Brotherhood of Railway & SS Clerks v. United Air Lines

• Citation: 325 F.2d 576
• Decision Date: 17 December 1963
• Docket Number: No. 15176.,15176.
• Parties: BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED AIR LINES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

325 F.2d 576 (1963)

BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS, FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED AIR LINES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 15176.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

December 17, 1963.

James L. Highsaw, Jr., Washington, D. C., Leonard D. Slutz, Roy G. Holmes, Cincinnati, Ohio, on brief; Nichols, Wood, Marx & Ginter, Cincinnati, Ohio, Mulholland, Robie & Hickey, Toledo, Ohio, and Washington, D. C., of counsel, for plaintiff-appellant.

Stuart Bernstein, Chicago, Ill., Jack G. Evans, Cincinnati, Ohio, H. Templeton Brown, Edward R. Lev, Chicago, Ill., on brief; Dinsmore, Shohl, Barrett, Coates & Dupree, Cincinnati, Ohio, Mayer, Friedlich, Spiess, Tierney, Brown & Platt, Chicago, Ill., of counsel, for defendant-appellee.

Before MILLER, O'SULLIVAN and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.

This case arises out of the merger of Capital Airlines, Inc. into United Airlines, appellee herein, on June 1, 1961. The facts concerning the background and details of this merger are set forth in Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. C.A.B., 112 U.S.App.D.C. 384, 303 F.2d 395, affirming the approval of the merger by the Civil Aeronautics Board.

In May 1947 appellant was certified by the National Mediation Board pursuant to the Railway Labor Act,¹ 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq, as the designated bargaining agent for the employees of Capital in the craft or class of clerical, office, stores, fleet and passenger service. Pursuant to this certification, appellant and Capital entered into a collective bargaining agreement effective August 1, 1948, which, with certain revisions, was in effect immediately prior to the time Capital was merged into appellee.

Article 1(b) of this collective bargaining agreement contained the following provision:

"All provisions of this agreement shall be binding upon the successors or assigns of the Company (i. e. Capital) and in case of a consolidation or merger, the Company (i. e. Capital) will notify the Brotherhood at least 90 days prior to such consolidation, or merger, and representatives of the Company (i. e. Capital) and the Brotherhood will meet and negotiate for the procedure to be followed and the protection to be afforded the employees involved."

The merger agreement between appellee and Capital provided as follows:

"United * * * shall be subject to all of the restrictions, disabilities and duties of each of the Constituent Corporations; * * * and all debts, liabilities and duties of each of the Constituent Corporations shall thenceforth attach to United, and may be enforced against it to the same extent as if said debts, liabilities and duties had been incurred or contracted by it."

Appellee announced from the outset of the merger proceedings that it would not assume or be bound by any of Capital's labor agreements. It is not contended that by the above-quoted language of the merger agreement appellee intended to assume the obligations of Capital under any of its collective bargaining agreements, or that appellee at any time made any representations to the effect that it as successor would be bound by the agreement between appellant and Capital.

Appellant participated as an intervenor in the proceedings before the Civil Aeronautics Board, urging that, if that Board should approve the proposed merger, this collective bargaining agreement be imposed upon appellee as a condition thereof. The Board refused to impose this condition in its order approving the merger, stating that this was a matter to be worked out "in accordance with regular procedures applicable to the matter of representation and agreement." Appellant appealed from the Board's decision to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but thereafter withdrew its appeal with the acquiescence of the other parties.

This suit was filed by appellant seeking a declaration that appellee was bound by the terms of appellant's collective bargaining agreement with Capital and to enjoin appellee from refusing to apply that agreement to those former employees of Capital covered thereby who became employees of appellee upon consummation of the merger. Appellee moved to dismiss the complaint or for summary judgment upon the following grounds: The cause involved a dispute as to who were the representatives under the Railway Labor Act of certain of its employees and hence exclusive jurisdiction lay with the National Mediation Board; if the requested relief were granted appellee would be required to treat with a bargaining representative for a minority of a craft or class, contrary to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act; that the agreement between appellant and Capital revealed on its face that it could not be legally or practically applied to less than an entire craft or class; that another labor organization had representation rights for part of the group upon which appellant was seeking to impose its agreement with Capital and hence this other labor organization was an indispensable party to the action.

Appellant filed a cross-motion for summary judgment upon the ground that the material facts alleged in the complaint were not in dispute and that appellant on such undisputed facts is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The District Court denied both motions for summary judgment for lack of jurisdiction and granted appellee's motion to dismiss the complaint, holding that the case relates to a dispute as to who are representatives under the Railway Labor Act of certain employees of appellee and that exclusive jurisdiction to determine such a dispute vests with the National Mediation Board under the provisions of Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 152, Ninth.

We affirm the District Court.

Three decisions of the Supreme Court make it clear that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over the solution of representation disputes. Switchmen's Union of North America v. National Mediation Board, 320 U.S. 297, 64 S.Ct. 95, 88 L.Ed. 61; General Committee, etc. v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co., 320 U.S. 323, 64 S.Ct. 146, 88 L.Ed. 76; General Committee, etc. v. Southern Pacific Co., 320 U.S. 338, 64 S.Ct. 142, 88 L.Ed. 85.

The facts of this case demonstrate the soundness of these three decisions and the impracticality of judicial interference in representation disputes over which Congress has conferred jurisdiction upon the National Mediation Board. 45 U.S.C. § 152. Prior to the merger of Capital into appellee, Capital was substantially the smaller of the two airlines. Immediately prior to the merger it had about 6500 non-management employees, about 6000 of whom were represented by labor organizations under six agreements. Appellee had 21,000 non-management employees, about 13,500 of whom were represented by nine labor organizations under twelve agreements. At the time of the merger there were approximately 2700 employees of Capital in the clerical craft or class represented by appellant and covered by the collective bargaining agreement here sought to be enforced against appellee. The number of employees of appellee in this general craft or class numbered approximately 10,000, a part of whom had been organized pursuant to a National Mediation Board election and divided into two separate classifications. Immediately prior to the merger, approximately 2200 of the 10,000 employees of appellee in these classifications were represented by the International Association of Machinists under what is designated in the record as the I.A.M. Ramp and Stores Agreement. The remaining 7800 employees of appellee in this general class were not represented by a labor organization but were under uniform personnel regulations covering wage rates and fringe benefits.

After the merger the former Capital employees performing work covered under the I.A.M. Ramp and Stores Agreement came under that agreement, and about 530 of the 2700 Capital employees formerly represented by appellant are now represented by the International Association of Machinists. The remaining 2170...