Opinion ID: 519963
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: contract repudiation resulting in a major disputepute

Text: 24 A dispute clearly governed by a provision in a collective bargaining agreement can be a major dispute only when it arises out of an attempt to change the agreement. Under the RLA, the terms of a collective bargaining agreement may not be changed by one side while the agreement is in force, unless the RLA's major dispute collective bargaining procedures are followed. See 45 U.S.C. Sec. 152, Seventh (1982); id. Sec. 156. Thus, if a party announces an intent to repudiate the agreement by adopting a unilateral change in the terms, it triggers a major dispute. See, e.g., Southern Railway, 384 F.2d at 327. Such a unilateral change provokes a major rather than a minor dispute for an obvious reason: if the party acknowledges that the existing agreement prohibits its actions, there is no disagreement over the meaning of the contract and therefore the dispute is not one of contract interpretation. Rather, a unilateral change in the agreement look[s] to the acquisition of rights for the future, not to assertion of rights claimed to have vested in the past. Elgin, 325 U.S. at 723, 65 S.Ct. at 1290. Consequently, if a party repudiates the agreement and attempts to change its terms unilaterally, the dispute is a major one and a court has jurisdiction to grant an injunction preserving the status quo. 4 See, e.g., International Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 473 F.2d at 1171-72; National Ry. Labor Conference, 830 F.2d at 746-48. 25 It is, of course, unlikely that a party will announce outright that it intends to repudiate a standing agreement. Thus, the courts have recognized that, in extraordinary circumstances, an intent to repudiate an existing agreement may be inferred: 26 [A] controversy, although couched in terms of a disagreement as to interpretation of a contract, may under some circumstances be regarded as a major dispute. This result may be reached if it can be said that the change being imposed by one side on the other is in nowise contemplated or arguably covered by the agreement. The provisions of the Railway Labor Act may not be avoided merely through the device of unilateral action which the actor purposefully intends shall not become a part of the agreement. 27 International Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 473 F.2d at 1172 (quoting Switchmen's Union, 398 F.2d at 447) (emphasis added by the International Bhd. court). 28 Even under this standard, however, repudiation is not to be equated with a simple violation--even a clear violation--of the contract. See Southern Railway, 384 F.2d at 327-28. In order to find that a contract violation amounts to a unilateral change in, or repudiation of, the collective bargaining agreement, a court must find not only that the agreement clearly prohibits the disputed conduct and that the party's contractual justification on its face is totally implausible, but also that the evidence warrant[s] the inference that [the contractual defense] is raised with intent to circumvent the procedures prescribed by Sec. 6 [of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 156,] for alteration of existing agreements. Southern Railway, 384 F.2d at 327; accord National Ry. Labor Conference, 830 F.2d at 746; Maine Central R.R. Co., 787 F.2d at 783. That is, even if the court is absolutely convinced that the agreement prohibits the party's action, it may not infer that the party has repudiated the agreement, generating a major dispute, unless the court makes the essential finding that the party's proffered interpretation is so inherently unreasonable as to amount to bad faith. Southern Railway, 384 F.2d at 327 (footnote omitted). To hold otherwise would allow the court to find a major dispute based solely on its view of the merits--usurping the role of the arbitrator in interpreting and applying the contract. 5 See Maine Central R.R. Co., 787 F.2d at 783.V. APPLICATION OF THE LAW TO THE FACTS OF THIS CASE 29 Turning to the present case, the question for this court is whether the dispute between Eastern and ALPA arises out of efforts to form or change a collective bargaining agreement, or whether the dispute relates to the proper meaning or application of an existing agreement. A review of the controversy quickly convinces us that this case presents an issue of contract interpretation, making it a minor dispute. 30 We first note that there is an existing agreement in force between Eastern and ALPA, and that neither party has avowed any attempt to change it. Moreover, the Eastern-ALPA Agreement contains an explicit provision governing the use of Union pilots for Eastern flight training, and both parties point to this provision to justify their positions with respect to the Orion contract. ALPA claims that section 1(B) of the Agreement prohibits Eastern from contracting with other carriers to train non-Eastern pilots for possible service during a strike, whereas Eastern contends that the Agreement does not prohibit strike preparation training conducted by another carrier. Thus, it is clear that interpretation of section 1(B) will resolve the dispute. In fact, neither party, nor the District Court, has even suggested otherwise. 31 Because all concerned agree that this dispute is arguably resolved by reference to the collective bargaining agreement, Burlington, 862 F.2d at 1272, the case on its face presents a minor dispute that must be submitted to arbitration. Even if Eastern's interpretation of the contract were implausible, the fact would remain that application or interpretation of the contract will resolve the dispute, and the District Court therefore overstepped its bounds by allowing its view of the merits to influence its characterization of the dispute as major or minor. It is the role of the arbitrator, not the court, to choose between the parties' interpretations of the Agreement. See Maine Central R.R. Co., 787 F.2d at 782; Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, 827 F.2d at 333. 32 Because the fight over the flight training by Orion is clearly governed by an existing provision in the parties' Agreement, the case can present a major dispute only if ALPA is able to demonstrate that Eastern has repudiated the Agreement. Eastern has not renounced the Agreement outright, and thus ALPA must show that Eastern's interpretation of the disputed provision is so utterly without substance as to warrant an inference of bad faith. Southern Railway, 384 F.2d at 328 n. 3. We conclude that the Union has not met this heavy burden. 33 The disputed contractual provision prohibits Eastern from using non-Union pilots to perform all present or future flying, including flight training ... performed in or for the service of Eastern Air Lines, Inc. We find that the phrase in or for the service of is not free from ambiguity. For example, an arbitrator could conceivably conclude that, because the purpose of the Agreement is to protect Eastern pilots, it does not apply to training of pilots who will fly Eastern routes only if Eastern pilots refuse to come to work. Similarly, Eastern offers several examples of past practices to support its claim that all training that provides some benefit to the Airline is not necessarily in or for the service of Eastern within the meaning of the Agreement. While neither of these readings is necessarily compelled, we hold that Eastern's interpretation of the disputed provision is not so implausible that it leads us to conclude that the Airline is merely attempting to circumvent the major dispute provisions of the RLA. 34 Of course, we offer no view on the merits of Eastern's reading of the Agreement. It is precisely the job of the arbitrator to interpret the disputed clause. If ALPA is to prevail on the merits, it must be pursuant to the judgment of an arbitrator.