Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. The Air Line Pilots Association, International

442 F.2d 246, 77 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2102, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 6143
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedDecember 3, 1970
Docket20677
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 442 F.2d 246 (Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. The Air Line Pilots Association, International) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. The Air Line Pilots Association, International, 442 F.2d 246, 77 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2102, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 6143 (8th Cir. 1970).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

We are asked to enjoin the Air Line Pilots Association, International, its members, officers and agents from authorizing or taking part in a concerted refusal to cross picket lines established by the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees pending a determination of an appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota denying appellant’s motion for a preliminary injunction. 325 F.Supp. 994.

NWA and ALPA are parties to a collective bargaining agreement which does not expire until June 30, 1971. The agreement is silent as to the right of ALPA to ask its members to respect a sister union’s picket lines. The agreement does not have a no-strike clause, but it does provide detailed machinery for the resolution of disputes involving interpretation and application of the agreement.

On July 8, 1970, NWA employees represented by BRAC went on strike and began picketing NWA facilities. The pilots continued to bid and fly available schedules on NWA’s system.

On October 8, 1970, ALPA notified NWA that effective October 13, 1970, its members would refuse to cross the BRAC picket lines. This notice was withdrawn on October 12, 1970.

On November 24,1970, a similar notice was sent by ALPA to NWA. This notice read:

“THIS IS TO ADVISE THAT BEGINNING 0501CST NOV 27 1970 ALL NORTH WEST ORIENT AIRLINES PILOTS [WHO (sic)] ARE REPRESENTED BY THE AIRLINES PILOTS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL WILL REFUSE TO CROSS BRAC PICKET LINES AND WILL NOT OPERATE NORTH WEST ORIENT AIRCRAFT DURING THE CURRENT LABOR DISPUTE ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE AVAILABLE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE ORDERLY SHUT DOWN OF OPERATIONS AIRCRAFT SECURITY AND RETURN HOME TO ALL CREWS AND AIRCRAFT.”

Immediately after it received each of the notices that ALPA members would respect the BRAC picket lines, NWA invoked the jurisdiction of the System Board of Adjustment, as established by the parties pursuant to the National Railway Labor Act. The NWA submission stated that a dispute existed between NWA and ALPA arising out of the interpretation and application of the terms of the collective bargaining agreements entered into by the parties.

[248]*248It stated that the questions and issues were as follows:

“1. Does the System Board of Adjustment (Board) have jurisdiction to determine whether the air line pilots, ALPA and its officers and agents have taken part or engaged in, or threatened to take part or engage in, a strike or concerted refusal to work for NWA, contrary to the provisions of the aforementioned agreements and the Railway Labor Act as incorporated therein ?
“2. If Question 1 is answered affirmatively, have the air line pilots, ALPA and its officers and agents taken part or engaged in, or threatened to take part or engage in, a strike or concerted refusal to work for NWA, contrary to the provisions of the aforementioned agreements and the Railway Labor Act as incorporated therein?
“3. If Question 2 is answered affirmatively, what is the appropriate remedy ?”

ALPA made no formal response to the submission.

After each submission, NWA asked the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota to enjoin ALPA, its members, officers and agents, from authorizing or taking part in a concerted refusal to cross the picket lines established by BRAC.

On November 26, 1970, the District Court issued a temporary restraining order, stating that the order was to be effective until December 2, 1970, and further stating that it would hold a hearing on NWA’s motion for a preliminary injunction on that date.

On December 2, 1970, the court dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied NWA’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The court concluded:

“The [plaintiff] has not shown substantial probability of success on the merits. Plaintiff may have shown irreparable injury, though this cannot now be measured in the absence of information as to mutual aid assistance. The granting of the preliminary injunction will substantially impair the interests of the defendant in that for a much longer time will a substantial number of the pilots be unemployed. The public interest has already been affected by limited operations and will be affected unfavorably by a complete shut down. The public interest will, however, be affected favorably if complete airline service is resumed as soon as possible.”

This Court must now decide whether it will grant the injunctive relief sought by NWA.

We recently considered a similar problem in Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, et al., 442 F.2d 244. We there required the parties to submit the basic issue — “whether IAM, in the light of the no-strike provisions of the bargaining agreement, retains the right to instruct its members to honor the picket lines of a sister Union” — to arbitration under the System Board of Adjustment.

This case is similar to the IAM case with two exceptions.

1. In IAM, NWA did not take steps to submit the basic dispute to the System Board of Adjustment until some two and one-half months after IAM employees began to honor BRAC picket lines.

2. The contract between NWA and IAM contained an explicit no-strike provision.

In- our view, the second distinction may be of some importance in resolving the basic issue. Yet, we feel that NWA is correct in arguing that the ALPA contract can arguably be interpreted to prohibit the Association from instructing its members to respect the BRAC picket lines. The dispute is, thus, in our view, a minor one which must be submitted to the System Board of Adjustment. See United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 582-583, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1353, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960). There, the Court, in a non-Railway Act case, stated:

“An order to arbitrate the particular grievance should not be denied unless [249]*249it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute. Doubts should be resolved in favor of coverage.”

We feel the same standard is applicable here. In expressing this view, we refrain from stating any opinion as to the correct interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement.

We, therefore, hold that this basic issue and others collateral to it should be submitted by the parties to the System Board of Adjustment without delay. Specifically, we require: (1) That representatives of NWA and ALPA meet no later than 11:00 a. m., Friday, December 4, 1970, for the purpose of selecting a neutral member of the Adjustment Board. This neutral should be one who can and will hear the basic dispute without delay. (2) If agreement is not reached by 3:00 p. m., Friday, December 4, 1970, as to the neutral, that the parties forthwith request the National Mediation Board to appoint a neutral. We suggest that the neutral appointed to settle the dispute between IAM and NWA would be an appropriate appointment.

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Bluebook (online)
442 F.2d 246, 77 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2102, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 6143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwest-airlines-inc-v-the-air-line-pilots-association-international-ca8-1970.