256
Opinion of the Court
that broadly pre-empts substantive protections extended by the States, independent of any negotiated labor agreement.
C
Our case law confirms that the category of minor disputes contemplated by § 151a are those that are grounded in the CBA. We have defined minor disputes as those involving the interpretation or application of existing labor agreements. See, e. g., Conrail, 491 U. S., at 305 ("The distinguishing feature of [a minor dispute] is that the dispute may be conclusively resolved by interpreting the existing [CBA]"); Pittsburgh & Lake Erie R. Co. v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn., 491 U. S. 490, 496, n. 4 (1989) ("Minor disputes are those involving the interpretation or application of existing contracts"); Trainmen, 353 U. S., at 33 (minor disputes are "controversies over the meaning of an existing collective bargaining agreement"); Slocum v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co., 339 U. S. 239, 243 (1950) (RLA arbitral mechanism is meant to provide remedies for "adjustment of railroad-employee disputes growing out of the interpretation of existing agreements").
Moreover, we have held that the RLA's mechanism for resolving minor disputes does not pre-empt causes of action to enforce rights that are independent of the CBA. More than 60 years ago, the Court rejected a railroad's argument that the existence of the RLA arbitration scheme preempted a state statute regulating the number of workers required to operate certain equipment. Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Norwood, 283 U. S. 249, 258 (1931) ("No analysis or discussion of the provisions of the Railway Labor Act of 1926 is necessary to show that it does not conflict with the Arkansas statutes under consideration"). Not long thereafter, the Court rejected a claim that the RLA pre-empted an order by the Illinois Commerce Commission requiring cabooses on all trains; the operative CBA required cabooses only on some of the trains. Terminal Railroad Assn. of St. Louis v. Train-
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