United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED April 13, 2022 No. 21-50544 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Union Pacific Railroad Company,

Defendant—Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso USDC No. 3:21-CV-122

Before Dennis, Higginson, and Costa, Circuit Judges. Gregg Costa, Circuit Judge: The Railway Labor Act divests federal courts of jurisdiction over minor disputes between rail carriers and their employees. Most claims challenging employee discipline qualify as minor disputes that must be routed through arbitration. But there are exceptions. One is that the Act gives federal courts the authority to remedy carrier conduct motivated by antiunion animus. The district court found that this was such a case, preliminarily enjoining the railroad’s suspension of six union members— including all five actively-employed officers of the union’s local division— Case: 21-50544 Document: 00516278707 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/13/2022

No. 21-50544

over a fistfight at an offsite union meeting. Our primary question is whether the animus exception gave the district court jurisdiction to intervene. I

Union Pacific is a national rail carrier operating in the western half of the United States. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is a labor union representing over 5,000 Union Pacific engineers. The union is made up of a number of local units or “divisions.” Each provides representation to union members in its area. Elected representatives from each division also serve on general committees, which together negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with carriers like Union Pacific. Division 192 is the exclusive representative for Union Pacific employees in and around El Paso. During early 2021, tension arose within the division over the union’s stance on “shoves.” Engineers take shoves when they accept extra shifts at the request of the railroad. The CBA does not prohibit shoves, but the union views them as a safety risk and has asked its members to decline them. Not all of the division’s members complied. One engineer in particular, David Cisneros, continued taking shoves. Two Division 192 officers—Local Chairman Peter Shepard and Vice Local Chairman Joe Reyes—confronted Cisneros about his behavior via text message and the division’s Facebook page. Mounting tensions ultimately erupted into an off-duty fist fight before a union meeting. Details about the fight are disputed but the record largely establishes the following. 1

1 As the district court explained, the particulars of the fight are not material. The union’s RLA claim turns on undisputed facts about Union Pacific’s response to the fight.

2 Case: 21-50544 Document: 00516278707 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/13/2022

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On March 9, 2021, Division 192 held a routine union meeting at a