National Airlines, Inc. v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers

478 F.2d 1062, 83 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2316
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 24, 1973
DocketNo. 72-2992
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 478 F.2d 1062 (National Airlines, Inc. v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Airlines, Inc. v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, 478 F.2d 1062, 83 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2316 (5th Cir. 1973).

Opinion

TUTTLE, Circuit Judge.

This third appeal1 in a dispute arising from the mass discharge by National Airlines in January, 1969, of wildcat strikers while the “freeze” provisions of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S. C. § 156, were in effect is brought by two groups of intervenor employees dissatisfied with a settlement agreement between National and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (I.A.M.). While granting the motions of both groups to intervene, the district court held that the I.A.M. had the right and authority to settle the claims of the Hall Group subject to an obligation of fair representation.2 The court thereupon acted on the settlement, binding even those objecting members of the I.A.M. However, it held that the claims of the other group of intervenors (Reed, Blackett, and Moseley) were not within the issues before it under the mandate of our National Airlines II order. We affirm.

I. The Hall Group

Donald V. Hall and twenty-seven other members of the I.A.M., having made substantial earnings during the out period 3 from overtime work with other employers, were dissatisfied with the portion of the settlement providing for full deduction of these earnings from the compensation to be paid them by National. The members of the Hall Group contend that they were punished for their diligence while less enterpris[1064]*1064ing employees received greater benefits as a result of having earned less during the out period.

Following our 1970 order, at the request of the union and the company, the court deferred further action in this case pending negotiations toward settlement of all outstanding claims. Following approximately a year of negotiations, National and the I.A.M. entered into an agreement covering nearly 1,000 employees entitled to reinstatement and/or back pay because of National’s illegal discharge.

The company agreed to pay each unlawfully discharged employee an amount of compensation calculated by multiplying the average number of hours the employee would have worked had he not been discharged times the claimant’s rate of pay.4 From this figure, interim earnings were deducted. These earnings consisted of wages and compensation from the claimant’s employment during the out period as reflected in his 1969 Federal Income Tax Return.5 During the year’s negotiations between the union and the company, the disputes hammered out included: The average amount of overtime likely to be lost at National by I.A.M. members (3% per member), the number of hours the employees would have worked had they not been wrongfully discharged (an average of 2100 hours), the probable wage progressions of discharged employees, and the minimum out period pay deduction which the company would allow as mitigation against its obligation to compensate the discharged employees ($2700).

This agreement was submitted to the employees with a full explanation of its terms and a statement in dollars and cents of each claimant’s compensation if the settlement were approved. The ratification vote showed that 742 favored the agreement, 104 voted against, and 111 did not return their ballots. Following presentation of this proposed settlement to the court, the parties were directed to notify all claimants of a hearing on objections to the settlement. At this time, both groups of intervenors, who had previously submitted memoran-da and motions to support their positions, presented their objections to the court.6

A principal argument of the Hall intervenors is that Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945) (Burley I) aff’d on rehearing, [1065]*1065327 U.S. 661, 66 S.Ct. 721, 90 L.Ed. 928 (1946) (Burley II) precludes the I.A.M. and National from reaching a settlement which binds them. They contend that the collective bargaining representative has no authority to resolve and settle individual claims for back pay which arise from the mass discharge by National. The I.A.M. counters that the rights of the intervenors are part of a major dispute over which it has exclusive jurisdiction notwithstanding Burley I and that even if the intervenors’ rights are such disputes as were dealt with in Bur-ley I, they consented to the resolution of their claims by the union.

The distinction between major and minor disputes was discussed at length in Burley I. The Supreme Court held that while the collective bargaining representative has the exclusive right the Railway Labor Act to bargain for and bind all employees in its jurisdiction where a major dispute is concerned, it has no such exclusive right to resolve minor disputes pending before the Railway Adjustment Board when these disputes are purportedly settled without notice or an opportunity to be heard by the individual grievant. The essence of this decision was recently noted in Czosek v. O’M ara, 397 U.S. 25, 90 S.Ct. 770, 25 L.Ed.2d 21 (1970):

“The individual employee’s rights to participate in the processing of his grievances ‘are statutory rights, which he may exercise independently or authorize the union to exercise in his behalf’.” 397 U.S. 28, fn. 1, 90 S.Ct. 773.

While categorization of the intervenors’ claims might be difficult were Burley I the sole guide for the distinction between major and minor disputes,7 we must adhere to this circuit’s decision that back pay issues arising from a major dispute are not minor disputes. United Ind. Workers v. Board of Trustees of Galveston Wharves, 400 F.2d 320 at 327 (5 Cir., 1968).

Moreover, National II was concerned, inter alia, with the potential severability as a minor dispute of the claims of a group of discharged strikers who were returned to work before most of the machinists. Holding that these claims were an integral part of the major dispute, we said:

“National urges that any such employee who has lost seniority, pay or other benefits, must grieve for his loss .... Resort to grievance procedures would only further fragment proceedings already difficult enough and would be inconsistent with the underpinning principle of restoration of the status quo.” 430 F.2d at 962.

Since the massive discharge of some 1,000 I.A.M. members was a major dispute and restoration of the status quo including back pay is an integral part of this dispute, the intervenors’ claims concerning the computation of back pay are' not grievances in the Burley I sense. Therefore, the I.A.M. had exclusive authority to bargain with the company over treatment of the Hall Group’s out period overtime earnings.

The second basis for rejecting these intervenors’ claim that the I.A.M. lacked [1066]*1066authority to bargain on their behalf is that they allowed the company and union to negotiate for nearly a year without registering any objections to being bound by whatever agreement was finally reached. As Burley II noted:

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478 F.2d 1062, 83 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-airlines-inc-v-international-assn-of-machinists-aerospace-ca5-1973.