore v. Illinois Central R. Co., 312 U. S. 630, nor Order of Railway Conductors v. Swan, 329 U. S. 520, is fairly to be deemed an exception to the general principle and, in any event, those cases involve circumstances not relevant to the present situation.
does not, of itself, subject the System Board action to judicial review. Conflict between a majority and a minority is a commonplace in the whole collective bargaining process. But the bargaining representatives owe a judicially enforceable duty of fairness to all the components of the working force when a specific claim is in controversy.
The determination of the System Board on the merits is not open to judicial review, even on so-called legal questions. It is not for a court to say that a complaint against the System Board must fail because the System Board rightly held against the complainant. Right or wrong, a court has no jurisdiction to review what the System Board did unless a complainant asserts arbitrariness and seeks to enforce the limited protection established in the Steele case. It is not for a court to decide as an abstract issue what procedure a union must or may pursue to establish its status as an organization "national in scope," within § 2, Eleventh (c) of the Railway Labor Act, nor whether or when an individual claiming through such a rival union may assert its claim for his benefit. As bearing on the legal complexities raised by such interrelationship between a member and an organization, see the opinion of Mr. Justice Jackson in Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, 341 U. S. 123, 341 U. S. 183.
For Rychlik to have brought himself within the Steele case, it would have been necessary to charge that the System Board had made its determination arbitrarily, and that, on the basis of this arbitrary determination, he had been discharged. On such a claim, and only on such a claim, would he have been entitled to judicial relief. In the absence of such a claim, the District Court was without jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

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