Opinion ID: 6353537
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Governing Legal Landscape

Text: Reflecting the importance of transportation to the nation’s economic prosperity and security, the RLA imposes a judicially enforceable legal obligation on railroads and employee unions to bargain in good faith. 45 U.S.C. § 152, First; Chicago & N.W. Ry. v. United Transp. Union, 402 U.S. 570, 576-79 (1971). For major disputes, Sections 5 to 10 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. §§ 155-60, require the parties to undertake an “almost interminable process”: 3 The Honorable Leonard T. Strand, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. -3- If direct negotiation fails . . . either party may invoke the services of the National Mediation Board (NMB). If mediation fails, the NMB must attempt to persuade the parties to submit the controversy to arbitration, which is binding only if both parties consent. If the parties fail to submit to arbitration, the President may create an Emergency Board to help resolve the dispute. During this entire process, neither party may unilaterally alter the status quo. Sheet Metal Workers’, 893 F.2d at 202 (cleaned up). The status quo provision at issue in this case is Section 2, Seventh, which provides that no carrier “shall change the rates of pay, rules, or working conditions of its employees” except as prescribed in a CBA or in Section 6. 45 U.S.C. § 152, Seventh. “Implicit in the statutory scheme, however, is the ultimate right of the disputants to resort to self-help -- the inevitable alternative in a statutory scheme which deliberately denies the final power to compel arbitration.” Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 394 U.S. 369, 379 (1969) (quotation omitted); see Elgin, J. & E. Ry. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 724-25 (1945). In this appeal, the Union seeks a preliminary injunction compelling Iowa Northern to reverse an action it took during the parties’ labor dispute. The requested relief implicates another fundamental federal labor law statute, the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which broadly provides that “No court of the United States . . . shall have jurisdiction to issue any . . . temporary or permanent injunction in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, except in a strict conformity with the provisions of this chapter . . . .” 29 U.S.C. § 101. Section 104 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act enumerates specific acts that may not be enjoined. In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court addressed the seeming inconsistency between judicially enforcing the RLA’s mandatory major dispute procedures and adhering to the Norris-LaGuardia Act’s anti-injunction mandate. The Court concluded that a district court “has jurisdiction and power to issue necessary -4- injunctive orders to enforce compliance with the requirements of the RLA notwithstanding the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act.” Pittsburgh & Lake Erie R.R. v. Ry. Labor Executives’ Ass’n, 491 U.S. 490, 513 (1989) (quotations omitted). “The specific provisions of the Railway Labor Act take precedence over the more general provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act.” Id. (quotation omitted). Maintaining the status quo during major disputes is “central to [the RLA’s] design.” Detroit & Toledo Shore Line R.R. v. Transp. Union, 396 U.S. 142, 150 (1969). Thus, a district court’s equitable jurisdiction includes the power to enjoin a failure to maintain the status quo before these mandatory dispute resolution procedures have been completed. Id. at 150-54. “However, the policy of the [NorrisLaGuardia] Act suggests that the courts should hesitate to fix upon the injunctive remedy for breaches of duty owing under the labor laws unless that remedy alone can effectively guard the plaintiff’s right.” Int’l Ass’n of Machinists v. Street, 367 U.S. 740, 773 (1961). Section 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act contains an additional prohibition that is relevant to this appeal: No . . . injunctive relief shall be granted to any complainant who has failed to comply with any obligation imposed by law which is involved in the labor dispute in question, or who has failed to make every reasonable effort to settle such dispute either by negotiation or with the aid of any available governmental machinery of mediation or voluntary arbitration. 29 U.S.C. § 108 (emphasis added).4 This provision has a companion in Section 2, First of the RLA, which requires that carriers and employees “exert every reasonable 4 In the Norris-LaGuardia Act’s legislative history, § 8 is characterized as “the ‘clean hands’ provision.” Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen, Enter. Lodge, No. 27 v. Toledo, Peoria & W. R.R., 321 U.S. 50, 60 (1944). -5- effort to make and maintain agreements . . . and to settle all disputes . . . to avoid any interruption of commerce or to the operation of any carrier.” In holding that the Norris-LaGuardia Act did not bar a court of equity from compelling compliance with a railroad’s Section 2 duty to bargain, the Supreme Court observed that “whether action taken or omitted is in good faith or reasonable, are everyday subjects of inquiry by courts in framing or enforcing their decrees.” Virginian Ry. Co. v. Sys. Fed’n No. 40, 300 U.S. 515, 550 (1937). Three decades later, in Chicago & N.W. Ry., the Court noted the language of Section 8 -- “failed to make every reasonable effort” -- and stated it had “no reason to believe that the district courts are less capable of making the [equitable] inquiry in the one situation than in the other.” 402 U.S. at 579. Though we have not addressed the issue, given this Supreme Court guidance it is not surprising that “[t]he vast majority of courts to consider this question have applied Section 8 to disputes that the RLA governs.” Aircraft Serv. Int’l, Inc. v. Int’l Brotherhood of Teamsters, 779 F.3d 1069, 1074 & n.2 (9th Cir. 2015) (en banc). The Ninth Circuit treats Section 8 as an independent issue in cases where the RLA “trumps” Section 4, holding “that a party must comply with Section 8 of the [NorrisLaGuardia Act] before seeking an injunction under the RLA.” Id. at 1075, 1079. We agree. Therefore, a party seeking a preliminary injunction to enforce the RLA’s duty to maintain the status quo during a major dispute must satisfy Section 8’s “every reasonable effort to settle” requirement to establish jurisdiction under the NorrisLaGuardia Act, and then must establish that our customary Dataphase standards5 warrant a preliminary injunction. See Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. v. Int’l Ass’n of Machinists, Civ. No. 07-4314, 2007 WL 3244077, at -6 (D. Minn. Nov. 1, 2007) (denying a preliminary injunction to maintain the Section 6 status quo, applying “the Dataphase and Norris-LaGuardia Act factors”). 5 Dataphase Sys., Inc. v. C L Sys., Inc., 640 F.2d 109, 113 (8th Cir. 1981) (en banc). -6-