Opinion ID: 608804
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Assessments for the Eastern Sympathy Strike

Text: 5 At all times relevant to this appeal, ALPA, a labor organization within the meaning of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 151, Sixth (1988), represented airline pilots employed by the now-bankrupt Pan Am. ALPA's collective bargaining agreement with Pan Am contained an agency shop agreement, which, as a condition of employment, required pilots who chose not to join the union to pay a service charge to ALPA equivalent to its regular monthly dues, initiation fee and periodic assessments. See Agency Shop Agreement at 1, reprinted in Appendix (A.) 71. Under the agency shop agreement, if a pilot became delinquent in his payments, ALPA's Treasurer was required to notify the pilot of his delinquency and advise him that he was subject to discharge. Id. If the pilot did not make the necessary payments, the agency shop agreement required the Treasurer to certify the delinquency to the pilot's employer, who was then obligated to discharge the pilot. Id. A pilot whose discharge had been requested was permitted to file a protest if he believed that the agency shop agreement had not been properly interpreted or applied. Id. at 2. Protests were ultimately subject to binding arbitration. 6 In March 1989, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union (IAM), the bargaining agent for the mechanics at Eastern, began a lawful strike against that airline. In support of the IAM, the ALPA pilots at Eastern also went on strike. ALPA's Executive Board subsequently authorized $2,400 per month in strike benefits for the Eastern pilots, to be funded by monthly assessments charged to ALPA members. A majority of ALPA's membership approved the assessments by secret vote, and voted again in September and December 1989 to continue the assessments. The assessments were discontinued at the end of February 1990. 7 From May 1989 to March 1990, ALPA levied eleven strike assessments to fund the benefits for the striking Eastern pilots. A number of the non-union Pan Am pilots refused to pay the assessments. By March 1990, at least 328 Pan Am pilots, including 46 of the 49 appellants, were delinquent in the payment of their assessments. (In addition, 24 of the appellants were delinquent in the payment of agency fees other than the Eastern strike assessments.) ALPA sent delinquency letters to five of the 46 appellants whose assessment payments were overdue; no other efforts were made by ALPA to pursue claims under the agency shop agreement.