Donald Singer v. The Flying Tiger Line Inc., and Air Line Pilots Association, International

This suit involves a claim by an airline flight engineer that he should have been granted a second opportunity to become a copilot. He claims that the union breached its duty of fair representation and the employer breached the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. The union and employer both claim Singer’s suit is barred by the applicable statute of limitations. We find that some of Singer’s claims can be characterized as continuous violations and they are thus not time-barred. As to the surviving claims, however, we conclude that Singer has failed to allege facts which would preclude the district judge from granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants. We therefore affirm.

I. Facts

Donald Singer was first employed as a flight engineer or second officer by the Flying Tiger Line, Inc. (FTL) in 1956. At that time, flight engineers were represented by Teamsters Local 986, while first officers (copilots) and captains (pilots) were represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA).

In 1966, while Singer was still a flight engineer, Local 986, FTL and ALPA signed an agreement which provided that from that point on, ALPA would serve as the exclusive…