Singleton v. International Ass'n of Machinists, Dist. 141, Local Lodge No. 1747, 900142

• Decision Date: 09 November 1990
• Docket Number: No. 900142,900142
• Citation: 397 S.E.2d 856,240 Va. 403
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: , 135 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2966, 121 Lab.Cas. P 56,868 Eugene SINGLETON v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT 141, LOCAL LODGE NO. 1747, et al. Record

Page 856

397 S.E.2d 856

240 Va. 403, 135 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2966, 121 Lab.Cas. P 56,868

Eugene SINGLETON v. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT 141, LOCAL LODGE NO. 1747, et al.

Record No. 900142.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

Nov. 9, 1990.

David T. Bryant (Rossie D. Alston, Jr., Springfield, on briefs), for appellant.

John J. Sullivan (Michael G. Dzialo, Joseph Guerrieri, Jr., Guerrieri, Edmond & James, Washington, D.C., on brief), for appellees.

Present: All the Justices.

WHITING, Justice.

In this case, we determine the validity of a union security agreement contained in a collective bargaining agreement that requires a private employer at Washington National Airport (National Airport) to condition its employment contracts upon an employee's union membership. To determine whether this union security agreement is enforceable, we must decide whether Virginia's right-to-work law, which forbids such agreements, or a federal law, which permits them, controls. ¹

Except for a reservation not material here, effective in 1946, Virginia ceded exclusive jurisdiction over the territory of National Airport to the United States. Acts 1946, c. 26; Code § 7.1-10(107). Forty years later, in connection with the establishment of an independent airports authority to operate Washington Dulles International Airport and National Airport under a long term lease, Congress adopted the Metropolitan Washington Airports Act of 1986 (the Act). The Act provides in part:

The Commonwealth of Virginia shall have concurrent police power authority over the Metropolitan Washington Airports, and the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia may exercise jurisdiction over Washington National Airport.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-591, § 6009(c), 100 Stat. 3341-387 (codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. app. § 2458(c) (1990)) (hereinafter 49 U.S.C. app. § 2458(c)).

In June 1987, Ogden Allied Aviation Services (Ogden), a private employer, employed Eugene Singleton as an airplane fueler at National Airport. Effective May 1, 1988, Ogden's collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Machinists, District 141, Local Lodge No. 1747 (the union), was amended to require that all Ogden's employees be union members.

In June 1989, at the union's request, Ogden discharged Singleton because he refused to join the union. However, Ogden told Singleton that he would be reinstated if he joined the union. Singleton did so, and he was rehired.

On August 3, 1989, Singleton filed a bill of complaint in the trial court against Ogden, the union, and James G. Jewell, President of the local union lodge (collectively the defendants). Singleton alleged that those parties were violating the right-to-work laws of Virginia by requiring him to join the union in order to keep his job with Ogden. On November 13, 1989, applying federal law, the trial court denied Singleton's motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed the case. Singleton appeals.

We begin with a review of the language of the Act. "When statutory language is clear and unambiguous, it will be given its plain meaning and intent; there is no need for construction by the court." City of Hopewell v. County of Prince George, 239 Va. 287, 293, 389 S.E.2d 685, 688 (1990).

Clearly, 49 U.S.C. app. § 2458(c) gave Virginia concurrent police power jurisdiction over National Airport. And, we have held that Virginia may exercise its police power to prohibit union security agreements. Finney v. Hawkins, 189 Va. 878, 885, 888-89, 54 S.E.2d 872, 876, 877-78 (1949). Thus, the question is whether Virginia's exercise of police power forbidding union security agreements shall prevail, even though it conflicts with the retained federal police power permitting such agreements.

This question is answered by the following provision of § 14(b) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 164(b): "Nothing in this Act ... shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State ... in which such execution or application is prohibited by State ... law." After describing a conflict between the federal law authorizing union shop agreements and a state statute forbidding them, the Supreme Court said that "it is a conflict sanctioned by Congress with directions to give the right of way to state laws barring the execution and enforcement of union-security agreements." Retail Clerks Int'l Assoc., Local 1625 v. Schermerhorn, 375 U.S. 96, 103, 84 S.Ct. 219, 222, 11 L.Ed.2d 179 (1963).

Even so the defendants argue, because the federal government retains fee simple title to National Airport, its police power jurisdiction remains paramount. However, 49 U.S.C. app. § 2458(b) provides in part that "[t]he Metropolitan Washington Airports and the Airports Authority shall not be subject to the requirements of any law solely by reason of the retention by the United States of the fee simple title to such airports...." Thus, in plain language, Congress has indicated that its retention of fee simple title should not affect a choice of law issue.

Next, the defendants contend that the Act specifically reserves the bargaining rights of former federal employees at National Airport and indicates a congressional intent to extend the same rights to employees of private employers. ² We do not agree. On the contrary, the exclusion of one class of employees, i.e., former federal employees at National Airport, from the transfer of...