Intern. Bro. of Teamsters v. Pan Am. World Airways

• Citation: 607 F. Supp. 609
• Decision Date: 24 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85 CV 1239.,85 CV 1239.
• Parties: INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

607 F. Supp. 609

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., Defendant.

No. 85 CV 1239.

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

April 24, 1985.

Herbert K. Lippman, New York City, Roland P. Wilder, Jr., and Wilma B. Liebman, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.

Ernest L. Garb and Richard Schoolman, Pan American World Airways, Inc., New York City, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Washington, D.C. by Bradford W. Coupe, Washington, D.C., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

McLAUGHLIN, District Judge.

This is an action under the Railway Labor Act ("RLA"), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. Plaintiff union seeks a preliminary injunction ordering Pan American World Airways, Inc. ("Pan Am") to observe certain recall, furlough and seniority rules and practices in the course of recalling employees who previously were on strike.

Findings of Fact

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("IBT") represents some 6,200 clerical and related employees, supply clerks and nurses employed by Pan Am, of which some 5,800 were actively employed on February 27, 1985. Pan Am and the IBT have entered into successive collective bargaining agreements since 1969. The most recent collective bargaining agreement was, by its terms, in effect from January 1, 1978 through December 31, 1981. That agreement, as amended, has been extended by the parties, most recently by a supplemental agreement expiring on December 31, 1984.

In the fall of 1984, the parties exchanged notices pursuant to Section 6 of the RLA, indicating their desire to renegotiate certain terms of the Agreement. The parties have not yet exhausted the mandatory procedures of the RLA regarding their respective proposals. Consequently, the terms of the basic agreement remain in effect pursuant to the section 6 "status quo" requirement.

Although Pan Am and the IBT have not exhausted the statutory procedures regarding their contract dispute, Pan Am did exhaust those procedures in its dispute with the Transport Worker's Union ("TWU"). Accordingly, on February 28, 1985, the TWU-represented employees went on strike. The TWU picket lines were honored by the IBT-represented employees.

To avoid potential claims for pay by those IBT members who might not support the sympathy strike and who would be willing to work, Pan Am immediately invoked Article 14 of the agreement. Pursuant to the terms of Article 14, Pan Am informed all IBT members that because of the strike no work existed and they were not to report to work until further notice.

The Airline Pilots Association, International ("ALPA") and the Flight Engineers' International Association ("FEIA"), whose members initially honored the TWU picket lines, subsequently entered temporary "back to work" agreements with Pan Am. These agreements provided that the employees would return to work, on a limited operations schedule, with no reprisals or recriminations by Pan Am. The IBT, however, continued to honor the TWU strike.

Around March 10, 1985, Pan Am began to increase flight service. Accordingly, some IBT members were notified to return to work. Most of the notified employees, however, refused to return to work, and continued to honor the TWU picket lines.

Pan Am then sent mailgrams to IBT members whose jobs had not been re-activated, notifying them that work was available, and requesting that they express their desire to fill certain open positions for the duration of the strike.

On March 23, 1985, a tentative agreement was reached by Pan Am and the TWU, thus, settling their dispute. Accordingly, Pan Am began taking steps to expand its operations. Because Pan Am realized that its return to normal operations would take time, it negotiated a gradual return-to-work agreement with the TWU. Pan Am also attempted, without success, to negotiate a return-to-work agreement with the IBT that would provide for the orderly return of Teamster employees as work became available. The union's position, essentially, was that Pan Am's proposed agreement constituted an abrogation of seniority rights since it would permit Pan Am to leapfrog senior employees for extended periods while calling back junior employees.

On March 27, 1985, the TWU employees ratified their contract. Subsequently, the IBT members who had been on strike attempted to return to work en masse. At that point, Pan Am was operating at approximately 50% of its capacity. Pan Am gave assignments to those workers for whom work was available, but again invoked Article 14 as to the remainder of the IBT-represented employees for whom there was no work. Pan Am has to date recalled approximately 3,900 IBT members.

The union now sues to enjoin Pan Am to follow the seniority, furlough and recall procedures contained in the Agreement. The Agreement establishes seniority classifications on both the district and system-wide levels. The Agreement details the procedures the Company must follow if there is a reduction in force. Essentially, the Agreement allows senior employees who are to be laid-off to exercise displacement rights as to positions held by more junior employees. This so-called "bid and bump" procedure applies at both the district and system wide levels.

Finally, the Agreement establishes a procedure for the recall of employees to active service when forces are increased. This procedure also accounts for seniority preferences by allowing senior employees to "bid" for posted positions.

Discussion

The union contends that Pan Am's recall of employees without regard to the above-mentioned procedures (a) constitutes a unilateral attempt to change the agreement, i.e., is a major dispute, giving rise to a § 6 status quo violation, and (b) is a discriminatory and unlawful attempt to coerce employees in the exercise of their rights and to undermine the union's representative status, in violation of § 152, Third and Fourth of the RLA. The Company contends, not surprisingly, that the dispute between the parties is minor, and that its actions were in no way motivated by anti-union animus.

MAJOR/MINOR DISPUTE

The distinction between major and minor disputes under the RLA has been summarized by the Second Circuit as follows:

"Major disputes" are those involving the formation of collective bargaining agreements or changes in the terms of existing agreements. They relate to "the acquisition of rights for the future, not to assertion of rights claimed to have vested in the past." "Minor disputes" involve the application of particular provisions of an agreement that are not the subject of a proposal for change. They relate to rights already accrued rather than to proposals for future rights. The procedures for resolving major disputes involve a long, drawn out process involving negotiation and mediation by the National Mediation Board during which parties to the dispute are obligated to maintain the status quo. "Minor disputes" in the airline industry, by contrast, are resolved by mandatory grievance arbitration procedures before the System Board of Adjustment.

Air Cargo, Inc. v. Local Union 851, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 733 F.2d 241, 245 (2d Cir.1984) (citations omitted).

Thus, in essence, major disputes involve questions of contract formation, whereas minor disputes involve questions of contract interpretation.¹

The Second Circuit has indicated that to resolve the major/minor dispute controversy the court should look first "to the collective bargaining agreement to determine whether a plausible interpretation would justify the carrier's action. A dispute is major if the carrier's contractual justification for its actions is `obviously insubstantial.' On the other hand, a dispute is minor if the contract is `reasonably susceptible' to the carrier's interpretation." Air Line Pilots Association v. TWA, 713 F.2d 940, 948 (2d Cir.1983), rev'd in part on other grounds, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985), quoting Local 553, Transport Workers Union v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 695 F.2d 668, 673 (2d Cir. 1982).

Pan Am argues that Article 14 of its Agreement with the IBT provides a plausible contractual justification for its action. Article 14(a) states that "any employee called to work or permitted to come to work when there is temporarily no work because of ... work stoppages and strikes, shall receive a minimum of six (6) hours' pay ... unless notified that there will be no work...." The union argues that Article 14(a) is irrelevant and that the seniority recall procedures of Articles 7 and 23 apply.

Article 23 provides, in pertinent part, that "when forces are increased or a vacancy occurs, the positions must be filled in accordance with Article 7." Article 7 provides that a vacancy is to be offered, first, to the senior qualified employees in the immediate work unit; then, to senior qualified employees in related units; and, finally, to those senior qualified employees in the seniority district who have been laidoff.

The relationship among these three articles of the same contract does not emerge with dramatic clarity. Certainly, Article 14 authorized Pan Am to take the IBT-employees off the payroll temporarily, without the formal lay-off procedures which require prior notice and the invocation of seniority displacement rights.² Significantly, however, Article 14 is silent as to the procedures to be employed in calling employees back to work.

The union urges that the seniority recall procedures of Articles 7 and 23 should be applied. Pan Am contends, however, that the seniority recall procedures, which concededly apply in the normal layoff and recall settings, do not apply in the special circumstances of a start-up following a strike.

Essentially, Pan Am's position is that Articles 7 and 23 are triggered only when the lay-offs were caused by economic factors as distinct from closing down the operation because of a strike. Pan Am emphasizes that IBT-employees were never...