## Facts

- American Train Dispatchers Department of the International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (the union) represented a bargaining unit of employees of Fort Smith Railroad Company (the railroad).
- The union and the railroad entered negotiations over labor matters involving changes to “rates of pay, rules, or working conditions” governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA).
- Negotiations did not produce an agreement, and the union invoked the services of the National Mediation Board (NMB) under the RLA.
- The NMB assigned mediator Robert Martin to assist the parties.
- During 1995 and early 1996, Martin conducted four mediation sessions at the railroad’s headquarters in Peoria, Illinois.
- The NMB initially scheduled a fifth session in Washington, D.C.; the railroad objected and proposed locations in Illinois or Missouri, and the continued mediation was held in Missouri.
- The NMB then scheduled a sixth mediation session in Washington, D.C.
- The railroad again objected to Washington, D.C., citing the distance from its headquarters and asserting that bargaining had reached an impasse; it asked the mediator to declare an impasse and end mediation.
- Around the same time, the union dropped several demands; the railroad rejected the revised offer and renewed its request that the mediator declare an impasse.
- The NMB communicated that the sixth session would proceed in Washington, D.C., based on the mediator’s view that meeting there would be productive.
- The railroad refused to attend a Washington, D.C. session.
- The union filed suit in federal district court seeking an injunction requiring the railroad to comply with the NMB’s directions regarding the time and place of mediation.
- The district court granted injunctive relief ordering the railroad to participate in mediation as directed by the NMB, and the railroad appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether, under the Railway Labor Act’s duty to “exert every reasonable effort” to reach agreement and settle disputes, a federal court may order a railroad to attend NMB mediation sessions at the time and place selected by the NMB.
2. Whether a railroad may refuse to attend further NMB mediation based on its own view that negotiations have reached an impasse and its objection to the NMB’s chosen location.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s injunction.
- The court held that the RLA imposes a legally enforceable duty on carriers and unions to “exert every reasonable effort” to make and maintain agreements and to settle disputes so as to avoid interruptions to commerce. See 45 U.S.C. § 152, First.
- Requiring the railroad to attend an NMB-scheduled mediation session in Washington, D.C. was a permissible means of enforcing that statutory duty.
- The railroad could not avoid the RLA’s mediation process by refusing to appear where the NMB set the session or by insisting, on its own, that an impasse existed.
- The injunction was procedural in nature: it compelled participation in the statutory mediation process, not acceptance of any substantive contract term.

## Legal Principles

- The Railway Labor Act requires both sides to “exert every reasonable effort” to make and maintain agreements and to settle disputes to avoid interruption to commerce. 45 U.S.C. § 152, First.
- A federal court may enforce that statutory duty with injunctive relief aimed at participation in the RLA’s dispute-resolution machinery when a party refuses to participate.
- The National Mediation Board has broad discretion to structure mediation efforts, including determining when and where mediation sessions will occur, so long as its directions are aimed at resolving the dispute through mediation.
- A party’s unilateral claim that bargaining is at an impasse does not end NMB mediation; the NMB controls whether mediation continues as part of the RLA process.
- Court orders enforcing attendance at mediation regulate process (participation in negotiations/mediation), not the substance of contract terms, and therefore can be consistent with the RLA’s framework.

## Conclusion

American Train Dispatchers Dept., Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Fort Smith Railroad Co. holds that the RLA’s “every reasonable effort” obligation is enforceable in court and supports an injunction requiring a railroad to attend mediation sessions at the time and place designated by the NMB, even when the railroad objects to the location and claims an impasse.


American Train Dispatchers Dept., Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Fort Smith Railroad Co., 121 F.3d 267 (1997)