Western Airlines, Inc v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

• Citation: 480 U.S. 1301,94 L.Ed.2d 744,107 S.Ct. 1515
• Decision Date: 02 April 1987
• Docket Number: No. A-716,A-716
• Parties: WESTERN AIRLINES, INC. and Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS and Air Transport Employees
• Court: United States Supreme Court

480 U.S. 1301

107 S.Ct. 1515

94 L.Ed.2d 744

WESTERN AIRLINES, INC. and Delta Air Lines, Inc.

v INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS and Air Transport Employees

No. A-716.

April 2, 1987.

Justice O'CONNOR, Circuit Justice.

Applicants request that I issue a stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The underlying dispute in this case involves the division of responsibility for regulation of collective bargaining between airlines and their employees under the Railway Labor Act, 44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. The Act defines three classes of labor disputes and establishes a different dispute resolution procedure for each. "Minor" disputes involve the application or interpretation of an existing collective-bargaining agreement. Minor disputes are subject to arbitration by a System Board of Adjustment. 45 U.S.C. § 184. While courts lack authority to interpret the terms of a collective-bargaining agreement, a court may compel arbitration of a minor dispute before the authorized System Board.

"Major" disputes involve the formation of collective-bargaining agreements, and the resolution of such disputes is governed by § 6 of the Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 156, 181.

"Representation" disputes involve defining the bargaining unit and determining the employee representative for collective bargaining. Under § 2, Ninth, of the Act, the National Mediation Board has exclusive jurisdiction over representation disputes. 45 U.S.C. §§ 152, 181.

Applicants, Western Airlines and Delta Air Lines, entered into an agreement and plan of merger on September 9, 1986. The merger agreement was approved by the United States Department of Transportation on December 11, 1986. On December 16, 1986, shareholder approval of the merger was conferred and Western Airlines became a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta. On the morning of April 1, 1987, the merger of Western Airlines with Delta was scheduled to be completed. See infra at ----.

Respondents represented various crafts or classes of employees of Western Airlines. The Air Transport Employees (ATE) was designated by the National Mediation Board as the bargaining representative for a unit of Western employees consisting of clerical, office, fleet, and passenger service employees. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 2707 was the certified representative of three crafts or classes employed by Western: mechanics and related employees, stock clerks, and flight instructors. Each union's collective-bargaining agreement has a provision stating that the agreement shall be binding upon successors of the company.

Delta has substantially more employees than Western in the crafts or classes represented by the unions, and these Delta employees had no bargaining representative. Respondents filed grievances alleging that Western violated the successorship provisions of the two collective-bargaining agreements by failing to secure Delta's agreement to be bound by the collective-bargaining agreements between Western and respondent unions. Western refused to arbitrate the grievances, asserting that they necessarily involved representation issues and therefore were within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board.

The unions filed separate complaints in the District Court for the Central District of California, each requesting the District Court to treat the successor clause dispute as a minor dispute, and compel arbitration of the dispute by the System Adjustment Board. Both complaints were dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

On March 17, 1987, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit entered an interim order directing arbitration of the grievances to proceed before the unions' respective System Adjustment Boards pending appeal.

At approximately 8 p.m., eastern time, March 31—little more than 12 hours before the merger was scheduled to take place—the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued the following order:

"1. The judgments of the district court dismissing the unions' actions are reversed and the causes are remanded with instructions to enter orders compelling arbitration.

"2. Western's motion for reconsideration of our order compelling arbitration pending appeal is denied.

"3. The contemplated merger of Western Air Lines and Delta Air Lines is enjoined pending completion of arbitration proceedings or until Western and Delta file with the Clerk of this Court a stipulation that the result of the arbitration, subject to appropriate judicial review and all valid defenses, will bind the successor corporation. Upon filing of such stipulation and approval by the court, the injunction of the merger shall terminate.

* * * * *

"It is so ordered. A written opinion will be filed as soon as practicable." Application Exh. A.

The timing and substance of the Court of Appeal's order under the exigencies of this case made compliance with Rule 44.4 of this Court, requiring that a motion for a stay first be filed with the court below, both virtually impossible and legally futile. I conclude that this situation presents one of those rare, extraordinary circumstances in which request for a stay before the Court of Appeals is not required under the Rule.

I also conclude that the judgment of the Court of Appeals, reversing the District Court decisions, requiring the entry of orders compelling arbitration, and enjoining the merger, is final within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2101(f). The Court of Appeals' provision for lifting the injunction upon certain stipulations of applicants does not divest the judgment of finality when, as in this case, the required stipulations, to have any significance, must bind applicants to a concession of their position on the only question before the Court of Appeals: whether the successor clause dispute is within the jurisdiction of the System Adjustment Board or the National Mediation Board.

Moreover, regardless of the finality of the judgment below, "a Circuit Justice has jurisdiction to vacate a stay where it appears that the rights of the parties to a case pending in the court of appeals, which case could and very likely would be reviewed here upon final disposition in the court of appeals, may be seriously and irreparably injured by the stay, and the Circuit Justice is of the opinion that the court of appeals is demonstrably wrong in its application of accepted standards in deciding to issue the stay." Coleman v. Paccar, Inc., 424 U.S. 1301, 1304, 96 S.Ct. 845, 847, 47 L.Ed.2d 67 (1976) (REHNQUIST, J., in chambers).

The reasoning of every other Court of Appeals that has ruled on the issue raised before the Ninth Circuit casts grave doubt on the validity of the Ninth Circuit's action in this case. The great weight of the case law supports the proposition that disputes as to the effect of collective-bargaining agreements on representation in an airline merger situation are representation disputes within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board. In International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Texas Int'l Airlines, Inc., 717 F.2d 157 (1983), the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that "[t]he [Railway Labor] Act commits disputes involving a determination of who is to represent airline employ- ees in collective bargaining to the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board." The Fifth Circuit stated that "[a] court may not entertain an action involving such a dispute even if it arises in the context of otherwise justiciable claims. . . . Moreover, a court may not grant injunctive relief maintaining the status quo if the underlying dispute is representational in nature, because to do so would necessarily have the effect, at least during the period of the injunction, of deciding the representation issue." Id., at 161. "Given the Mediation Board's undeniable sole jurisdiction over representation matters," and the practical problems of divided jurisdiction among the other dispute-resolution fora, the Fifth Circuit inferred "a congressional intention to allow that agency alone to consider the post-merger problems...