International Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Northwest Airlines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 04 October 1988 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CI,A,No. 88-5006,88-5006 |
| Citation | 858 F.2d 427 |
| Parties | 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2588, 110 Lab.Cas. P 10,773 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS,ppellee, v. NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC., Appellant. NORTHWEST AIRLINES, v. The INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Timothy R. Thornton, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.
Erwin A. Peterson, St. Paul, Minn., for appellee.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, BROWN *, Senior Circuit Judge, and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.
Northwest Airlines, Inc. (Northwest) appeals from a district court 1 order granting summary judgment in favor of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (the Union) and confirming a System Board of Adjustment (the Board) decision to assess a $15,724 penalty against Northwest for breach of the collective bargaining agreement. Northwest contends that the court erred in (1) determining that the Board had not exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 153, First (q) (1982), 2 by directing, without explicit authorization in the collective bargaining agreement, payment of a penalty; (2) interpreting the Board's decision to include a finding that Northwest's conduct was willful and wanton; and (3) confirming a monetary award that the Union had not specifically requested. We affirm.
This case arises from Northwest's failure to provide training and establish additional positions for its equipment service repairmen as agreed in a June 30, 1983, Letter of Agreement (letter) entered into with the Union, the authorized representative of Northwest's mechanics and equipment service repairmen. The purpose of the training and staffing requirements was to safeguard the working conditions and security of Northwest's equipment service repairmen. The letter became part of the parties' collective bargaining agreement, incorporating the grievance procedure and the Board provisions established under the requirements of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 153.
After a year passed without any action by Northwest on its responsibilities under the letter, Tom Smith, an equipment service repairman, filed a grievance alleging that Northwest had not established the agreed-upon number of equipment service repairmen and had not provided the minimum forty hours of training per year for each of the equipment service repairmen. The remedy sought was to have Northwest comply with the letter.
The Board, composed of two union and two company members, unanimously decided that Northwest had breached the agreement:
1. The Board finds the Company in violation of the Letter of Agreement dated June 30, 1983, as it relates to the training requirements. A minimum of 40 hours training per year for each of the Equipment Service Repairmen was not provided. The Board hereby directs the Company to comply.
2. Further, the Board finds the Company is in violation of the June 30, 1983 letter in that the ten Equipment Service Repairmen positions established in the letter were not filled. At no time were there more than seven Equipment Service Repairmen employed.
Exhibit D.
In addition to ordering Northwest to comply with the staffing and training provisions of the letter, the Board imposed a $15,724 penalty against Northwest, to be divided among the equipment service repairmen as determined by their union local. The collective bargaining agreement did not specifically authorize punitive damages. After Northwest refused to comply with the Board's decision, the Union filed an application to confirm the award in state court. Northwest maintained that the award exceeded the Board's jurisdiction by impermissibly imposing a penalty and provided a remedy that the Union had not requested. Northwest removed the case to district court, citing jurisdiction under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Secs. 184 and 153, and moved to vacate the penalty portion of the award. The court granted the Union's motion for summary judgment and confirmed the award.
The scope of judicial review of adjustment board 3 awards under the Railway Labor Act is " 'among the narrowest known to the law.' " Benoni v. Boston and Maine Corp., 828 F.2d 52, 54 n. 3 (1st Cir.1987) (quoting Diamond v. Terminal Ry. Alabama State Docks, 421 F.2d 228, 233 (5th Cir.1970)). Courts may set aside board orders on three grounds: (1) the board's failure to comply with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act; (2) failure of the order to confine itself to matters within the scope of its jurisdiction; and (3) fraud or corruption. See 45 U.S.C. Sec. 153, First (q); Union Pacific R.R. v. Sheehan, 439 U.S. 89, 93, 99 S.Ct. 399, 402, 58 L.Ed.2d 354 (1978) (per curiam); Kansas City Terminal Ry., 587 F.2d at 905-06.
Relying on the second ground, Northwest contends that the Board exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction by awarding a penalty payment of $15,724 to the Union even though the collective bargaining agreement did not authorize assessment of a penalty for a breach of the agreement. Northwest argues that we need not give deference to the Board's determination that it could impose a penalty because courts, not arbitrators, determine the scope of a board's jurisdiction. See International Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Republic Airlines, Inc., 829 F.2d 658, 662 (8th Cir.1987).
In enforcing the award, the district court reasoned that the term "penalty" in the Board's decision was ambiguous and that the case was analogous to United Elec., Radio and Mach. Workers of Am., Local 1139 v. Litton Microwave Cooling Products, Litton Systems, Inc., 728 F.2d 970 (8th Cir.1984) (en banc), in which we upheld an arbitration award of an extra week of paid vacation during the summer as compensatory, rather than punitive, damages. Id. at 972. We agree with Northwest, however, that the present case is distinguishable from Litton because the $15,724 award was not based on a calculated, compensable loss by the equipment service repairmen. Furthermore, the parties stipulated that the monetary award was a penalty. We therefore conclude that the Board assessed the monetary award as a penalty, which places before us the issue of the Board's jurisdiction to award a penalty.
We have not previously considered whether a penalty award that is assessed for breach of a collective bargaining agreement in the absence of compensatory loss flowing from the breach is enforceable under the Railway Labor Act when the collective bargaining agreement contains no specific provision authorizing punitive damages. We have determined, however, that an adjustment board award is enforceable as within the scope of the board's jurisdiction unless the award is " ' "without foundation in reason or fact." ' " Kansas City Terminal Ry., 587 F.2d at 906 (quoting Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Central of Georgia Ry., 415 F.2d 403, 414 (5th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1008, 90 S.Ct. 564, 24 L.Ed.2d 500 (1970)). We look to the language and purpose of the collective bargaining agreement to determine whether the award is " 'at least rationally inferable, if not obviously drawn,' " from the agreement. Id. (quoting Central of Georgia Ry., 415 F.2d at 412). The test of the board's jurisdiction is not whether we agree with the board's interpretation of the agreement, but " 'whether the remedy fashioned by the Board is rationally explainable as a logical means of furthering the aims of that contract.' " Id. at 906-07 (quoting Diamond, 421 F.2d at 233) (emphasis deleted). Stated another way, the award must draw its essence from the collective bargaining agreement. Walsh v. Union Pac. R.R., 803 F.2d 412, 414 (8th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 3213, 96 L.Ed.2d 699 (1987).
The Union argues that under this extremely deferential standard the Board should be allowed to impose a penalty. It contends that the relatively small penalty the Board imposed is not only rationally explainable as a logical means of furthering the aims of the letter, but is absolutely essential to enforce it. Pointing out that Northwest had simply ignored its responsibilities to its equipment service repairmen for more than a year, the Union contends that Northwest violated the contract after calculating that the benefits of breaching the contract outweighed the costs, in that violations of training and staffing provisions do not necessarily give rise to traditional contract damages. The district court recognized that without the penalty award, Northwest "would face no downside risk from these breaches of its union contract." Mem. op. at 5.
Northwest responds, however, that an arbitrator cannot dispense his own brand of industrial justice, see United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 1361, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960), and that because the letter does not specifically authorize an award of punitive damages, the $15,724 award did not draw its essence from the collective bargaining agreement. Additionally, citing International Ass'n of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers, Local Union 34, AFL-CIO v. General Pipe Covering, Inc., 792 F.2d 96, 100 (8th Cir.1986), Northwest maintains that punitive arbitration awards are generally disfavored.
General Pipe Covering, Inc. involved the enforcement of a private, contractual arbitration award authorized under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185. In contrast, this is a compulsory arbitration case under the Railway Labor Act in which the dispute was submitted to a public board. General Pipe Covering, Inc. is therefore not dispositive.
There is a division of authority as to whether punitive awards under the Railway Labor Act are enforceable absent specific authorization in the collective bargaining agreement. Compare, Norfolk & W. Ry. v. Brotherhood of Ry., Airline...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Dickson
- State v. Dickson
-
Union Pacific R. Co. v. United Transp. Union
...review of arbitration awards under the Railway Labor Act is "among the narrowest known to the law." International Ass'n of Machinists v. Northwest Airlines, 858 F.2d 427, 429 (8th Cir.1988); Benoni v. Boston and Maine Corp., 828 F.2d 52, 54 n. 3 (1st Cir.1987); Diamond v. Terminal Ry. Alaba......
-
Duluth Missabe & Iron Range v. Broth. of Loc. Eng.
...known to the law"), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1072, 114 S.Ct. 881, 127 L.Ed.2d 76 (1994), quoting International Ass'n of Machinists v. Northwest Airlines, 858 F.2d 427, 429 (8th Cir.1988). Arbitration Boards, which are created pursuant to Section 3 Second of the Act, Title 45 U.S.C. § 153 Seco......