Takeaway: While this case dealt specifically with a railroad employer, the 8th Circuit's reference to the Norris-LaGuardia provision regarding a party's failure to make "every reasonable effort" to settle a labor dispute is significant to all employers and unions. It points out that a court cannot enter the fray on behest of a party that has not made reasonable efforts to resolve the situation first. To do so would violate the Supreme Court's admonishment that a court should avoid "freewheeling judicial interference in labor relations."
The critical issue in determining whether courts can become involved in a labor dispute, including one over an employer's pay raise made unilaterally after negotiations broke down, is whether the parties have made every reasonable effort to resolve the dispute without judicial involvement.
In a procedurally complex labor-related litigation, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was able to distill two Section 6 notices, one "self-help" action, a motion for preliminary injunction and an interlocutory appeal into one concise point: before seeking the court's assistance, parties to a labor agreement must make every reasonable effort to settle their dispute by all available means.
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