Brotherhood of Teamsters & Auto Truck Drivers Local No. 70 v. Western Pacific Railroad

The individual plaintiffs and their union allege that the defendants are obligated to provide lifetime employment to the individual plaintiffs pursuant to a provision in a collective bargaining agreement. The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. This court concludes that the judgment should be vacated due to a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Prior to its merger with Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific), Western Pacific Railroad Company (Western Pacific) maintained a ramp facility in Oakland where ramping and trucking operations were performed. The ramping work involved the loading and unloading of truck-trailers onto and from railroad flatcars. The trucking operations involved delivery of the trailers to and from locations in the Bay Area.

From 1973 to 1979, Western Pacific Transport Company (Transport), a subsidiary of Western Pacific, performed both the ramping and trucking work at the facility. It employed members of the Teamsters Local No. 70 and had a collective bargaining agreement with the union which represented and bargained on behalf of the named individual plaintiffs.…