Page:Alaska Airlines v. Judy Schurke - Panel Opinion.pdf/12

 resolution.” “Congress’s intent in the RLA [was] ‘to keep [carriers’] labor disputes out of the courts.” To facilitate this process, the RLA provides a “mandatory arbitral mechanism to handle disputes ‘growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.’”

Disputes under this regime are generally characterized as either major or minor. “[M]ajor disputes seek to create contractual rights, minor disputes to enforce them,” so disputes about defining the rights guaranteed by a collective bargaining agreement are minor disputes. Minor disputes are preempted by the RLA and must be dealt with first through a carrier’s internal dispute resolution process, and then a System Adjustment Board comprised of workers and management. The Act states that among its purposes are to provide for settlement of “all” disputes about “pay, rules or working conditions,” and “all” disputes growing out of