Opinion ID: 578732
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The ICC's Discretionary Power

Text: 31 Even if labor protective conditions are not statutorily required in this case, petitioners maintain that the ICC had discretionary authority to impose labor protective conditions. See I.C.C. v. RLEA, 315 U.S. 373, 62 S.Ct. 717, 86 L.Ed. 904 (1942). Respondents argue that petitioners raised the question whether the ICC has discretionary authority for the first time on appeal. Petitioners maintain that they cited the relevant authority in RLEA's comments to the ICC. 32 RLEA discussed United States v. Lowden, 308 U.S. 225, 60 S.Ct. 248, 84 L.Ed. 208 (1939), and cited ICC v. RLEA, 315 U.S. 373 (1942), in its Comments to the Commission and in its Reply to Comments submitted by SFSP and ATSF. RLEA did not expressly argue that the ICC has discretionary authority to impose labor protections for the benefit of employees. However, RLEA did argue that Lowden and RLEA indicate that the Commission has authority to impose protective conditions. RLEA then contended not only that the Commission had authority to impose protective conditions, but also that the Interstate Commerce Act mandated protective conditions. Because Lowden and RLEA both discuss the Commission's discretionary authority to impose labor protection, RLEA argued that the ICC has discretionary authority in the proceedings before the Commission. 33 Section 11344 establishes the procedure for ICC approval and authorization of a section 11343 transaction. SFSP applied to the ICC for approval of its proposed merger of SFI and SPC and their related controlled railroads. See 49 U.S.C.A. § 11343(a)(4). The ICC has discretion to impose conditions on the transaction, but to approve and authorize the transaction the ICC must find it consistent with the public interest. 49 U.S.C.A. § 11344(c). The ICC did not find the transaction, as originally proposed, to be consistent with the public interest. The ICC considered the merger's anti-competitive effects and required SFSP to divest itself of either ATSF or SPT. When SFSP elected to sell SPT, the ICC decided that it was in the public interest to approve both SFSP's divestiture and RGI's application to control SPT. 34 Did the ICC lose all remedial authority once it disapproved the merger? We think not. When a carrier seeks approval of a section 11343 transaction under section 11344, the statute says that [t]he Commission may impose conditions governing the transaction. 49 U.S.C.A. § 11344(c). Whether the ICC approves the transaction depends on its determination of the public interest. In this case, the ICC conditioned its approval on SFSP's divestiture of either ATSF or SPT because of concerns about the proposed merger's anti-competitive effects. 35 If the ICC can condition its approval of a transaction on satisfying the concern for anti-competitive effects articulated by Congress in section 11344(b)(1)(E), certainly it can address Congress' labor concern as well. See 49 U.S.C.A. § 11344(b)(1)(D). [We do not] impute to Congress a policy of mandatory protection for labor in unifications and no protection at all in abandonments. It is reasonable to suppose that if Congress had intended to make such a distinction, it would have said so more explicitly. ICC v. RLEA, 315 U.S. at 379-80, 62 S.Ct. at 721. We hold that, when the ICC imposes conditions on a transaction under section 11344(c), it must consider, in its own discretion, whether protective conditions for affected employees are warranted. Since the ICC did not exercise its discretion in determining whether such labor protection was warranted, we remand to the ICC for proper consideration of this issue. IV 36 We hold that UTU has standing, but that IAM lacks standing. We conclude that 49 U.S.C. § 11347 does not require the ICC to impose labor protection for employees in this case. Since 49 U.S.C. § 11344(c) gives the Commission discretionary power to impose protective conditions, however, we remand for determination of whether such protection was warranted. 37 AFFIRMED.