Court Opinion

ID: 9457619
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:27:41.075067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:25.854447
License: Public Domain

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge
(dissenting) :
In my view, the conclusion reached by the majority in this case defeats one of the central objectives of Congress in its passage of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.), namely, that the status quo be maintained between labor and management, the union and the railroad here, while a “major dispute” be*229tween the parties is being resolved in accordance with the terms of the Act.
There has been a long history of strife and dispute between the union and the railroad about the latter’s attempt to change the home crew terminal from Augusta to Camak, a distance of 47 miles. The crews live in Augusta, the home terminal. They must, therefore, drive 47 miles to work, and 47 miles back home. Camak is a community of approximately 100 people — there is no public transportation available, no rooming house or motel, with a single cafe which is open only 8 hours per day, closing at 4 p. m. There are a Coca Cola machine and a cracker and candy bar machine in the agent’s office.
The railroad’s unilateral change of the home crew terminal from Augusta to Camak, was a change in working conditions, not authorized by the collective bargaining agreement, and brought about a major dispute. The railroad’s action thus violated the specific provision of the Railway Labor Act, Section 2, Seventh (45 U.S.C. § 152), Section 6 (45 U.S.C. § 156), and Section 10 (45 U.S.C. § 160), as extended by P.L. 91-541, 84 Stat. 1407.
Prior to the change of home crew terminal, the parties had each served Section 6 (45 U.S.C. § 156) notices on the other relative to proposed changes in the agreements. One of the changes proposed by the railroad was one allowing it to move crew terminals, the identical issue involved here. Without waiting for a resolution of its proposal, the railroad went ahead and made the change on its own — unilaterally.
This case is indistinguishable in principle from Detroit & Toledo S. L. R. Co. v. United Transp. U., 396 U.S. 142, 90 S.Ct. 294, 24 L.Ed. 325 (1969). It cannot properly be decided by trying to alter the fact — made abundantly clear by the record — that the change which the railroad made is a change of home crew terminals, not a mere designation of a new tie-up or layover point. In clear and unequivocal language, the railroad’s bulletin of January 15, 1971, states that Camak will become “home terminal.” Testimony of the railroad witness that this was mere “mis-naming” is unconvincing and an attempt to obscure the real issue, when scrutinized in light of all the circumstances and past history of this recurring controversy.
Thus, the railroad’s unilateral action, in the face of its own Section 6 notice, should have been enjoined and the status quo maintained, until the orderly processes of the Railway Labor Act could have been allowed to function.
I would reverse and remand for entry of an appropriate order restoring the status quo. I, therefore, dissent.