Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991 TAG: 9103200053
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From staff and wire reports
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"We consider it a victory for us and for the railroad industry," said Don Piedmont, a Norfolk Southern spokesman in Roanoke.
The court, by a 7-2 vote, said Congress intended to protect against union interference with rail mergers when it passed the Transportation Act of 1920.
The act, as amended, says railroads that have the Interstate Commerce Commission's permission to merge are exempt "from the antitrust laws and from all other law, including state and municipal law, as necessary to . . . carry out the transaction."
Writing for the court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the "all other law" language was meant to include private contracts. Justices John Paul Stevens and Thurgood Marshall dissented.
Tuesday's decision overturned a federal appeals court ruling that had in two separate cases restrained the ICC from overriding collective-bargaining agreements.
In the first case, the commission approved in 1980 the merger of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries under a new holding company, CSX.
CSX decided in 1986 to close its freight-car repair shop at Waycross, Ga., and to transfer work done there to a Chessie System shop in Raceland, Ky.
The transfer meant eliminating jobs and transferring some Waycross employees to Raceland. Transferred workers were told they no longer could count on lifetime income guaranteed by the contract signed by Seaboard and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen.
In the second case, Norfolk and Western Railway Co. and the Southern Railway Co. announced in 1986 plans to merge operations centers in Roanoke and Atlanta. The consolidation eliminated some supervisory jobs in Roanoke.
The American Train Dispatchers Association said the plans violated the union's contract with Norfolk and Western. Officials at the group's headquarters in Chicago did not return phone calls seeking reaction to the decision.
The ICC in both cases said the railroads were exempt from the union contracts, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the commission lacked such power.
Business writer Daniel Howes contributed information to this story.
by CNB