Opinion ID: 526440
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Analogous cases.

Text: 72 The Seventh Circuit recently addressed a fact situation almost identical to that presented here in Chicago & N.W. Transp. Co. v. RLEA, 855 F.2d 1277 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 493, 102 L.Ed.2d 529 (1988). That case dealt with a line sale by Chicago & North Western Transportation Company (C & NW) where, as here, the carrier obtained expedited ICC approval. The proposed sale was to result in the abolishment of over 300 jobs, and C & NW did not serve Section 6 notices. Upon learning of the sale, the affected unions filed Section 6 notices expressing a desire to negotiate various employment rights, including seniority protections. Subsequent strike threats were met with a motion for a temporary restraining order by C & NW, which led in turn to a cross-motion to enjoin the line sale. Id. at 1280. 73 As here, the district court determined that the dispute was minor and ordered a preliminary injunction forbidding any strike. The circuit court affirmed, concluding that collective bargaining agreements and past practices arising thereunder embraced matters of job abolishment involved in a line sale. Id. at 1284. While the court found C & NW's interpretations of the pertinent labor agreements to be subject to challenge, they were at least plausible, resulting in a determination that the controversy was a minor dispute. Id. at 1285. 74 Other cases support this analysis and result. In Maine Cent. R.R. v. UTU, 787 F.2d 780 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 848, 107 S.Ct. 169, 93 L.Ed.2d 107 (1986), for example, it was held that job abolishments brought about by a lease of a rail line to a customer constituted a minor dispute, and an injunction was ordered against any strike by the affected unions during the pendency of arbitration procedures. See also ALPA v. Eastern Air Lines, 863 F.2d 891 (D.C.Cir.1988) (airline's net reduction of 143 flights per day causing furlough of 2222 union employees resulted in a minor dispute under pertinent agreements); IAM v. Eastern Air Lines, 826 F.2d 1141 (1st Cir.1987) (airline's layoff of 68 mechanics presented a minor dispute over relocation of work); RLEA v. Boston & Maine Corp., 808 F.2d 150, 159-60 (1st Cir.1986) (carriers' permanent abolition of positions covered by collective bargaining agreements constituted minor dispute because action arguably within carriers' contractual rights), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 830, 108 S.Ct. 102, 98 L.Ed.2d 62 (1987); IBT v. Braniff Int'l Airways, 437 F.2d 1272 (5th Cir.1971) (abolishment of twenty-five jobs arguably justified by contract interpretation); St. Louis, S.F. & T. Ry. v. Railroad Yardmasters, 328 F.2d 749 (5th Cir.) (permissibility of abolishment posed minor dispute because dependent upon contract interpretation), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 980, 84 S.Ct. 1886, 12 L.Ed.2d 748 (1964); ALPA v. Eastern Air Lines, 701 F.Supp. 865 (D.D.C.1988) (shuttle sale contemplated by past agreements and consistent with past practices presented minor dispute); International Bhd. of Firemen v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 560 F.Supp. 169 (S.D. Ohio 1982) (abolition of numerous railroad positions presented a minor dispute); Independent Union of Flight Attendants v. Pan Am. World Airways, 502 F.Supp. 1013 (D.D.C.1980) (decision to close flight attendant bases and furlough approximately 1000 flight attendants posed a minor dispute). 75 The cases cited to us by appellant do not call for a different conclusion. Burlington N. R.R. v. UTU, 848 F.2d 856 (8th Cir.1988), and RLEA v. Chicago & Northwestern Transp. Co., 848 F.2d 102 (8th Cir.1988), are companion cases which were addressed to the interplay between the ICA, the RLA and (in the case of Burlington ) the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 101-115 (1982 & Supp. IV 1986). Both cases assumed the existence of a major dispute. There was no consideration in either case of the major/minor dispute dichotomy, or of the agreements between the parties upon which such an analysis must necessarily focus. 76 RLEA v. Pittsburgh & L.E. R.R., 845 F.2d 420 (3d Cir.), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 489, 102 L.Ed.2d 526 (1988), involved a sale by a railroad of all of its rail assets, in which the Third Circuit stated: There is no argument about whether the collective bargaining agreement itself permits or prohibits the proposed sale. If that were the crux of the dispute, then this case would require an interpretation of the agreement, and would thus be a minor dispute.... Id. at 428 n. 9. 77 Similarly, United Indus. Workers v. Board of Trustees, 351 F.2d 183 (5th Cir.1965), involved a lease of the carrier's entire railroad operations which would have terminated the employment of all its union employees. As the Fifth Circuit succinctly analyzed the situation, during the term of the contract, the Carrier terminated the contract by going out of business. Id. at 189. The Fifth Circuit has since limited this case to its facts. See Railway Express Agency v. Brotherhood of Ry. Clerks, 437 F.2d 388, 393 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 919, 91 S.Ct. 2230, 29 L.Ed.2d 696 (1971); see also Chicago & N.W. Transp., 855 F.2d at 1286 n. 3 (distinguishing Pittsburgh & L.E. R.R. and United Indus. Workers on the same grounds advanced herein). 78 In sum, after consideration of the pertinent provisions of the RLA, the agreements between the parties, the prior practices of the parties and the relevant case law, we agree with the district court that the controversy between the parties was a minor dispute justifying the permanent injunction issued by the district court. 79