Section 192.80. Full crew employee rights.

  No employee of a railroad operating in this state on May 20, 1972, shall be discharged, laid off, furloughed, removed from train or engine service, reduced in monthly earnings, transferred without the employee's approval or reduced in rank or classification, because of the repeal of s. 192.25 , 1969 stats., s. 192.26 , 1969 stats., s. 192.55 (4) , 1969 stats., and s. 195.03 (21) , 1969 stats., by chapter 306, laws of 1971 . A transferred employee shall be reimbursed by the employee's employer for the employee's moving expenses, including loss on sale of home. The rights granted to the employees under this section shall be binding on the railroads and shall be part of and shall have the same force and effect as the collective bargaining agreements between the employee organizations and the railroads. Any employee who recovers from a railroad upon litigation brought to enforce the employee's rights under this section shall be reimbursed by the employee's employer for all reasonable attorney fees necessarily incurred thereby.

1971 c. 306 ; 1987 a. 403 s. 256 ; 1993 a. 482 , 490 . This section does not conflict with any federal law. In re Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. 852 F.2d 960 (1988). When a dispute between a railroad and union involved the interpretation of contract terms as to which both of the contending interpretations were reasonable the dispute should be settled by the compulsory arbitration procedures of the railway labor act and not by the federal court. United Transportation Union v. Burlington Northern Inc. 382 F. Supp. 896 (1974). Because the railway labor act did not preempt this section, the federal court had no jurisdiction. Fricke v. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Co. 563 F. Supp. 311 (1983).