Labor — duty of fair representation

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Labor — duty of fair representation

A union that represented the employees of both employers involved in a merger did not violate its duty of fair representation.

“The Court in O’Neill found the union’s decision not discriminatory because, with different pilots on different sides of a strike, a strike-ending compromise that favored some over others was inevitable. The Justices saw the union’s negotiating position as rational (= not arbitrary) for essentially the same reason, adding that a different position (the one favored by the court of appeals) would have jeopardized labor peace and dropped the striking pilots into a lawsuit that they might well have lost outright to the pilots who crossed the picket lines. Likewise there was need of compromise here. Combining work forces following an airline merger is not for the faint-hearted. The Union and United worked out a series of deals, large and small, that have enabled two groups of pilots to work as one without undue friction. That’s a significant accomplishment, not a source of legal liability.”

Affirmed.

14-1453 Cunningham v. Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Holderman, J., Easterbrook, J.