Opinion ID: 48714
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Involvement of IAM

Text: A stamped, and then signed and dated notice appears in the upper, right-hand corner of both Mitchell’s and Bales’ grievances, in which each attendant acknowledged: “I hereby authorize the International Association of Machinists, with full power of attorney, to represent me in all stages of the Grievance Procedure in the presenting and settling of this grievance.” After Mitchell’s and Bale’s grievances were denied by Continental, they were referred to arbitration before the Board, which consisted of one IAM representative, one Continental representative, and one neutral chairperson. As the IAM had previously learned that several other flight attendants’ non- 5 competitive seniority dates had been unfavorably adjusted without their knowledge, it presented with those of Mitchell and Bale the grievances of four similarly-situated flight attendants in a twoday arbitration hearing before the Board in February 2002. Prior to this hearing being held, Mitchell and Bale had received numerous notices of the hearing dates and locations, the hearing date having been postponed and rescheduled numerous times. In addition, both Mitchell and Bale met with IAM representatives in 2001, and Mitchell attended a second preparatory meeting in February 2002. When the hearing was finally convened in February 2002, Mitchell participated in person and Bale participated by telephone. Both Mitchell and Bale allege that, immediately before the hearing, IAM informed them that it would not be representing them, so they would have to represent themselves. Both claim that they thus were “ambushed” into putting on their own, admittedly deficient, pro se case. In May 2002, the Board rendered its arbitral decision and award (“the Award”). The Board first decided that it lacked jurisdiction over matters arising before the date that the CBA was formed, April 1, 2000. It then concluded that Continental had failed to maintain “a careful record of when an individual returned to work from a leave of absence for purposes of his or 6 her seniority” and that “[a]djustments [were] made for periods of inactivity taken by some individuals when they returned to work, but not for others.” After acknowledging Continental’s failure to maintain careful records and declaring that it was unable to “examine all of the individual employment records of the [more than 9,000] flight attendants employed by Continental,” the Board prescribed the following procedure to be used by flight attendants retrospectively challenging their seniority dates and for Continental’s use in making future adjustments: [F]or retroactive adjustments that occurred within the last two years, flight attendants may protest such adjustments in their seniority dates which occurred more than a year after the event which triggered the adjustment. They may do so within 30 days of the date on which this award is rendered, and the parties shall have the joint obligation of informing all flight attendants of this decision. . . . For the future, the company shall have a period of one year from the date on which they first were notified by the Company . . . to file a protest. In the Award, the Board also (1) decided that its ruling would apply to Bale’s grievance and provided the IAM and Continental an opportunity to resolve his grievance amicably based on the rules set forth in the Award; (2) denied as untimely those grievances relating to individuals holding managerial positions at the director level and higher as untimely; and (3) denied Mitchell’s grievances “because the adjustments were made contemporaneously and in order to retain seniority one must be on 7 the list of Company employees and to accrue seniority one must be in the active service of the Company and be receiving pay for such service.” Finally, the Board retained jurisdiction over “all disputes arising based upon this decision including questions regarding remedy.” Continental and IAM then issued a joint notice to all flight attendants, informing them of the existence of the Award, its terms and conditions, and the deadline for filing claims pursuant to the Award. In October of that year, after negotiations between Bale and Continental proved unsuccessful, the Board issued a second arbitral award, finding that the seniority adjustments of which Bale complained “were actually made in September 1998, outside the timeframe for claims that can be submitted under the [Award].” The Board, therefore, denied Bale’s grievance. In May 2004, the plaintiffs filed a petition for review of the Award in the Southern District of Florida, requesting that the district court (1) enjoin Continental from implementing the Award, (2) vacate the Award, and (3) remand the matter to the Board. The plaintiffs contended that the Award failed to comply with and conform to the requirements of the RLA and that it violated their constitutional right to due process. In August 2004, the Southern District of Florida transferred the action to 8 the District Court for the Southern District of Texas, from which this appeal is taken. In August 2005, the district court, treating the plaintiffs’ petition for review and defendants’ opposition to it as crossmotions for summary judgment, denied the plaintiffs’ petition for review and entered judgment in favor of Continental and IAM, concluding that the plaintiffs’ failure to allege a breach of IAM’s duty of fair representation left them without standing. In addition, the district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ constitutional due process claims, ruling that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. The plaintiffs timely filed a notice of appeal.