Court Opinion

ID: 9444127
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:42:55.297834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:43.904265
License: Public Domain

SWAIM, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I think that the action in the District Court was premature because the Board had not finally acted on the matter and that, until such final action, the Carrier had not exhausted the administrative remedies provided by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq. As the Supreme Court said in Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, 331 U.S. 752, 767, 67 S.Ct. 1493, 1500, 91 L.Ed. 1796: “The doctrine [of first resorting to administrative remedies], wherever applicable, does not require merely the initiation of prescribed administrative procedures. It is one of exhausting them, that is, of pursuing them to their appropriate conclusion and, correlatively, of awaiting their final outcome before seeking judicial intervention.” This would seem to clearly negative the power of the courts to enjoin the making of an award. The Railway Labor Act expressly sets forth the reasons for its enactment. The fifth stated purpose is: “(5) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.” 45 U.S.C.A. § 151a (5).
If either party to a claim before the Board were privileged to go into court and enjoin further proceedings by the Board each time the Board decided some preliminary matter or took, or failed to take, some procedural step to which the complaining party objected, there would be neither “prompt” nor “orderly” settlement of such disputes, and the above quoted fundamental purpose of the Railway Labor Act would be defeated.
But the Carrier insists that it has been informed in writing by the Clerks that, in the event the rights of members of the Clerks’ organization are adversely affected by an award in Docket No. TE-5722, the claim of the Telegraphers, the Clerks will present and prosecute a claim against the Carrier on behalf of any member of the Clerks so *31affected; but if the Board should proceed with the disposition of the claim of the Telegraphers without serving notice on the Clerks and should find that the work here in dispute belongs to the Telegraphers, such a finding would not adjudicate the rights of the Clerks and would not preclude the Clerks from prosecuting an independent claim under the Railway Labor Act against the plaintiff; that if the Board should then decide such a claim by the Clerks to be valid, the Carrier would be forced to make payments to both organizations for the same work, although the services of the members of only one of the organizations were actually used; and that the Carrier by such action by the Board would suffer irreparable injury and damage which would continue unless the defendants were enjoined from proceeding without complying with Section 3, First (j) of the Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 153, First (j).
I think none of these reasons assigned by the Carrier justified the bringing of this action prior to an award and order by the Board. It is to be noted that neither the Clerks nor Shears are parties to this action. The only party complaining of the action of the Board is the Carrier. If we assume, arguendo, that Section 3, First (j) of the Act required notice to the Clerks and to Shears, as the majority opinion holds, it is clear from the record that the Clerks had actual notice, and that the Clerks’ organization intends to take whatever action it may consider necessary to protect the rights of Shears under the Clerks’ contract with the Carrier. This plainly indicates that there is no misunderstanding between the Clerks and Shears, the individual, and that the Clerks’ organization will represent Shears. We are not confronted here with the case of an individual working without the protection of a collective bargaining agreement with the Carrier and without representation of a labor organization.
The Carrier was, of course, thoroughly familiar with the scope rules of its contracts with both the Telegraphers and the Clerks. Since it was a party to both of these contracts, the Carrier possessed copies of the contracts which it could present to the Board with its suggestions and evidence, if any, as to how the scope rule of each contract should be interpreted and applied. This Carrier and all persons acquainted with the personnel of the Board and the methods of its operation know that in a case such as this every possible argument in favor of the Carrier’s contentions will be made before the Board regardless of whether the Clerks are or are not made parties to the proceeding there. It certainly was not necessary to the proper presentation of the Carrier’s defense against the Telegraphers’ claim that the Clerks’ organization or Shears be made a party to the proceeding.
The Carrier’s claim to substantial and irreparable damage can only be predicated on an invalid decision, adverse to the Carrier as to the final award and order by the Board.
If the final award and order on the Telegraphers’ claim is in favor of the Carrier, the Carrier, of course, suffers no possible damage, regardless of the decision of the Board as to participation by the Clerks in the proceeding and regardless of whether the Clerks’ organization was given notice of the hearing or was permitted to participate in the proceedings before the Board on the Telegraphers’ claim. At this stage of the proceedings before the Board we have no possible way of knowing what the final decision and award will be, but we must assume that the Board in arriving at its decision will be governed by the contracts and the evidence before it, and that all relevant evidence will be properly submitted to it and received by it.
The real problem facing the Carrier here, according to Paragraph XII of its complaint, is that the Board may make an award, first, in favor of the Telegraphers on their claim, and then make another independent award in favor of the *32Clerks involving the same work; and that this will result in the Carrier’s having to pay members of both organizations for doing the same work although the services of the members of only one organization are actually used. Here, again, we must assume that in the making of any award the Board will properly interpret and apply the Carrier’s contracts with the two organizations. If there is no ambiguity in either contract and both contracts clearly include the same work, and we may not assume that the Board would make awards in favor of both the Telegraphers and the Clerks unless both contracts do cover the work, I see no alternative for the Carrier except to let members of one craft do the work for pay, and for the Carrier to pay damages to the members of the other craft for the breach of that contract. Neither the Board nor the courts may properly change either of two valid, unambiguous contracts made by the Carrier in order to avoid the consequences to the Carrier of having made conflicting contracts with the two crafts.
The complaint does not allege that the contracts are ambiguous and since the two contracts have not been made a part of the record in this case we have no way of knowing whether there is any ambiguity in the scope rule of either contract, or whether they are so clear and definite that they are not subject to interpretation. The mere fact, if it be a fact, that both contracts describe the same work does not mean that they are ambiguous. They are separate and independent contracts. If the contracts are not ambiguous neither the Board nor any court could do other than apply them as written. As said in Thomas v. New York, Chicago & St. Louis R. Co., 6 Cir., 185 F.2d 614, 617: “While the Board under the statute has jurisdiction to hear an individual grievance, it is not authorized to write a contract for the parties nor to create substantive legal rights.”