Flight Engineers' Intern. Ass'n, PAA Chapter, AFL-CIO v. Pan American World Airways, Inc.

• Decision Date: 13 February 1990
• Docket Number: No. 701,P,D,AFL-CI,701
• Citation: 896 F.2d 672
• Parties: 133 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2625, 114 Lab.Cas. P 11,925 FLIGHT ENGINEERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, PAA CHAPTER,laintiff-Appellant, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., and Pan American Corporation, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 89-7911.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 672

896 F.2d 672

133 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2625, 114 Lab.Cas. P 11,925

FLIGHT ENGINEERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, PAA CHAPTER AFL-CIO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., and Pan American Corporation, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 701, Docket 89-7911.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued Jan. 18, 1990.

Decided Feb. 13, 1990.

David B. Rosen, New York City (O'Donnell & Schwartz, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.

Richard Schoolman, New York City (Eikenberry Futterman & Herbert, of counsel), for defendants-appellees.

Before FEINBERG, PRATT and MAHONEY, Circuit Judges.

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant Flight Engineers' International Association (FEIA) appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Peter K. Leisure, J., granting the motion of defendants-appellees Pan American Corporation (Pan Am Corp.) and Pan American World Airways, Inc. (PAWA) to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Pan Am Corp. is a holding company and is not an airline; PAWA is its wholly owned airline subsidiary. The amended complaint charged that Pan Am Corp. and PAWA violated section 204 of the Railway Labor Act (the Act), 45 U.S.C. Sec. 184, and the parties' collective bargaining agreement (the Agreement) by refusing to arbitrate what FEIA characterized as a contractual dispute arising under Article 1(B) of the Agreement. Article 1(B), known as a scope clause, requires PAWA to use exclusively FEIA-represented Operations Training Instructors (OTI's) employed by PAWA to perform instructional work in designated areas involving the training of flight engineers, flight personnel and maintenance personnel. By a letter agreement dated February 19, 1986, Pan Am Corp. agreed that it, or any successor, would be bound by Article 1 of the Agreement.

In April 1986, Pan Am Corp. acquired a small regional airline, Ransome Airlines, Inc. (Ransome), which was later renamed Pan Am Express, Inc. After becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Pan Am Corp., Ransome continued to use its own employees as training personnel, rather than the OTI's employed by PAWA and represented by FEIA. None of the approximately 16 Ransome training personnel is represented by FEIA; some are represented by other unions and some are not represented by any union.

In August 1986, FEIA filed a grievance, alleging that Pan Am Corp. had violated Article 1 of the Agreement "by the failure of its subsidiary, Ransome Airlines to employ OTI's in accord with the Agreement." Pursuant to the Agreement, FEIA sought to have its grievance referred to a Board of Adjustment for arbitration and requested as relief both the assignment of work to the OTI's and backpay for all OTI's damaged by the contractual violation. Pan Am Corp. and PAWA took the position that the grievance involved a representation issue within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board (NMB), and refused to submit to arbitration unless required to by a court of competent jurisdiction. In September 1987, FEIA instituted this action.

In January 1988, this court decided in defendants' favor another case involving similar issues raised by another union arising out of the same acquisition of Ransome by Pan Am Corp. Independent Union of Flight Attendants (IUFA) v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 836 F.2d 130 (2d Cir.1988) (per curiam), aff'g 664 F.Supp. 156 (S.D.N.Y.1987). Thereafter, FEIA amended its grievance to eliminate any claim to work reassignment but continued to seek damages. Defendants maintained their refusal to submit the dispute to a Board of Adjustment.

In an opinion filed in July 1989, and reported at 716 F.Supp. 110, Judge Leisure dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The judge held that the dispute implicated representation issues within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NMB pursuant to Sec. 2 Ninth of the Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 152 Ninth, and that resolution by a Board of Adjustment acting pursuant to Sec. 204 of the Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 184, and Article 23 of the parties' Agreement was thus precluded, at least in the first instance. The court believed that our recent decision in IUFA, mentioned above, controlled the disposition of this case. In IUFA, a flight attendants' union sought to compel arbitration of its claim that Pan Am Corp. and PAWA had violated the scope clause of their collective bargaining agreement by failing to employ flight attendants represented by IUFA on Ransome flights. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and we affirmed.

On appeal, FEIA continues to argue, as it did in the district court, that this case is distinguishable from IUFA because FEIA seeks only a retroactive award of damages resulting from defendants' noncompliance with a scope clause and not, as the union sought in IUFA, a prospective order reassigning work to members of its bargaining unit. FEIA contends that a claim for damages, unlike a claim for work reassignment, does not involve the resolution of representation issues since it calls for only a factual determination under...