Opinion ID: 2615
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Governing Law: The Railway Labor Act

Text: The [RLA] was passed in 1926 to encourage collective bargaining by railroads and their employees in order to prevent... wasteful strikes and interruptions of interstate commerce. Detroit & T.S.L.R. Co. v. United Transp. Union, 396 U.S. 142, 148, 90 S.Ct. 294, 24 L.Ed.2d 325 (1969). It provided for the creation of local boards of adjustment to settle both the grievances that arose in the ordinary course of carrying out major agreements and policies and those that occurred incidentally in the course of a worker's employment. It soon became apparent, however, that many carriers were refusing to participate on local boards, and that those local boards that had been formed tended to become deadlocked. Union Pac. R.R. Co. v. Price, 360 U.S. 601, 610, 79 S.Ct. 1351, 3 L.Ed.2d 1460 (1959). Unadjusted disputes grew numerous. Id. at 611, 79 S.Ct. 1351. Accordingly, Congress amended the RLA in 1934 to establish better procedures for resolving grievances, or minor disputes, between employees, unions, and carriers. Elgin, J. & E. Ry. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 725, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945) (hereinafter  Burley I ), adhered to on reh'g, 327 U.S. 661, 66 S.Ct. 721, 90 L.Ed. 928 (1946) (hereinafter Burley II ). The amended Act created the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB), which consists of seventeen members selected by the carriers and seventeen by the employee representatives. 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (a). The Act states that disputes may be referred by petition of the parties or by either party to the appropriate division of the [NRAB] with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the disputes. Id. § 153 First (i). [5] Despite the creation of the NRAB, and despite provisions of the Act that allowed for the creation of local adjudicatory boards, the backlog problem persisted. In 1966, Congress amended the RLA again. It now authorizes a carrier and a representative of the employees of that carrier to agree to the formation of a special adjustment board. Id. § 153 Second. Like the NRAB, the board sits in panels consisting of one person designated by the carrier, one person designated by the representative of the employees, and, in the event of a deadlock, one neutral panelist. Id. A special adjustment board may resolve disputes otherwise referable to the NRAB. Id. The RLA governs how disputes proceed before an adjustment board. It states that [p]arties may be heard either in person, by counsel, or by other representatives, as they may respectively elect, and that the several divisions of the Adjustment Board shall give due notice of all hearings to the employee or employees and the carrier or carriers involved in any disputes submitted to them. Id. § 153 First (j). [6] An adjustment board's award is binding on the parties and is enforceable in U.S. district court. Id. §§ 153 First (p), Second. The RLA also provides for limited judicial review of NRAB and special adjustment board awards. Pursuant to 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (q), an aggrieved employee or other beneficiary of the order of the Board may file a petition for review in the district court for the district where the employee resides or where the principal operating office of the carrier is located. The district court has jurisdiction to affirm the order of the division, or to set it aside, in whole or in part, or it may remand the proceedings to the division for such action as it may direct. Id. [7] But the scope of district court review is limited: the findings and order of the Board are conclusive unless the court finds that the Board has failed to comply with the requirements of the RLA, that the Board has exceeded its jurisdiction, or that a member of the Board has engaged in fraud or corruption. Id. [8]