Marriott In-Flite Services, a Division of Marriott Corporation v. Local 504, Air Transport Division, Transport Workers of America, Afl-Cio

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

This case provides a graphic reminder of, Mr. Justice Frankfurter’s admonition that the process of statutory construction cannot be reduced to “[t]he precision of a syllogism.” 1

The case was begun in the Eastern District of New York by an employer seeking damages against a union for alleged unfair labor practices, as provided for in § 303(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 187(b). The sole question presented on this appeal is whether a union organized under the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”), 45 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq., is a “labor organization”…