INDEP. UN. OF FLIGHT ATTEND. v. PAN AM. WORLD AIRWAYS

• Decision Date: 18 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85 Civ. 7702 (RWS).,85 Civ. 7702 (RWS).
• Citation: 620 F. Supp. 447
• Parties: INDEPENDENT UNION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, Plaintiff, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

620 F. Supp. 447

INDEPENDENT UNION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, Plaintiff, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., Defendant.

No. 85 Civ. 7702 (RWS).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

October 18, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Leaf Sternklar & Drogin, New York City, for plaintiff; Ira Drogin, New York City, of counsel.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Ernest F. Garb, New York City, for defendant; Harry A. Rissetto, Thomas E. Reinert, Jr., Robert D. Manfred, New York City, of counsel.

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

Plaintiff Independent Union of Flight Attendants ("IUFA") filed its complaint on October 1, 1985, charging the defendant Pan American World Airways, Inc. ("Pan Am") with violating the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq., by coercing and disciplining flight attendants to work in excess of their contractually-set maximum duty hours; by offering economic incentives to flight attendants who agree to waive maximum hour limitations and guaranteed rest periods, and by disciplining an IUFA bargaining representative who attempted to aid the flight attendants in this controversy, thereby chilling the representational rights guaranteed under the Railway Labor Act.

By order to show cause, IUFA moved this court for a preliminary injunction enjoining Pan Am's practice of offering such waiver incentives and enjoining the discipline of flight attendants who exercise the maximum duty hour rights in dispute. The motion was heard in Part I, the assigned judge, the Honorable Leonard B. Sand being engaged in a criminal trial. Upon the facts found below and the conclusions set forth, IUFA's motion for a preliminary injunction is granted in part and denied in part.

The Parties

IUFA is a labor union with its principal place of business in New York. IUFA has been duly certified and designated by the National Mediation Board, pursuant to the Railway Labor Act, as the collective bargaining representative of the flight service personnel of Pan Am for the purpose of collective bargaining representation under the Railway Labor Act.

Pan Am is a carrier by air as defined by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, 49 U.S.C. §§ 1301-1542, and holds Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity pursuant to that Act, and is subject to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act. Pan Am is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York and maintains its principal place of business in New York.

The Facts

The bargaining relationship between IUFA and Pan Am has existed since IUFA was certified as the flight attendant bargaining representative in 1977. The parties' second collective bargaining agreement became effective March 31, 1982 ("1982 Agreement") and expired under its terms as amended on December 31, 1984. Pursuant to the directives of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 156, the parties issued "Notices of Intended Changes" and negotiated between themselves and later under the auspices of the National Mediation Board, and reached an agreement formally executed by the parties on April 11 and April 12, 1985 ("1985 Agreement"). The three part claim in this dispute centers around two provisions of the 1985 collective bargaining agreement whose scope and meaning are hotly contested. It is generally conceded that the 1985 Agreement provided a number of "give-backs" to Pan Am from the Union in exchange for certain other provisions.

Section 6 of the 1985 Agreement deals with "Conditions of Work and Rest," and part E of that section covers "Duty Day Limitations," or the maximum number of consecutive hours that flight attendants may be required to remain on duty in connection with their flights. Section 6.E.2.d. contains the notification procedures required when the flight attendants wish to exercise the right to decline to depart or continue on a flight whose projected or actual duration has exceeded the duty day limitation formula set out in sections 6 E.2.a.¹ and 6.E.2.b.² Section 6.E.2.d. of the 1985 Agreement reads as follows:

d. Notification

In the event a Flight Attendant has reported for a duty period and the Company notifies the Flight Attendant of a delay in the planned departure of the flight or flight segment(s), the Flight Attendant shall, in consideration of the Duty Day Limitations of paragraph E.2.a. and b., indicate to the Company the deadline after s/he does not intend to effect a departure of the delayed flight or segment. Based upon such advice, the Company may release such Flight Attendant at any time after receiving such advice.

In no event shall a Flight Attendant be required to remain on duty in excess of h/h application duty day limitations.

The second provision at issue in this dispute is the downline rest provision contained in section 6.G.1. of the 1985 Agreement³ which provides for a minimum crew rest period of nine and one-half hours at regularly scheduled downline (i.e., at a point other than the departure point for the flight) stops where flight crews are sent to hotels before their next scheduled departure. The relevant section of this provision is set out below:

G. DOWNLINE REST

1. Minimum crew rest at a layover station shall be normal travel time to the layover hotel facility beginning at release from duty, minimum off-duty time (see chart below) at the hotel facility, and normal travel time to the reporting point to arrive at the required report time. Minimum actual off-duty time at the hotel shall begin when the Flight Attendant arrives at the hotel or when the hotel, having properly prepared a room, has a room key available, whichever is later.

                Scheduled          Off-duty Time at the Hotel
                Duty Time            Scheduled       Actual
                00:00-11:59
                hours              9½ hours      9½ hours
                12:00-13:59
                hours              18 hours      12 hours
                14:00 hours
                and over           24 hours      18 hours (RTV)
                

Minimum actual off duty time at the hotel facility in HKG after a Flight Attendant has completed a SFO/HKG sector shall be no less than thirty (30) hours.

Minimum actual off duty time at the hotel facility in NRT after a Flight Attendant has completed a JFK/NRT sector shall be no less than thirty (30) hours.

In the pattern NYC/RIO/NYC which involves back-to-back long haul operations, the minimum scheduled layover time at RIO will be twenty-two (22) hours.

The Duty Day Limitation Controversy

The dispute concerning section 6.E.2.d. of the 1985 Agreement involves the scope of the flight attendants' right to refuse to begin or refuse to continue ("walk off") flight service on an aircraft when delays or diversions cause the projected or elapsed flight time to exceed an individual flight attendant's duty day hour limitations as set out in section 6.E.2 of the 1985 Agreement. According to IUFA, the provisions in section 6, particularly section 6.E.2.d., give flight attendants the right to compute their duty day limits in cases of downline delays or unplanned diversions to alternative airports and that if the flight attendants' actual or projected flight time exceeds the attendants duty day limits, he or she is entitled to "walk off" (i.e., leave the plane en-route) the aircraft despite the possible unavailability of a replacement flight crew to continue on the flight. According to IUFA, this is a contractual right guaranteed under section 6.E.2, and Pan Am's disciplinary actions in retaliation for such walkoffs endanger the health and safety of the passengers and flight crew. In his affidavit Brian Moreau, the New York Base Chairperson of IUFA indicated that these disciplinary measures forced flight attendants to work beyond their duty day limits, impairing their mental and physical capacity to respond to aircraft emergencies. Pan Am, relying on the language of the provisions, contends that the provisions of section 6.E.2.d. apply only when flight attendants report for duty (i.e., at a "home base") or stop at a layover point and interprets the duty day limitations as not permitting flight attendants to abandon their flights or refuse to work when a flight is diverted downline because of a situation developing subsequent to the initial flight departure or because of an enroute delay.

The duty day limitations contained in the 1985 Agreement first appeared in 1979 in response to flight attendants' claim of fatigue in cases of extremely long duty days. Although the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") set standards for maximum consecutive duty hours of pilots and flight mechanics, none were set for flight attendants, but Pan Am's "Monthly Operating Bulletin" contained a fatigue procedure whereby flight attendants who complained of and who asked to be relieved from a flight would be required to have a conference with a supervisor to substantiate the claimed fatigue and would be required to see a physician for the same purpose. The 1982 Agreement contained a provision which awarded time and one-half pay for each hour over the thirteen hour duty day limit which a flight attendant worked. Flight attendants regularly worked such overtime hours when faced with downline delays or unanticipated diversions. There were, however, occasional refusals to continue on such a lengthened duty day, and no disciplinary action was taken against flight attendants who refused to accept the overtime option. This overtime provision was omitted from the 1985 Agreement negotiated by IUFA and Pan Am in April of 1985 and ratified on August 31, 1985.

Between April and August of 1985 the dispute over the scope of the section 6.E.2.d. duty day limitations escalated, and many flight attendants chose to assert IUFA's interpretation of their contract and exercise their rights to "walkoff" aircraft when or downline delays or diversions caused the actual flight time to exceed the applicable duty day limits. On July 3, Pan Am circulated a memorandum (the "July 3 Memo") outlining its position that section 6.E.2.d. applies only when flight attendants report for a duty period, and does not apply during a...