Thomas D. Klemens, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants v. Air Line Pilots Association, International, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee

Defendant Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) appeals from a judgment in a suit brought by former ALPA members for a declaration freeing them from the obligation to pay service charges under an agency shop agreement and reimbursement of service charges paid.

On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court granted plaintiffs’ motion. The court found that ALPA’s insistence that plaintiffs pay service charges was illegal under section 2, Eleventh of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 152 , Eleventh (1976).

I

BACKGROUND

A. The Railway Labor Act.

The purposes of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), originally enacted in 1926 and substantially revised in 1934, see Felter v. Southern Pacific Co., 359 U.S. 326 , 326 n. 1, 79 S.Ct. 847 , 850 n. 1, 3 L.Ed.2d 854 (1959), are, inter alia, to secure uninterrupted operations by commercial rail carriers, to protect the associational rights of the employees of such carriers, and to promote speedy settlement of labor disputes between the employees and the carriers. 45 U.S.C. § 151a (1976). Before 1951, the RLA prohibited carriers and labor organizations from making either union-shop or agency-shop agreements. Felter, 359 U.S. at 330-33 , 79…