International Ass'n of Machinists v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 July 1963
• Docket Number: No. 20115.,20115.
• Parties: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, Appellant, v. EASTERN AIRLINES, INC., Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

320 F.2d 451 (1963)

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, Appellant, v. EASTERN AIRLINES, INC., Appellee.

No. 20115.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

July 18, 1963.

Joseph P. Manners, Herbert L. Heiken, Manners & Amoon, Miami, Fla., for appellant.

W. Glen Harlan, E. Smythe Gambrell, William G. Bell, Jr., Gambrell, Harlan, Russell, Moye & Richardson, Atlanta, Ga., for appellee Eastern Air Lines, Inc.

Before RIVES and CAMERON, Circuit Judges, and BOOTLE, District Judge.

BOOTLE, District Judge.

This appeal is from the judgment of the district court dismissing the complaint of appellant, the exclusive bargaining agent for certain of appellee's employees. The complaint is in three counts invoking jurisdiction on the basis of diversity of citizenship and an amount in controversy in excess of $10,000.00, under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., made applicable to common carriers by air by 45 U.S.C.A. § 181, and also under the National Labor Relations Act, § 301(a), 29 U.S.C.A. § 185. For convenience, appellant will be called plaintiff, and appellee, defendant. Count 1 charged that defendant was in violation of its existing bargaining agreement with plaintiff and in violation of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 152 and 156, by attempting unilaterally to cancel earned vacations of its employees covered by said agreement. Count 2 charged that defendant had further acted in violation of the Act and of said agreement by virtue of defendant's unilateral extension of work week coverage of certain of its employees in its Engine Overhaul Division to a seven day work week.¹ Count 3 charged that "the aforesaid complained of violations of its agreement with Defendant are but a part of a deliberate scheme of Defendant, designed to eliminate Plaintiff as sole bargaining agent for its employees"; that defendant chose its manner of behavior to preclude the possibilities on the part of plaintiff to process complaints through the ordinary grievance procedures provided for in the agreement; that defendant's behavior has destroyed confidence in plaintiff as an efficient bargaining agent and has encouraged rival organizations to compete with plaintiff for the support of defendant's employees; that, "in addition, as part of Defendant's scheme to replace Plaintiff as sole bargaining agent for its employees, Defendant, in violation of * * * its agreement with Plaintiff had laid off and severed divers numbers of its employees without the notice and severance payments due said employees under the terms of said agreement", and that "all of the unlawful conduct of Defendant in violation of its Agreement with Plaintiff and in violation of the Railway Labor Act as aforesaid" has caused plaintiff to expend huge sums in a vain attempt to have defendant abide by said agreement and in resisting activities of rival labor organizations. In Counts 1 and 2 plaintiff asked for temporary and permanent injunctions, and in Count 3 for temporary restraints and damages.

Defendant filed its motion to dismiss upon the grounds that (1) the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted; (2) the court lacked jurisdiction because the matters set forth in the complaint were within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Eastern Air Lines Mechanical Department System Board of Adjustment under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 153 First (i), Second; and (3) the court lacked jurisdiction because of the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 101-115.

The trial court, after considering the verified complaint and arguments and memoranda of counsel, entered an order dismissing the complaint, expressing the view that the complaint had as its purpose injunctive relief against alleged violations of the collective bargaining agreement and damages for the alleged injuries caused plaintiff by an alleged scheme to eliminate plaintiff as the sole bargaining agent for defendant's employees. The trial court significantly observed that the allegations of a scheme were predicated entirely upon the alleged violations of said agreement. The trial court further concluded that the alleged violations of the agreement were "minor disputes" or grievances and were subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the System Board of Adjustment, citing Slocum v. Delaware, Lackawanna & W. R. R. Co., 339 U.S. 239, 70 S.Ct. 577, 94 L.Ed. 795 (1950) and Order of Ry. Conductors of America v. Southern Ry. Co., 339 U.S. 255, 70 S.Ct. 585, 94 L.Ed. 811 (1950).² We agree that the judgment dismissing the complaint was correct.

Plaintiff concedes that mere interpretations of bargaining agreements are understood to be "minor disputes" and are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the local system boards of adjustment. This concession is entirely in order. Slocum v. Delaware, Lackawanna & W. R. R. Co., supra; Order of Ry. Conductors of America v. Southern Ry. Co., supra. These two cases extended the doctrine announced in Order of Ry. Conductors v. Pitney, 326 U.S. 561, 66 S.Ct. 322, 90 L.Ed. 318 (1946) to the effect that the administrative agency created under the Railway Labor Act to decide such matters of contract interpretation and application has primary jurisdiction thereof. In a case much like the one at bar this court affirmed the dismissal of such a suit in Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 199 F.2d 384 (5th Cir. 1952). The fact that the matters complained of are alleged to constitute violations of the Act as well as violations of the agreement does not oust the Adjustment Board of its exclusive jurisdiction. Alabaugh v. Baltimore & O. R. R. Co., 222 F.2d 861 (4th Cir. 1955), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 839, 76 S.Ct. 77, 100 L.Ed. 748 (1955).

Plaintiff contends, however, that these matters, unilateral cancellation of earned vacations and extension of work week in alleged violation of the agreement, constitute "major disputes". We cannot agree. The distinction between major and minor disputes has been repeatedly stated by the courts, nowhere more clearly, perhaps, than in Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Ry. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 723, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945). There the Court defined "major disputes" as those which relate to the "formation of collective agreements or efforts to secure them. They arise where there is no such agreement or where it is sought to change the terms of one, and therefore the issue is not whether an existing agreement controls the controversy. They look to the acquisition of rights for the future, not to assertion of rights claimed to have vested in the past." On the other hand, according to the Court in the Burley case, "minor disputes * * * involving grievances" contemplate "the existence of a collective agreement already concluded or, at any rate, a situation in which no effort is being made to bring about a formal change in terms or to create a new one. The dispute relates either to the meaning or proper application of a particular provision with reference to a specific situation or to an omitted case. * * * In either case the claim is to rights accrued, not merely to have new ones created for the future." Minor disputes are "generally speaking, disputes relating to construction of a contract". Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. R. Co., 363 U.S. 528, 531, 80 S.Ct. 1326, 1328, 4 L.Ed. 2d 1379, 1382 (1960). See also Baltimore & O. R. R. Co. v. United R. R. Workers, 271 F.2d 87, 90 (2d Cir. 1959).

Nor are the allegations of Count 3 sufficient to save the suit from dismissal. The gravamen of these allegations is summarized above. They do not bring this case within the scope of the holding of Brotherhood of R. R. Trainmen v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 305 F.2d 605 (5th Cir. 1962). There it was charged that the railroad was taking action to discharge the Chairman of the Grievance Committee of the Brotherhood and that it was doing this pursuant to a plan and scheme of the railroad and its officials for the purpose of discrediting the Brotherhood and the...