Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters v. Amerijet Int'l, Inc.

904 F.Supp.2d 1278

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, Plaintiff,

v.AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.

Case No. 12–60654–CIV.

United States District Court,

S.D. Florida,

Miami Division.

Oct. 17, 2012.

Noah Scott Warman, Sugarman & Susskind, P.A., Coral Gables, FL, for Plaintiff.

Joan Marie Canny, Amerijet International, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS

FEDERICO A. MORENO, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendant Amerijet International, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and (6) or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment (D.E. No. 10), filed on May 24, 2012. Plaintiff International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”) filed a complaint to compel arbitration and enforce arbitration awards with this Court on April 12, 2012. The complaint contains six counts requesting relief on a variety of disputes arising out of the grievance procedures of the parties' collective bargaining agreements. Amerijet then filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the Court lacked jurisdiction over the claims and that the IBT had failed to state a claim. Alternatively, Amerijet asked the Court to grant summary judgment in its favor. For the following reasons, the Court grants Amerijet's motion to dismiss. Counts I, II, and III of the IBT's complaint are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Counts IV, V, and VI are dismissed with leave for the IBT to file an amended complaint no later than November 6, 2012.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The IBT is a labor union certified for purposes of the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”) as the exclusive representative of Amerijet's pilots and flight engineers. Amerijet itself is a cargo and common air carrier subject to the RLA. The parties entered into separate collective bargaining agreements covering pilots and flight engineers respectively, each ratified on October 1, 2009.

These agreements contain grievance procedures for the resolution of disputes arising under the terms of the agreements. A grievance is first presented to the Chief Pilot of Amerijet with an option to appeal to the Director of Operations and then to the Vice President of Human Resources. In the event that a grievance remains unresolved, the grievance can be taken before a System Board of Adjustment. A separate Board exists for pilots and flight engineers. If the Board cannot resolve the grievance, it becomes deadlocked and the IBT has the option to request arbitration of the dispute within thirty days.

Asserting six claims arising out of these grievance procedures, the IBT filed a complaint to compel arbitration and enforce arbitration awards on April 12, 2012. Count I concerns a number of grievances that the IBT asserted against Amerijet in early 2010 relating to alleged violations of the bargaining agreements. Advancing the grievances through the dispute resolution procedures, the System Boards deadlocked on nine of the grievances in March 2011. On April 6, the IBT's System Boards representative David Renshaw sent an email to Amerijet's System Boards representative Derry Huff, Chief Pilot Ed Cook, and Vice President of Human Resources Isis Suria. In the email, Renshaw listed the individual grievances and wrote “deadlocked—proceed to arbitration” next to the nine grievances over which the Boards could not reach a resolution. On the same day, IBT representative Daisy Gonzalez responded to Renshaw, Huff, Cook, and Suria with an email asking, “Isis [Suria]: When can we expect the filing for arbitration on the deadlocked cases?” The IBT maintains that these emails served as notice of its intention to advance the deadlocked grievances to arbitration.

With no response from Amerijet, the IBT's representatives followed up in an email to Suria on June 2 to inform Amerijet of its position regarding the emails and to note Amerijet's failure to advance the grievances to arbitration. Suria responded in kind on June 7, rejecting the contention that the emails served as proper notice. As a result, Amerijet argued that it was not obligated to initiate arbitration as it had not received proper notice within the thirty-day period.

In its complaint, the IBT argues that Renshaw's April 6 email served as sufficient notice of its intent to pursue arbitration. In support, it cites an instance in September 2010 when Amerijet allegedly treated a similar email from Renshaw as notice of the IBT's desire for arbitration. Additionally, the IBT contends that Gonzalez's reply to Renshaw's email clarified any ambiguity that may have existed. As Amerijet had sufficient notice of the intent to arbitrate within thirty days of the Boards' decisions, the IBT requests that the Court compel Amerijet to proceed to arbitration.

Counts II and III pertain to grievances brought by the union on behalf of Amerijet employees regarding Amerijet's hub in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Specifically, the IBT challenges Amerijet's classification of Port of Spain under the terms of the collective bargaining agreements. In both agreements, section 1.D states that:

1. Temporary foreign bases may be opened by the Company upon thirty (30) days written notice to the Union. The filling of vacancies at temporary foreign bases will be done in accordance with Section 16 of this Agreement.

2. Permanent foreign bases, as designated by the company [sic], may be opened by the Company at any time, without notice, and shall not be covered by the scope of this Agreement.

Compl. to Compel Arbitration Ex. 1, at 7; id. Ex. 2, at 7.

Count II centers on grievances brought against Amerijet in March 2010 challenging its previous categorization of Port of Spain as a “temporary domicile/base” under the bargaining agreements. After the System Boards deadlocked on the grievances in November 2010, the IBT advanced them to arbitration with an arbitration date set for August 2011. Similarly, Count III involves the advancement of a grievance filed by Richard Garcia, a former Amerijet employee, challenging his separation from employment based on events that transpired in Port of Spain. In March 2011, the parties convened at the System Board and agreed to move the grievance to arbitration. Yet, on April 27, 2011, Amerijet sent notice to the IBT indicating that it now considered Port of Spain to be a “permanent foreign base” and therefore outside the scope of the bargaining agreements. The IBT claims that Amerijet then unilaterally cancelled the arbitrations on this basis. It now seeks to compel Amerijet to participate in the scheduled arbitrations.

In Counts IV, V, and VI, the IBT seeks enforcement of separate arbitration awards that it claims Amerijet has failed to honor. In particular, Count IV addresses a November 2010 arbitration award resolving a dispute over minimum pay guarantees for pilots and flight engineers for the roster duty period of September 7, 2009 to October 4, 2009. This period of time included the union's strike against Amerijet that resulted in the ratification of the bargaining agreements on October 1, 2009. Despite the arbitrator's holding that Amerijet must pay all pilots who held bidding privileges during the period pursuant to the parties' agreements, the IBT alleges that Amerijet has yet to pay any of the eligible employees.

Next, Count V concerns an April 2011 arbitration award requiring Amerijet to continue its prior procedure of advising flight engineers in advance of a rotation for planned “Zero G” flights. The IBT alleges that Amerijet has failed to provide the advance notice or allow flight engineers to bid on the flights according to seniority in contravention of the award.

Last, Count VI deals with a November 2011 arbitration award regarding the posting of component legs of flights in Amerijet's schedules. In his opinion, the arbitrator held that Amerijet was responsible for listing the component legs and their durations in its schedules where it was able to do so. Despite the award, the IBT argues that Amerijet has failed to post this information in its schedules and therefore seeks enforcement of the arbitrator's decision.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Count I

In its motion to dismiss, Amerijet contends initially that the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Count I under the RLA and moves to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). It asserts that the dispute over the manner in which the IBT attempted to advance the grievances to arbitration constitutes a “minor dispute” involving the interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreements. Moreover, it insists that it is arguably justified in maintaining that the emails did not serve as notice requiring it to initiate arbitration under the terms of the agreements.

Disputes under the RLA are divided generally into two categories: major disputes and minor disputes. Bhd. of Maint. of Way Emps. v. CSX Transp., Inc., 143 Fed.Appx. 155, 158 (11th Cir.2005). In distinguishing minor disputes from major disputes, the Supreme Court has stated that minor disputes are those “growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.” Consol. Rail Corp. v. Ry. Labor Exec. Ass'n ( Conrail ), 491 U.S. 299, 303, 109 S.Ct. 2477, 105 L.Ed.2d 250 (1989). Indeed, minor disputes “contemplate[ ] the existence of a collective agreement already concluded or, at any rate, a situation in which no effort is made to bring about a formal change in terms or to create a new one.” Elgin, Joliet & E. Ry. Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711, 723, 65 S.Ct. 1282, 89 L.Ed. 1886 (1945). Thus, in determining whether a particular dispute is a major or minor dispute under the RLA, a court must consider whether the contested action is “ ‘arguably justified’ by the parties' agreement before the minor dispute rule can apply.” CSX Transp., Inc., 143 Fed.Appx. at 160 (citing Conrail, 491 U.S. at 307, 109 S.Ct. 2477). The threshold for “ ‘arguability’ is low” and if “reasonable...