SBA 1208 lawsuit update
On March 31st, attorneys representing SMART-TD and UP submitted a Rule 26(f) Report to the court. This is a joint report where the parties express their intent and expectations for the case progression. In summary:
- Both parties agree that discovery is not required. Instead, both parties will agree to a stipulated record of undisputed facts and documents by May 15th, 2026
- If the parties do not settle, the case will not go to trial, but will be resolved by summary judgment. Summary judgment is used to expedite cases where there are no real dispute of facts, but is just a matter of interpretation of the law.
- Each side must file their motion for summary judgment by July 14th, 2026. Each side has until August 28th, 2026 to file opposition briefs.
- The court has ordered a status conference for Sept 2nd, 2026. The purpose of this is for the parties to meet with the court to see if a settlement is likely and/or if mediation would be useful before the court decides on a date to issue a ruling.
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Carrier responds to SMART-TD lawsuit
On February 26, UP’s attorneys filed a response to SMART-TD’s complaint seeking to set aside the SBA 1208 arbitration award. In summary, UP claims that the board did not fail to “conform or confine itself to the” scope of the board’s purpose, but rather operated within the scope of “whether and how” to implement Articles V, VI, VII of the 2022 National agreement.
You can view the response here in its entirety.
The court has ordered the parties to confer to agree to a scheduling plan for the case moving forward.
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Organization files lawsuit seeking to set aside SBA 1208
On Dec 29th, SMART-TD International in concert with the 4 General Committees on UP property filed a complaint in the US District Court of Nebraska seeking to set aside the award issued by SBA 1208. Attached is the filing in its entirety.
In summation, the organization argues that the carrier and the neutral exceeded the authority of the board. They particularly take issue with the following:
- Disposing of existing agreements that provided for extra rest or “smart rest”
- Failing to provide extraboard employees with scheduled days off as provided by Article V of PEB 250
- The award provision that allow for “any qualified employee” to fill conductor vacancies having no basis within the PEB
General Chairman Edington writes:
…Brothers and Sister, I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays and time with family.
We filed in the District Court of Nebraska today to vacate SBA 1208 (Articles V-VII Arbitration Award). All the General Committees are listed as parties along with the International. We are pursuing three counts: the permission to use “any qualified employee”; the elimination of extra rest; and no scheduled rest for extra board employees. Our dissenting opinion is also included at the end of the attachment.
Under Section 9 of the RLA, the entire award would be vacated if the court ruled in our favor on just one of the counts. We haven’t gotten any timeline on the court proceedings from legal counsel yet. I’ll pass those along when they are received.
Negotiations over implementation of the Award are still scheduled for January 12-13. We have a duty under the RLA to bargain in good faith until the court makes a final ruling and will continue to do so.
We don’t anticipate anything being implemented on property until the lawsuit is resolved as a ruling by the courts could negate anything that is implemented.
Updates will be sent out as they are received and, as always, don’t hesitate to contact the office if you have any questions.
Fraternally, Luke Edington
General Chairperson
SMART TD GO-953