Court Opinion

ID: 9423288
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:06:57.900183+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:37.719410
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stewart,
whom Mr. Justice Brennan joins,
concurring.
Until now the Adjustment Board has dealt with the claim of the telegraphers as though it were totally unrelated to the claim of the clerks. To take this piecemeal approach to the underlying causes of this controversy not only invites inconsistent awards, but also ignores the industrial context in which the disputed contract was framed and implemented.
This case aptly illustrates why the Board cannot judge one-half of a problem while closing its eyes to the other half. The disputed provisions of the collective agreement were drawn before technological progress telescoped two work stations into one. The agreement did not explicitly provide for such a change. But it was designed to cover an extended period of time, and its language is sufficiently general to allow for flexibility in the light of changing circumstances.*
*167To do justice to the parties in this situation the Board must take full measure of their circumstances. To justify the deference which the law has given to its deci*168sions, the Board must employ a decision-making technique that rests on fair procedure and industrial realities. By using a simple bilateral contract analysis the Board defaults in both of these duties. Cf. Cox, The Legal Nature of Collective Bargaining Agreements, 57 Mich. L. Rev. 1, 22-23, 26-27 (1958); Note, 75 Yale L. J. 877, 889-890 (1966).
Only by proceeding as the Court today directs can the Board properly decide cases of this kind. The provisions in the Railway Labor Act which state that the Board’s orders are to be directed only against the carrier do not detract from the power of the Board to fulfill its tasks. For if the telegraphers and the clerks both advanced their claims and the Board directed the carrier to honor the claims of only one union, the other union would be bound just as though it had lost in a multilateral in rem proceeding. See 3 Freeman, The Law of Judgments §§ 1524-1526 (5th ed. 1925).
Since the Board has failed to use procedures which allow for an informed and fair understanding of the dispute between the petitioner and respondent, I concur in the opinion and judgment of the Court.

 Among the rules of the Telegraphers' Agreement invoked in this dispute, the following are the most relevant:
Article 1 — Scope.
Rule 1. This agreement will govern the wages and working conditions of agents, agent-telegraphers, agent-telephoners, telegraphers, telephoners, telegrapher-clerks, telephoner-clerks, telegrapher-car distributors, ticket clerk-telegraphers, telegrapher-switch-tenders, C. T. C. telegraphers, train and tower directors, towermen, lever-*167men, block operators, staffmen, managers, wire chiefs, repeater chiefs, chief operators, printer mechanicians, telephone operators (except switchboard operators), teletype operators, printer operators, agents non-telegraphers, and agents non-telephoners herein listed.
Article 2 — Positions and Rates of Pay.
Rule 5. General Telegraph Offices, (a) Positions and rates of pay in general telegraph offices under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent Telegraph shall be as follows:
4 Las Vegas “VG"
Manager . 2.127
2d chief operator-printer m[e]chn. 1.995
3d chief operator-printer mechn. 1.995
Telegrapher . 1.851
R'-le 6. New Positions. The wages of new positions shall be in conformity with the wages of positions of similar kind or class in the seniority district where created.
Article 3- — Time Allowances.
Rule 10. Daily Guarantee. Regularly assigned employes will receive eight hours pay for each twenty-four hours, at rate of position occupied ....
Article 6 — Seniority.
Rule 47. Promotion, (a) Promotion shall be based on seniority and qualifications; qualifications being sufficient, seniority will prevail.
Article 8 — General.
Rule 62. Train Orders. No employe other than covered by this schedule and train dispatchers will be permitted to handle train orders at telegraph or telephone offices where an operator is employed, and is available, or can be promptly located, except in an emergency, in which case the telegrapher will be paid for the call.
Rule 70. Date Effective and Change. This agreement will be effective as of January 1, 1952, and shall continue in effect until it is changed as provided herein, or under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act.