Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International v. Shugrue (In Re Ionosphere Clubs, Inc.)

154 B.R. 623, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2088, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7047, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 599, 1993 WL 179200
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 24, 1993
Docket91 Civ. 6897 (MBM)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 154 B.R. 623 (Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International v. Shugrue (In Re Ionosphere Clubs, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International v. Shugrue (In Re Ionosphere Clubs, Inc.), 154 B.R. 623, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2088, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7047, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 599, 1993 WL 179200 (S.D.N.Y. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MUKASEY, District Judge.

The Air Line Pilots Association (“ALPA”), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (“LAM”), and the Transport Workers Union (“TWU”) (“the unions”), appeal from the September 10, 1991 decision of the bankruptcy court (Lifland, C.J.), classifying pre-petition vacation pay claims as in part general unsecured claims and in part third priority claims pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 507. The unions argue that because those claims arise from collective bargaining agreements, they are governed by the terms of 11 U.S.C. § 1113, which they contend supersedes the priority scheme of § 507. The Trustee for the debtor Eastern Airlines (“EAL”) argues, and the bankruptcy court determined, that §§ 1113 and 507 are not in conflict because the priority scheme of § 507 does not force a unilateral termination or modification of the collective bargaining agreement, as prohibited by § 1113(f), and therefore the claims are properly classified under § 507 as at best third priority. ALPA also claims that the bankruptcy court erred in failing to order Eastern to arbitrate with ALPA over the *625 interpretation of the vacation pay provisions for certain pilots. For the reasons stated below, the decision of the bankruptcy court is affirmed.

I.

ALPA represents all airline pilots formerly employed by Eastern. IAM represents former Eastern ground services personnel. TWU represents all former Eastern flight attendants. (Unions’ Mem. at 5)

On March 9, 1989, Eastern filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The bankruptcy court then appointed Martin Shugrue as trustee for the debtor. On January 18, 1990, Eastern ceased operations. (Gibson Decl. 112) Accordingly, this is a liquidating and not a reorganizing Chapter 11.

The parties are governed by collective bargaining agreements, entered into pursuant to the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. (1988), specifying, among other things, the terms of vacation pay. The most recent collective bargaining agreements between Eastern and the respective unions were adopted February 1986 with ALPA, May 1985 with IAM, and in 1988 retroactive to 1986 with TWU. (Gibson Deck, Exhs. A, B & C)

The vacation pay agreements provide that employees accrue vacation throughout a year and earn the right to take it or be paid for it on January 1 of the following year. (Gibson Deck ¶ 3) If an employee leaves the company, he or she has a right to be paid fully for all vested vacation not taken. (Gibson Deck Ml 4-8) The prepetition vacation pay claims of the unionized employees total $61.7 million. (Tr. at 5)

Additional provisions regarding vacation pay in the ALPA/EAL agreement are relevant here. The estates of pilots who die, and pilots who retire or are furloughed in a given year are entitled not only to vacation pay earned for the previous year as of January 1 of the year of separation, but also to all vacation pay accrued until the actual date of separation, notwithstanding that such pay normally would not vest until January 1 of the following year. (Gibson Deck 114 & Exh. A, §§ 16F & 40E)

II.

Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code protects employees covered by collective bargaining agreements from the unilateral termination or modification of those agreements by debtor-employers; it requires the debtor to follow certain procedures and to obtain court approval before making changes in working conditions. The protections of § 1113 have led to conflicts with earlier enacted sections of the Code, especially the priority scheme of § 507.

Section 1113 was enacted in response to the decision of the Supreme Court in NLRB v. Bildisco & Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513, 104 S.Ct. 1188, 79 L.Ed.2d 482 (1984). There the Court held that a collective bargaining agreement is an executory contract, and then divided 5-4, holding that a debtor does not commit an unfair labor practice if it repudiates the agreement without first obtaining the approval of the bankruptcy court. Congress enacted § 1113 five months later, requiring that a debtor-employer confer with the union and that the bankruptcy court approve any rejection of the labor agreement. See In re Ionosphere Clubs, Inc., 922 F.2d 984, 989 (2d Cir.1990), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 50, 116 L.Ed.2d 28 (1991) (“Ionosphere I ”); In re Unimet Corp., 842 F.2d 879, 881-82 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 828, 109 S.Ct. 81, 102 L.Ed.2d 57 (1988).

Section 1113 provides in relevant part that “(a) ... the trustee ... may assume or reject a collective bargaining agreement only in accordance with the provisions of this section.” It requires the trustee, prior to seeking rejection of the collective bargaining agreement, to make a proposal to the authorized representative of the employees, to provide all relevant information to the representative to aid in evaluation of the proposal, and to meet with the representative. A court may approve rejection of the collective bargaining agreement only if these requirements have been met.

Section 1113(f) then states that “[n]o provision of this title shall be construed to *626 permit a trustee to unilaterally terminate or alter any provisions of a collective bargaining agreement prior to compliance with the provisions of this section.” It is the effect of this provision on the payment of the claims of unionized employees that is at issue here.

The bankruptcy judge was of the view that “[sjection 1113(f) is a very, very short, succinct, simple statute, and if you look at that literally, I do not see in any way that the Trustee here seeks to unilaterally change or terminate the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.” (Tr. at 28) Therefore, he found § 1113(f) inapplicable, and analyzed the pay claims according to § 507.

The bankruptcy court classified the unions’ vacation pay claims pursuant to § 507 of the Code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) The following expenses and claims have priority in the following order:
(1) First, administrative expenses allowed under section 503(b) of this title
(3) Third, allowed unsecured claims for wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick leave pay—
(A) earned by an individual within 90 days before the date of the filing of the petition or the date of the cessation of the debtor’s business, whichever occurs first; but only
(B) to the extent of $2000 for each such individual.

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154 B.R. 623, 146 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2088, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7047, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 599, 1993 WL 179200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/air-line-pilots-assn-international-v-shugrue-in-re-ionosphere-clubs-nysd-1993.