Railway Labor Executives' Association v. Boston & Maine Corporation

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

The central issue presented by this appeal is, whether under the circumstances of this case, the abolishment of certain job positions constitutes a “minor” dispute 1 subject to the arbitration provisions of existing collective bargaining agreements, or whether such actions are a violation of the substantive provisions of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq. (RLA), the reparation of which may be sought by recourse to the courts. 2 The resolution of this dilemma will depend upon the answer given to the various subsidiary questions which we must first consider.