Court Opinion

ID: 9487067
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:07:31.008897+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:05.019720
License: Public Domain

NYGAARD, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
The majority and I differ little in our reasoning and conclusion. But the differences, although small, are of considerable importance. I can assume without deciding that an agreement existed, but only between the two appellants and their employer, N.J. Transit. I cannot agree, however, that the facts of this case support the conclusion reached by the majority that a collective bargaining agreement had been reached between N.J. Transit and the appellants’ union. I also do not agree that we can so lightly reject the Adjustment Board’s definition of an agreement. I would hold that the Adjustment Board properly concluded that without a ratified collective bargaining agreement, it had nothing to interpret and therefore no jurisdiction. I would conclude that if an agreement exists here, it is neither a “collective” agreement nor an agreement between N.J. Transit and the entire union, but merely an “individual” agreement, which will not independently support federal jurisdiction. Hence, I too would reverse the order of the district court, but would remand the cause for the district court to determine if there exists an independent basis for jurisdiction, and if not, to dismiss.
The Adjustment Board’s jurisdictional authority comes from 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (i), in which it is granted the power to hear “disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules or working conditions.” In Elgin, J. & E.R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945), the Court said that such disputes, termed “minor,” are subject to arbitration and “contemplate the existence of a collective bargaining agreement already concluded or, at any rate, a situation in which no effort is made to bring about a formal change in terms or to create a new one.” Id. at 723, 65 S.Ct. at 1290.
The essence of the Railway Labor Act is that it authorizes collective bargaining units to select bargaining agents and permits them to negotiate collective agreements with a carrier/employer. Union Pac. R.R. Co. v. Sheehan, 439 U.S. 89, 94, 99 S.Ct. 399, 402, 58 L.Ed.2d 354 (1978) (“[T]he terms, purposes and legislative history of the Railway Labor Act ... endeavor[ ] to promote stability and labor management relations in this important national industry by providing effective and efficient remedies for the resolution of railroad/employee disputes arising out of the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements.”) (emphasis added, internal citations omitted); Virginia Ry Co. v. System Federa*398tion No. 40, 300 U.S. 515, 548, 57 S.Ct. 592, 600, 81 L.Ed. 789 (1937) (The declared purposes of the Act give to employees “the right to organize and bargain collectively through a representative of their own choosing....”) (emphasis added). The Act uses the term “agreement,” but given the purposes of the Act, it is fundamental that it means a “collective bargaining agreement,” and is not meant to cover the garden variety, private agreements any employer can reach with its individual employees. See Griesmann v. Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, Inc., 776 F.2d 66, 71 (3d Cir.1985) (“A collective bargaining agreement is the paradigmatic labor contract, covering a wide array of contingencies that may arise in the employment relationship, and distinguished by provisions for the arbitration of disputes concerning the agreement’s meaning and application.”) (internal citations omitted).
In Davis v. Ohio Barge Line, Inc., 697 F.2d 549 (3d Cir.1983), an employee contended that a settlement agreement he had reached with his employer should be enforceable under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act. We rejected that argument and concluded that “[a] private agreement between an employer and employee independent of a collective bargaining agreement generally does not fall within [the Labor Management Relations Act] even though the complaint alleges some nexus with the union.” Id. at 553. We held that a federal court has jurisdiction over a collective bargaining agreement under the Labor Management Relations Act, but has “no independent basis for jurisdiction” over the settlement agreement which the employer and employee in Davis had reached.
Here too, there is no collective bargaining agreement. Merely because these two employees and N.J. Transit had at some point acted as though they agreed upon some portions of the rejected draft agreement, an enforceable collective bargaining agreement was not thereby created between N.J. Transit and the entire union. At most, such an agreement would not be collective but individual and would be enforceable, if at all, under state law and in state courts, not under the Railway Labor Act.
N.J. Transit did impose upon its employees many of the provisions which had earlier been proposed in the written draft. But inasmuch as that draft had not been ratified, and indeed because N.J. Transit had no collective agreement with its employees, it was free to impose upon its employees any conditions it wished within the bounds of the law. N.J. Transit did behave in a civilized fashion towards these two discharged employees. It gave them all the process to which they would have been entitled under the unrati-fied agreement. Nonetheless, to infer a federally enforceable de facto agreement between the union and N.J. Transit, simply because these parties behaved as they did, creates the possibility of much mischief and may well discourage employers from giving employees any perquisites or processes to which they are not entitled by law while contracts are pending.
The majority’s conclusion that such a de facto agreement comes within the Act is unsupported by any authority. The majority modestly admits that “[m]ost decisional law in this area discusses situations where a collective bargaining agreement already exists.” (Maj. op. at 392.) It should be noted that in each Railway Labor Act case cited in the majority opinion, the parties either had a collective bargaining agreement which controlled and defined their rights, or were operating under an expired collective bargaining agreement during the “status quo” provision of the Act.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, a collective bargaining agreement must be in writing if requested by either party. 29 U.S.C. § 158(d). Although the record contains no specific request for a writing, the preliminary draft was reduced to writing; the written draft was submitted to the membership for ratification; and in this form, it was rejected by the membership. There is simply nothing in this record to indicate that an oral agreement was acceptable. Rather, the only supportable inference from this record is that both N.J. Transit and the union expected their collective bargaining contract to be in writing. Consequently, I cannot infer that this alleged agreement, which was neither in writing, signed by the appellants, *399nor ratified by their union, can confer jurisdiction on the Adjustment Board.
In sum, I agree that if there were a valid ratified written collective bargaining agreement, this would be a “minor” and hence an arbitrable dispute. I also agree that if the appellants’ union and N.J. Transit were parties to a collective bargaining agreement, the issues in dispute would not need to be covered by an express provision of the written contract. I do not, however, agree that an individual agreement between the parties— whether a “de facto agreement,” an agreement by implication, or an agreement created in any fashion other than as contemplated by the Act — -either creates a collective bargaining agreement between N.J. Transit and the union, or is the type of “agreement” that will confer jurisdiction upon the federal courts or the Adjustment Board. Therefore, I conclude that unless another, independent basis for federal jurisdiction exists, this case must be dismissed.