Search

A Montreal arbitrator ruled that CP Rail System was justified in dismissing four of its employees for tampering with the railway's signals. The four former employees filed for grievance arbitration to get their jobs back, but their plea was denied by the arbitrator, who considered their actions as serious infractions. The tampering, which resulted in the slowing down of trains in affected areas to restricted speeds, occurred during a major labor dispute.

Arbitrators rarely bring up a voyage charter party 'general strike clause' since strikes are often self-explanatory or do not affect contracts in maritime transportation. The decision reached in SMA 29009, otherwise known as the M/V Silver Glory arbitration, can be cited as a prime example of the incorrectness of such an assumption. The case in itself is a provocative issue for future drafters of strike clauses.

The US Supreme Court upheld the rulings of the lower court invalidating arbitrators' decisions favoring organized labor. The first case involved Coca Cola Bottlers driver Kenneth Youngermann who was terminated for poor performance. The second case involved a suit filed by five rail employees against five rail unions for their failure to protect employees' interests following the sale of a 713-mile branch rail. The last case involved a petition of the CSX Transportation for the high court to review the case of 12 employees who bypassed arbitration procedures by taking the dispute to court.