International Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America (Airline Div.) v. Texas Intern. Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 83-2103,83-2103
• Citation: 717 F.2d 157
• Parties: 114 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3091, 99 Lab.Cas. P 10,508 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA (AIRLINE DIVISION), Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TEXAS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., Texas Air Corporation & Continental Airlines, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 157

717 F.2d 157

114 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3091, 99 Lab.Cas. P 10,508

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF AMERICA (AIRLINE DIVISION), Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TEXAS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., Texas Air Corporation &amp Continental Airlines, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 83-2103.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Sept. 27, 1983.

Roland P. Wilder, Jr., David J. Gzesh, Washington, D.C., Mullinax, Wells, Baab & Cloutman, Edward B. Cloutman, III, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, John J. Gallagher, Margaret H. Spurlin, Charles L. Warren, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before INGRAHAM, RUBIN and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

An airline that had a collective bargaining agreement with a union affecting a number of its employees merged its operations with those of another airline with a substantially larger number of employees who worked in the same crafts but were not represented by a union. The airline then notified the union that the company no longer considered the union to be the collective bargaining agent for any of its employees. The union seeks a declaratory judgment that its collective bargaining agreement is still in force and will remain effective until another employee representative is certified. Because the National Mediation Board has exclusive jurisdiction of disputes involving the representation of airline employees, the union casts its complaint as a matter solely of determining the validity of its earlier collective bargaining agreement. Like the district court, we consider that the basic issue is determining who represents the hitherto covered employees after the merger and affirm the judgment dismissing the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, thus joining the Sixth Circuit. Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, etc. v. United Airlines, Inc., 325 F.2d 576 (6th Cir.), appeal dismissed 379 U.S. 26, 85 S.Ct. 183, 13 L.Ed.2d 173 (1963).

I.

Collective bargaining between airlines and their employees is governed by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq., which was enacted to regulate labor relations on the nation's railroads and airlines. The Act seeks to prevent interruptions of service on these vital organs of interstate commerce. See Elgin, J. & E. Ry. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 726, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 1291, 89 L.Ed. 1886, 1896 (1945). Its primary emphasis is on informal, cooperative methods of dispute resolution such as conciliation, mediation, and negotiation. Congress prescribed only a narrow role for the courts. Id. at 727, 65 S.Ct. at 1291, 89 L.Ed. at 1896.

The Act defines three classes of labor disputes: (1) "representation" disputes, which involve determining the representative of employees in collective bargaining and contract administration and the definition of the bargaining unit, the "craft or class" of employees to be represented; (2) "minor" disputes, which involve disagreements over the application or interpretation of existing collective bargaining agreements; and (3) "major" disputes, which involve disagreements over the formation of collective bargaining agreements. ¹ The Act establishes a distinct resolution procedure for each class of dispute. "Minor" disputes are committed to a grievance--arbitration process before a system board of adjustment, which is the "mandatory, exclusive, and comprehensive system for resolving grievance disputes." 45 U.S.C. Sec. 184. ² Neither federal nor state courts have jurisdiction to interpret labor contracts subject to the Act; that function is assigned exclusively to the system boards of adjustment. Slocum v. Delaware, L. & W. R.R., 339 U.S. 239, 70 S.Ct. 577, 94 L.Ed. 795 (1950).

The resolution of major disputes is governed by Section 6 of the Act, 45 U.S.C. Secs. 156, 181. Section 6 requires at least thirty days notice of either newly proposed contract terms or proposed changes in existing contract language, and then requires the carrier and the employee representatives to confer on the proposals. The mediation services of the National Mediation Board may be requested by either party, or may be provided by the Board on its own initiative. Once Section 6 procedures have been invoked, the status quo regarding rates of pay, rules, and working conditions must be maintained while bargaining continues even though the prior contract may have expired. It must also be maintained throughout mediation and for thirty days after the parties are "released" for self-help activities by the Board. ³ Following that thirty-day period, the parties are free to resort to self-help; the union may strike and the carrier may unilaterally change terms and conditions of employment. ⁴

"Representation" disputes are governed by Section 2, Ninth of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 152 Ninth, which provides that it is the duty of the Board to investigate any dispute as to who is the collective bargaining representative of employees and to certify the organization properly designated. A representation dispute may occur even if only one union claims to represent the employees if there is a question whether a majority of the craft or class desires the union's representation. ⁵ Representation disputes include issues whether two related carriers will be treated as one for representation purposes, ⁶ and whether a craft or class must be systemwide or may be split for representation purposes. ⁷

The scope of the Board's authority under the Act is not unlimited. The Board lacks authority to enforce contracts between carriers and unions. Chicago & N.W. Ry. v. UTU, 402 U.S. 570, 91 S.Ct. 1731, 29 L.Ed.2d 187 (1971). Nor may the Board determine the validity of those contracts or enforce the requirement that parties to a dispute maintain the status quo pending the results of the Act's dispute-resolution mechanism. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 7 N.M.B. 168, 225 (1979). Additionally, the Board has "no adjudicatory authority with regard to major disputes nor has it a mandate to issue regulations construing the Act generally." Detroit & Toledo S.L. R. Co. v. UTU, 396 U.S. 142, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 294, 304, 24 L.Ed.2d 325, 337 (1969).

We turn now to the factual situation.

II.

Texas International, which was a subsidiary of Texas Air Corporation, operated an airline having 39 planes and 3,000 employees, 1,800 of whom were represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This union had been certified by the Board as the bargaining representative of Texas International's clerical, office, fleet, and passenger service employees in 1980, pursuant to Section 2, Ninth of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 152, the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq. A collective bargaining agreement between Texas International and the Union had been signed soon thereafter, to remain in force through January 31, 1983, with subsequent automatic annual renewals unless it was replaced in accordance with Sec. 6 of the Act. 45 U.S.C. Section 156.

Through a series of stock acquisitions and corporation reorganizations, Texas Air Corporation acquired control of Continental Air Corporation which in turn acquired all of the stock of two airlines, Texas International and Continental. Continental had 10,000 employees and operated 79 planes. Four thousand of its employees work in the same crafts as those in which the Teamster-represented Texas International employees work. These Continental employees had not exercised their right to select a representative for purposes of collective bargaining.

The acquisition of Continental required approval by the Civil Aeronautics Board. As a condition of its approval, the Civil Aeronautics Board required Texas International to agree to labor protective provisions. These provisions require Texas International to pay a displacement allowance to all employees placed in lower paying jobs as a result of the merger, a dismissal allowance to employees whose jobs were eliminated, moving expenses to employees required to relocate, and to integrate seniority lists in "a fair and equitable manner." They require also that arbitration be available at the instance of any employee or group of employees to resolve any dispute relating to seniority integration or any other dispute about the application of the labor protective provisions.

In 1981, TI merged its operations into those of Continental, in effect forming a single airline called Continental, although the two companies preserved their separate corporate identities. The Union does not contend here that this operational merger was accomplished to escape the labor obligations of either company. Cf. Republic Airlines, Inc., 8 N.M.B. 49, 53-54 (1980) (finding legitimate business purposes, not anti-union animus, motivated merger).

About a month before the operations of the two lines were integrated, Texas International's management notified the Union that on the merger date all of the employees in the crafts represented by the Union would become subject to Continental's employment policies and its agreement with the Union would no longer be effective. By that time the Union was the certified representative of only about 30% of the employees in the crafts or classes as merged. The Company recognized collective bargaining agreements with those other employee groups working in the merged operation that had previously been separately represented by the same unions; these unions represent pilots, dispatchers, and mechanics. Flight attendants had been represented by different unions, and the Company notified these two unions that it would honor the terms of both agreements.

The Union filed an application with the Mediation Board seeking certification as the representative of all employees of the merged airlines in the crafts for which it had been certified. It also notified Texas International and...