International In-Flight Catering Co., Ltd. v. National Mediation Bd.
| Decision Date | 10 June 1977 |
| Docket Number | 76-2749,Nos. 76-2652,IN-FLIGHT,76-2897 and 76-2954,s. 76-2652 |
| Parties | 95 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2675, 81 Lab.Cas. P 13,268 INTERNATIONALCATERING CO., LTD., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD, Defendant-Appellant. INTERNATIONALCATERING CO., LTD., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, AIRLINE DIVISION, et al., Defendants-Appellants. INTERNATIONALCATERING CO., LTD., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD et al., Defendants, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division, et al., Defendants-Appellants. INTERNATIONALCATERING CO., LTD., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, AIRLINE DIVISION, et al., Defendants, and National Mediation Board, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
William Kanter, Michael H. Stein, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., argued for National Mediation Bd.
Stephen H. Naiman, argued, Brundage, Beeson & Pappy, Los Angeles, Cal., Charles E. Murphy, argued, Michael G. Cleveland, Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.
Airline Indus. Relations Conf., Murray Gartner, argued, Poletti, Freidin, Prashker, Feldman & Gartner, New York City, for appellant, amicus curiae.
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Before MERRILL, WRIGHT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
In this case the National Mediation Board certified that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division, was the bargaining representative for the employees of International In-Flight Catering Co., Ltd. The district court below found that this certification failed to comply with Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq. ) and constituted an act contrary to the statute and in excess of the National Mediation Board's authority. Therefore, the court held the certificate was null, void and of no effect. We agree and affirm.
Plaintiff, International In-Flight Catering Co., Ltd. (IICC), an Hawaiian corporation, is a subsidiary of Japan Air Lines which operates certain routes within the United States. IICC employs approximately 220 hourly employees and is engaged in the business of providing food and beverage catering service to all Japan Air Lines and Korean Air Lines flights. IICC is a company owned or controlled by a carrier engaged in interstate commerce and is itself a "carrier" Defendant, National Mediation Board (NMB) is an independent administrative agency of the United States, established to administer the provisions of the RLA and to effectuate its purposes.
as that term is defined in the Railway Labor Act (RLA) (45 U.S.C. §§ 151, 181) and is therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board.
Defendant, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division (Teamsters) is an unincorporated association which exists, in part, to represent employees within the airline industry for collective bargaining over rates of pay, hours and working conditions, and is a labor organization subject to the provisions of the RLA and the NMB.
From the time of the IICC's creation in 1971, IICC's employees have remained unrepresented for purposes of collective bargaining by any labor organization. Early in 1974, the Teamsters solicited IICC's employees to sign cards entitled "REQUEST FOR EMPLOYEES REPRESENTATION ELECTION, UNDER THE RAILWAY LABOR ACT." The text of these cards reads:
"I authorize the Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to request the National Mediation Board to conduct an investigation and a representation election, also to represent me in all negotiations of wages, hours and working conditions in accordance with the Railway Labor Act."
The Teamsters filed these signed cards with the NMB and requested that the NMB investigate whether IICC's employees desired to be represented by Teamsters or desired to remain unrepresented. In March, 1974, at the direction of the NMB, a mediator of the NMB checked the signature on the cards against copies of employee signatures contained in IICC's payroll records. In April, 1974, the NMB determined that a representation dispute existed among IICC's employees as to what organization or individual, if any, was the majority representative of the employees for collective bargaining purposes. To resolve that dispute, the NMB directed that a secret ballot election be conducted among IICC's employees to determine whether a majority desired to be represented by the Teamsters, or by another labor organization which had intervened in that proceeding (International Association of Machinists (IAM)), or desired no collective bargaining representative at all.
In May, 1974, the NMB certified to IICC, Teamsters, and IAM that the results of the election showed that less than a majority of the employees had cast ballots in favor of representation by any union. Thereafter, IICC's employees, in accordance with their desires, remained unrepresented for collective bargaining purposes.
After the results of the election were made known, the Teamsters again began soliciting IICC's employees to sign new cards identical to the ones previously submitted to the NMB. The record shows that the IICC employees who signed these cards were told that the card's purpose was to get another representation election. For example, in May or June, 1974, employee Glenn Nakamoto was told by Teamster Representative James T. Muraki that "if you sign the card we will have a re-election." He then signed the card. Nakamoto witnessed other employees signing cards at the same time after being told the purpose of the card was to get another NMB election at the Company. Employee Jean Miyoshi was solicited to sign the card and asked, "What is that for?" She was told by the Union solicitor, Jack Fukuzono, "We are going to have an election." She signed the card. Employee Juliette Bejgrowicz was told by Jack Fukuzono that the purpose of signing the card was to provide the Union with names and addresses for a mailing list. She signed the card after reading it because, "it was to get another election at IICC." Bejgrowicz saw other employees sign the cards after being told that the cards were for an election.
On November 12, 1974, the Teamsters, by its Honolulu representative, James T. Muraki, sent IICC's employees a letter stating, among other things, "The end result will be that an election will still prevail" and that On November 27, 1974, the Teamsters solicited IICC's employees by letter to sign the Request for Election Card and stated that "soon the Federal Government will set an election date. . . ." The letter also stated:
the employees would be given an opportunity to cast "a Democratic Vote for Union Representation."
(emphasis supplied) (C.R. 80)
Upon learning that the Teamsters had requested a second election, IICC filed suit seeking to stop such election on the ground that NMB regulations required a minimum of one year between elections. On November 12, 1974, the district court issued a TRO prohibiting the NMB from further processing of the Teamsters application. The TRO was continued by stipulation of the parties until December 23, 1974. On that date, after hearing arguments from all parties, the district court granted defendant NMB's Motion to Dismiss the complaint and denied plaintiff's request for a preliminary injunction.
IICC, on January 3, 1975, filed a Motion for Reconsideration. While this motion was pending, the NMB in February gave telegraphic notice that it intended to dispatch a mediator to conduct the initial field investigation to determine whether a representation dispute existed at IICC. Similar to the procedure followed in March, 1974, the NMB requested IICC to provide signature records of its employees so that they could be compared to signatures on the cards submitted by the Teamsters. On February 25, 1975, NMB and IICC entered into a written stipulation whereby IICC would supply the signature records of its employees and that NMB would "not conduct an election among plaintiff's employees, nor post any notices of election, nor mail or distribute any ballots to any employees of the plaintiff" (C.R. 85) until the district court ruled on the motion for reconsideration.
Near the end of February, 1975, IICC turned over to a mediator of NMB a list of all of its employees and copies of their signatures. The mediator compared these employee signatures with signatures on the cards submitted by the Teamsters and on March 2, 1975, submitted a report on the results of this check to the NMB.
On March 17, 1975, the district court denied the Motion for Reconsideration. On March 24, after receipt of the decision, NMB issued a telegram to both the Teamsters and IICC advising that NMB had determined that a representation dispute existed among IICC's employees. On this same date NMB, without holding any type of election, mailed a certification to IICC certifying Teamsters as the collective bargaining representative of IICC's employees. In this letter the NMB stated:
". . . in accordance with Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act and based upon its investigation thereto, the National Mediation Board certifies that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division has been duly designated and authorized to represent, for the purposes of the Railway Labor Act, . . . , employees of the International In-Flight...
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