Airline Professionals Assoc Local Union No 1224, v. ABX Air Inc

• Decision Date: 30 October 2001
• Docket Number: PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,CROSS-APPELLANT,00-3980,CROSS-APPELLEE,Nos. 00-3965,AFL-CI,DEFENDANT-APPELLANT,s. 00-3965
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2001) AIRLINE PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 1224,/v. ABX AIR, INC.,/ Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 1023

274 F.3d 1023 (6th Cir. 2001)

AIRLINE PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 1224, AFL-CIO, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT v. ABX AIR, INC., DEFENDANT-APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE

Nos. 00-3965, 00-3980

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Argued: October 30, 2001

Decided and Filed December 18, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Cincinnati. No. 99-00073--Sandra S. Beckwith, District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] E. Scott Smith, Ford & Harrison, Atlanta, Georgia, Scott A. Carroll, Vorys, Saters, Seymour & Pease, Cincinnati, OH, for Appellant.

John R. Doll, Julie C. Ford, Logothetis, Pence & Doll, Dayton, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before: Keith, Kennedy, and Batchelder, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

Kennedy, Circuit Judge

Airline Professionals Association of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union No. 1224 ("the Union") filed a two count complaint against ABX Air, Inc., seeking review of an arbitration award. ABX is an overnight express freight carrier by air. The Union is the duly authorized bargaining agent for ABX pilots (or crewmembers) for the purposes of negotiation and administration of a collective bargaining agreement between ABX and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters-Airline Division. Count I of the Union's complaint alleged that ABX breached its obligations under the collective bargaining agreement by unilaterally implementing a random search policy. Count II alleged that ABX's action violated the Railway Labor Act ("RLA"). The district court dismissed as untimely Count II of the complaint in an order entered on April 24, 2000. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment on Count I. On July 31, 2000, the district court granted the Union's motion, denied ABX's motion, and vacated the arbitration board's award. ABX appeals the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Union on Count I. The Union cross-appeals the district court's dismissal of Count II. We affirm the district court's dismissal of Count II, reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Union on Count I, and reinstate the Board's award.

I.

The Union and ABX are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. The agreement presently under consideration was executed on June 25, 1997. Prior to the execution of this agreement ABX maintained an employee handbook, which contained a search policy. The search policy reserved to ABX the right, upon reasonable suspicion, to inspect the bags, parcels, and other items of employees brought into or taken out of the workplace. In addition to the handbook, ABX required new employees, including crewmembers, to sign a release on their employment applications that permitted such searches.

In 1991, during the Gulf War, ABX stepped up its search procedures. All vehicles coming into the airport, all packages coming into the airport, and all visitors carrying packages were searched. Employees were notified of the switch to a random search policy by postings on bulletin boards throughout the workplace. The policy applied to all employees, including pilots, and was in effect for one or two months.

In 1995, ABX discovered that mechanics' tools were frequently missing from the workplace, and decided to implement random searching in an effort to solve the problem. The random searching was primarily targeted at the gate where mechanics left, but a company official testified that the policy was applicable to all employees. Again, employees were notified of the policy change by bulletin board postings. Although the new policy resulted in a decrease in the theft of mechanics' tools, ABX noticed an increase in the theft of customer packages. At this point, ABX drafted a revised search policy. In a memorandum sent to all employees in early 1997, ABX indicated that it was implementing a new, permanent search policy that would allow ABX to search employees without reasonable suspicion, on a random basis. Failure to comply with a search request could result in discharge. The new policy would be distributed and placed on all of the ABX bulletin boards.

Shortly after the random search policy was implemented, several pilots complained that they were being repeatedly searched, and that they thought the searches amounted to harassment. In December, 1997, the Union filed a grievance on behalf of the pilots asking ABX to discontinue the random search policy. ABX refused. The Union subsequently submitted the matter to an RLA-created adjustment board ("the Board") for arbitration. The Union charged that ABX's unilateral implementation of the random search policy breached the collective bargaining agreement and violated the RLA. With respect to the breach of contract argument, the Board made the following findings of fact: 1) that ABX's search policies had always been applicable to pilots; 2) that the collective bargaining agreement was silent with respect to random searches; 3) that the new search policy applied to all employees, including pilots; 4) that ABX promulgated the new policy while the parties were actively negotiating; 5) that the collective bargaining agreement was executed approximately four months after the promulgation of the new search policy; 6) that the Union members were put on notice of the new policy in February, 1997, when the company posted it on bulletin boards; and 7) that the Union had the obligation to raise the matter during negotiations if it wished to curtail ABX's right to unilaterally implement the policy. The Board then cited prior arbitration decisions for the proposition that ABX retained the right to manage and operate its business unless the parties had curtailed that right in the collective bargaining agreement, even though the agreement did not contain an express "management's rights" provision. Based on these observations, the Board concluded that ABX did not violate the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. With respect to the Union's contention that ABX violated the RLA, the Board concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to decide the issue. Finally, the Board found that ABX's implementation of the unilateral search policy was neither unreasonable nor unenforceable. Hence, the Board denied the Union's grievance in its entirety.

The Union brought suit in the Southern District of Ohio challenging the Board's decision with respect to the breach of contract, and adding a federal claim under § 156 of the RLA. The district court dismissed the Union's RLA claim, but granted summary judgment in favor of the Union with respect to the breach of contract claim. Both parties appeal.

II.

A. Violation of the RLA

We first address the district court's dismissal of the Union's RLA claim. We review de novo the district court's dismissal of that claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Amini v. Oberlin College, 259 F.3d 493, 497 (6th Cir. 2001). In doing so, "[w]e view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, treat all well-pleaded allegations therein as true, and will dismiss the plaintiff's claims only if it is without doubt that the plaintiff 'can prove no set of facts in support of the claims that would entitle him to relief.'" Id. at 497-98 (quoting Gregory v. Shelby County, Tenn., 220 F.3d 433, 445-46 (6th Cir. 2000)).

The district court determined that the Union's RLA claim was time-barred, borrowing the six-month statute of limitations from § 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act. The Union contends that the district court's application of the NLRA limitations period was in error. We need not address that question, however, because we find that the Union's RLA claim should have been dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Under the RLA, disputes are separated into two distinct categories: major disputes and minor disputes. See Elgin, J. & E. Ry. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 723 (1945) (adopting the major/minor dispute terminology as shorthand to describe the statutory categories); Compare 45 U.S.C. § 152 Seventh and § 156 (major disputes) with 45 U.S.C. § 152 Sixth, § 153 First, and § 184 (minor disputes). The distinction between these two categories has important procedural implications. For major disputes, the RLA mandates a lengthy process of negotiation and mediation before either party may resort to self-help. See Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, 491 U.S. 299, 302-03 (1989) (hereinafter "Conrail"). Until the negotiation and mediation process is exhausted, the parties must "maintain the status quo, and the employer may not implement the contested change in rates of pay, rules, or working conditions." Id. Federal district courts have subject matter jurisdiction to enforce the status quo pending completion of the statutorily prescribed procedures. Id. at 303. A minor dispute, in contrast, is subject to compulsory and binding arbitration before an adjustment board. See 45 U.S.C. § 184; Conrail, 491 U.S. at 303. The adjustment board exercises exclusive jurisdiction over minor disputes. Judicial review of the adjustment board's decision is limited, and there is no requirement that the parties maintain the status quo pending board resolution of the dispute. See Conrail, 491 U.S. at 304.

In Conrail, the Supreme Court clarified the difference between major and minor disputes. The distinction, the Court stated, does not turn on the importance of the issue involved, or on whether the issue is likely to lead the parties to resort to economic self-help, such as strikes or lockouts. See id. at 305. Rather, the distinction "looks to whether a claim has been made that the terms of an existing agreement either establish or refute the presence of a right to take the disputed action. The distinguishing feature of such a case is that the dispute may be conclusively resolved by interpreting the...