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

366 F. Supp. 646, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2294, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12541
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 26, 1973
DocketCiv. No. 540-73
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 366 F. Supp. 646 (Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc. v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc. v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, 366 F. Supp. 646, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2294, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12541 (prd 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND DECISION

PESQUERA, District Judge.

This is a petition by Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc. (hereinafter PRINAIR) for injunctive relief against an alleged strike by its mechanics and related employees, the labor organization which represents them, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 2201 (hereinafter I.A.M.), and said Union’s local Grand Lodge Representative, Juan L. Maldonado. PRINAIR is requesting this Court for a back to work order to the defendants.

At the conclusion of three days of hearing, the following facts had been established by the evidence presented.

Defendant I.A.M. was certified to represent PRINAIR’s mechanics and related employees. On or about August 3, 1972, it initiated its efforts to commence negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. Its letters, sent on that date and on September 8 and 27, 1972 and on October 12, 1972, were not answered by PRINAIR. The Union tendered its Section 6 Notice (45 U.S.C.A. Section 156) to PRINAIR on October 25, 1972.

On November 6, 1972 Mr. Jaime S. Carrion, President of PRINAIR, sent a letter to Mr. José A. Ramos, I.A.M.’s Representative, expressing that “under these circumstances and considering the different circumstances in which we find ourselves, we do not feel that we aré in a position to make a proposal to you”.

During the months of November, December and January the attempts made by the Union to engage PRINAIR in negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement were fruitless. PRINAIR’s officers and/or attorneys were not able to submit its Section 6 Notice or were not available for meetings and discussions of the proposal submitted by the Union. It was not until January 16, 1973 that PRINAIR submitted its Section 6 Notice to the defendants. From February 21 through May 4, 1973 various meetings were held to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement but no concrete or effective counter-proposals were made by PRINAIR. In fact, the Court finds that from August 3, 1972 through May 4, 1973 PRINAIR did not [648]*648exert reasonable efforts to arrive at agreements and, on the contrary, appeared to be merely delaying or giving the Union a runaround while purporting to be meeting with the Union for the purpose of collective bargaining.

On or about May 5 PRINAIR discharged one of its mechanics, Mario Orozco, who was a member of the negotiating committee designated by the Union ; and on May 29 it discharged another mechanic, Juan G. Rivera Cortijo, who also happened to be a member of the negotiating committee designated by the Union.

Although the parties met on May 29 and 30, 1973, their discussions were substantially limited to the discharge of the two members of the negotiating committee and the Union adopted the position that further negotiations would not be held unless the two above mentioned employees were reinstated. Further attempts by both parties to agree on re-initiating their negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement crashed against a wall of stubbornness on both sides.

On Saturday June 9 the Defendant Union called a strike and plaintiff’s employees represented by the Defendant Union ceased working.

Although the Union alleges that no such strike took place and that in fact what has occurred is that PRINAIR has locked out its mechanics and related employees, such contention is untenable in view of the testimony presented by the proper Union.

The following day, June 10, 1973, PRINAIR, pursuant to Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C.A. Section 156) requested the mediatory services of the National Mediation Board. This request was received by the National Mediation Board the following day, June 11. It has been docketed and a mediator will be assigned to mediate the dispute consistent with prior commitments of the Board.

On that same date, June 11, 1973, plaintiff offered to submit to binding arbitration the issue as to the two discharged employees. This position was reinstated .by PRINAIR during the hearings held in this case. This offer to arbitrate the discharge of the two mechanics has been refused by the Union which, through its National Representative, Mr. Juan L. Maldonado, insists on the reinstatement of the two employees as a condition to its members going back to work.

The precipitate nature of the discharge of the two employees who were members of the Union’s negotiating committee, and the timing of said discharges, was the incident which brought to an end all negotiations over the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Regardless of the merits of such discharges, as to which the Court expresses no opinion, the Court finds that resort to such actions was or should have been expected to have the expressed results.

The evidence presented has further established that PRINAIR has been forced to discontinue a number of its international routes because of the Union’s strike against it and that it has been suffering as well as the general public, irreparable damages.

The Railway Labor Act has established mandatory methods and processes for the peaceful resolution, settlement and adjustment of any dispute arising between carriers and their employees. Disputes arising under the Railway Labor Act are commonly classified as “major disputes” or “minor disputes”. In general, a major dispute concerns the obtaining of a new collective bargaining agreement or the amendment of the terms of an existing agreement, whereas a minor dispute is one that is concerned with grievances or with the meaning or proper interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement. Minor disputes are required to be settled through conference and, if necessary, compulsory arbitration before an adjustment board without resort by any party to self-help. In the case of major disputes, on the other hand, the parties are required to submit to successive proce[649]*649dures designed to induce agreement but the compulsions go only to insure that those procedures are exhausted before resort can be had to self-help, and no authority is empowered to decide the dispute unless the parties themselves agree to arbitration (48 Am.Jur. 712).

Minor disputes are clearly enjoinable (Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Chicago River & Indiana R. Co., 353 U.S. 30, 77 S.Ct. 635, 1 L.Ed.2d 622). Major disputes, on the other hand, are enjoinable only when certain conditions precedent have not been followed. In other words, although the Railway Labor Act does not restrict the right of a union to strike during the existence of a major dispute, a union cannot strike during the pendency of the mandatory procedures contemplated by the Railway Labor Act; that is, until the exhaustion of the negotiation, mediation and, if resort is had, the establishment and report of a Presidential Emergency Board. Until those conditions are met, any premature strike is enjoinable (Elgin, Joliet & Eastern R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886).

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366 F. Supp. 646, 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2294, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/puerto-rico-international-airlines-inc-v-international-assn-of-prd-1973.