United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Trainmen v. Toledo, P. & W. R. Co., 321 U.S. 50 (1944)

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v.

Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad

No. 28

Argued November 9, 10, 1943

Decided January 17, 1944

321 U.S. 50

Syllabus

1. A railroad company which refused to submit a labor dispute to arbitration in accordance with provisions of the Railway Labor Act -- although it had sought to settle the dispute by negotiation and by mediation -- has not made "every reasonable effort" to settle the dispute within the meaning of § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, and is thereby barred from injunctive relief in the federal courts. P. 321 U. S. 56.

2. Section 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act extends to railway labor disputes. P. 321 U. S. 58.

3. The requirement of § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act that a complainant must make "every reasonable effort" -- "either by negotiation or with the aid of any available governmental machinery of mediation or voluntary arbitration" -- to settle the labor dispute before he may have injunctive relief in the federal courts is not satisfied by his having resorted to one or two of the three prescribed methods of conciliation. P. 321 U. S. 60.

4. That, under § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, a complainant may not have injunctive relief if he has not submitted the labor dispute to arbitration does not make arbitration compulsory. P. 321 U. S. 62.

5. Failure to satisfy the requirements of § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act does not leave the complainant without legal protection, but deprives him only of one form of remedy which Congress, exercising its plenary control over the jurisdiction of the federal courts, has seen fit to withhold. P. 321 U. S. 63.

6. The Court is not concerned with the wisdom of Acts of Congress. P. 321 U. S. 64.

7. Where a complainant has steadfastly refused to submit a labor dispute to arbitration, § 8 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act is not necessarily rendered inapplicable by the fact that some violence is involved. P. 321 U. S. 65.

132 F.2d 265 reversed.

Page 321 U. S. 51

Certiorari, 318 U.S. 755, to review the affirmance of an order granting a temporary injunction in a suit arising out of a labor dispute.