Opinion ID: 198870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Implicit Term

Text: 46 The appellants claim that the district court erred in rejecting its argument that the collective bargaining agreement implicitly allowed the arrangement between Springfield and ABR. If a carrier presents evidence that the challenged labor practice has been knowingly acquiesced in by the union, the challenged practice is treated as an implicit term of the collective bargaining agreement and any dispute over the meaning of that term is minor. See Maine Central R.R. Co. v. United Transp. Union, 787 F. 2d 780, 782 (1st Cir. 1986). To take advantage of the minor dispute provision, the carrier need only show that the implicit contractual term defense is not totally implausible. Id. at 783. 47 The appellants argue that the Unions had previously acquiesced to Springfield allowing several of its freight customers to perform their own switching. The dissent too makes much of this point, noting that even before ABR started switching for Lincoln and Champion, Springfield had assisted several mill customers (including ABR) in taking over their own switching. The district court, however, ruled that Union acquiescence in those instances was totally inapposite: 48 The companies have pointed only to past practices where Springfield Terminal has helped its customers take over their own switching work. The unions, however, no longer quarrel with ABR doing its own switching. Instead, the unions complain because Springfield Terminal, they say, is essentially assisting ABR to act as a railroad in doing nonunion switching work for customers, specifically Terminal's customers, who would otherwise be using Springfield Terminal's union crews. There is not even arguably any such past practice. I agree with the unions that any purported reliance on past practices to justify this new arrangement is, therefore, obviously insubstantial; this is not a minor dispute. 49 The record amply supports the district court's past practice findings. The Unions have never accepted the idea that Springfield could use ABR as its non-union switching arm. 10