UTU Defeats IC & BLE Again

In an opinion rendered on March 11, 1998, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted UTU's motion for summary judgment in a case where UTU sought to enforce a Public Law Board that the Illinois Central Railroad and the BLE tried to avoid.  At issue was whether the IC and BLE could use their "guaranteed" extra board agreement to force employees to the lower paying guaranteed board contrary to the Tri-Partite Agreement UTU had with the IC.

The PLB ruled that the IC and BLE Agreement could not supercede and violate the earlier UTU Tri-Partite Agreement regarding "mileage" extra boards.  When IC and BLE refused to comply with the award, UTU petitioned the federal court for enforcement.  The Court rejected all of the IC's and BLE's arguments challenging the award and granted UTU's petition.