Union Cannot Take Advantage Of Status Quo Without Taking Necessary Steps To Resolve Representation Dispute
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS AIRLINE DIVISION v. FRONTIER AIRLINES (December 13, 2010)
Frontier Airlines' Denver mechanics were represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The National Mediation Board so certified. Republic Airways, whose mechanics were not represented by a union, acquired Frontier. When Republic announced that it was moving maintenance work from Denver to its Milwaukee facility, the Teamsters objected. They claimed that the Board's certification of it as the bargaining unit prevented Republic from altering their working conditions without negotiations. Republic disagreed. The Teamsters filed suit under the Railway Labor Act. Judge Adelman (E.D. Wis.) issued a preliminary injunction maintaining the status quo (i.e., preventing the transfer of the maintenance work) until the representation issue was decided. Frontier appeals.
In their opinion, Seventh Circuit Judges Posner, Kanne, and Williams vacated and remanded with instructions to issue a revised injunction. At issue here is whether the Teamsters represent the Frontier mechanics. Under the Act, the Frontier mechanics are a separate bargaining unit represented by the Teamsters if Republic operates its subsidiary airlines as individual transportation systems. If, on the other hand, Republic operates a single transportation system, all of its mechanics are members of the same bargaining unit. If that is the case, Frontier can represent none of them. The problem is that only the National Mediation Board can resolve this representation dispute and only a union can ask the Board for such a resolution. The Court noted that the Teamsters, with its injunction in hand, have no incentive to seek that resolution. The Court resolved the standoff by applying "age-old equitable principles." It vacated the injunction and remanded the case to the district court for the issuance of a new injunction to be conditioned on the Teamster's prompt application to the Board for a resolution of the representation issue.
Michael Rigney practices in the law offices of GVC Ltd. in Chicago. In this blog, he reports on select