Opinion ID: 301368
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the past practice

Text: 15 It may be a difficult task to ascertain what is the status quo in any particular case. In many labor situations, particularly in the railroads, where a condition is satisfactorily tolerable to both sides, it is often omitted from the agreement. Detroit and Toledo Shore Line R. Co., supra, at 155, 90 S.Ct. at 302. This omission does not necessarily preclude it from becoming a working condition by acquiescence or by tacit understanding. 16 The difficulty in finding the status quo is compounded when the working condition alleged to exist is not a fixed contractual condition, like a set rate of pay, but is an on-going management prerogative that permits the railroad to change some aspect of its operations, such as the place for physical and instructional examinations of its trainmen. It should be noted that the district court's order does not discuss the existence of any past practice on the part of the railroad allowing it to change sites freely. 12 The order, which bars the union from disputing changes in the 1966 to 1970 period because of laches 13 and finds the 1970 changes in violation of the freeze brought about by the March 1970 notice, could be equally well interpreted as a finding that no past practice existed or as a finding that while a past practice existed, the filing of the second Section 6 notice froze the specific locations then in existence. 17 The record in this case is replete with undisputed documentary evidence that permits us to ascertain the existence or non-existence of the past practice without remanding the case to the district court. Borden Co. v. Clearfield Cheese Co. 369 F.2d 96 (3d Cir. 1966); Soles v. Franzblau, 352 F.2d 47 (3d Cir. 1965). The problem we must consider in advance of dealing with those facts is a determination of the legal standard to be used. The answer revolves around an interpretation of the Supreme Court's mandate in Detroit & Toledo Shore Line, supra, which dealt with a railroad's attempt to create a new home terminal for some of its train crews during the pendency of a Section 6 notice. In that case there had previously been nothing in the contract governing the locations to which crews could be assigned, and the first time the railroad had attempted to send men to a new terminal, the union filed a Section 6 notice. Subsequently, the railroad was able to establish a third yard as a home terminal for some crews without protest, but when it tried to assign men once again to the second terminal, it was met with another Section 6 notice. The Court, in an opinion written by Justice Black, held that on the facts before it, there had been no prior practice of making assignments to the second terminal, and the railroad was prevented from such action during the pendency of the notice. On the other hand, Justice Black stated that the mere fact that the collective agreement before us does not expressly prohibit outlying assignments would not have barred the railroad from ordering the assignments that gave rise to the present dispute if, apart from the agreement, such assignments had occurred for a sufficient period of time with the knowledge and acquiescence of the employees to become in reality a part of the actual working conditions. (id. 396 U.S. at 153-154, 90 S.Ct. at 301) (emphasis ours) 18 Therefore, when the railroad has engaged in certain activity over a sufficient period of time for the union to become aware of it and react accordingly if it objects, such past activity by the railroad absent objection by the union can become part of the actual status quo. If, in the course of such railroad activity, the union timely objects to it, or requires that the railroad act in concert with it in the exercise of such practice, then it does not become a prerogative to be exercised unilaterally by the railroad. However, when the union and its members are well aware of the railroad activity over a period of time and make no effort to have it discontinued, they must be deemed to have acquiesced in its exercise. Cf. United Transportation Union v. St. Paul Union Depot, 434 F.2d 220, 222 (8th Cir. 1970). Cert. den. 401 U.S. 975, 91 S.Ct. 1194, 28 L.Ed.2d 324 (1971). 19 In this case, the union contends that even if there is sufficient evidence to show that the railroad regularly changed sites for instructions and examinations, the union made no effort to arrest the changes because they were all satisfactory to its members up to 1966. On this ground, it contends that it was in fact passing on each and every change, and that on the basis of the evidence the court should find that the railroad can only make further changes with the direct sanction of the union. 20 This line of argument is specious. It attempts to spell out after the event a right to consent to future changes on the basis of its failure to dissent to past changes. This conclusion neither follows logically nor practically. Were we to accept it, no prior practice could ever be established which would permit management or union to act unilaterally. The acceptance of the union's argument would lead to the illogical result of automatically awarding veto powers over future operational action of the railroad because of the union's failure to assert objections in the past. It obviously flies directly in the face of the requirement that no prior pay, rules or working conditions be altered during the dispute. Furthermore, the Section 6 notice filed in 1966 did not object to changes in sites but only requested that trainmen be paid for the time spent in taking the examinations. 21 Therefore, we find that the railroad has made out a convincing case on the record that they had established a practice of freely changing instruction and examination sites prior to the filing of the Section 6 notice without the consent of the union. The numerous changes, which the union concedes were brought to its attention, without a word of dissent from any employee representative, leave us with no alternative but to conclude that the practice asserted by the railroad did in fact exist.