Sine v. Local No. 992 Intern. Broth. of Teamsters
| Decision Date | 24 March 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-1625,79-1625 |
| Citation | 644 F.2d 997 |
| Parties | 107 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2089, 91 Lab.Cas. P 12,672 Ronald SINE and Larry Danner, Appellants, v. LOCAL NO. 992 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS; Eastern Conference of Teamsters; and Mitchell Transport, Inc., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Harry Goldman, Jr., Baltimore, Md., for appellants.
Jonathan G. Axelrod, Bethesda, Md. (Hugh J. Beins, Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellees Eastern Conference of Teamsters.
Roger D. Susanin, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. (Alfred J. D'Angelo, Cunniff, Bray & McAleese, Bala Cynwd, Pa., on brief), for appellees Mitchell Transport, Inc.
Thomas H. Kohn, Alexandria, Va., on brief, for appellees Teamsters Local 992.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, WIDENER, Circuit Judge, and HOFFMAN, Senior District Judge. *
This controversy comes before us for a second time. The plaintiffs, Ronald Sine and Larry Danner, have brought suit under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, and the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., against their employer, Mitchell Transport, Inc. (Mitchell or Company), Local 992 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Local), and the Eastern Conference of Teamsters (Conference). Sine and Danner are seeking to vacate an arbitration decision denying their claims for back pay against the Company. Additionally, they allege that the Unions breached their duty of fair representation in not properly or adequately advancing their claims against Mitchell. From summary judgment for the defendants, plaintiffs appeal. We affirm the district court's denial of the claim to vacate the arbitration award, but vacate the summary judgment on the claims for breach of the duty of fair representation and remand that matter to the district court for further consideration.
The facts surrounding this dispute are somewhat involved and thus require a rather detailed account. Mitchell is an interstate common carrier, engaged primarily in hauling cement. It maintains a number of terminals throughout the United States, only two of which are pertinent here, one in Union Bridge, Maryland and another in Baltimore. 1
In the spring of 1971, Mitchell transferred seven of the twelve tractors at the Baltimore facility to Union Bridge because of a change in customer demands. The transfer meant a loss of job opportunities at Baltimore and increased the work available at Union Bridge. The Company posted what is called a "sign-up bid" list at Baltimore, which allowed the Baltimore drivers to volunteer to transfer to Union Bridge. The transfer called for terminal seniority for purposes of dispatch but company seniority whenever layoffs occurred. Five of the Baltimore drivers, including the present plaintiffs, signed the list and transferred to Union Bridge. They were placed at the bottom of the driver seniority list for job selection at Union Bridge in accordance with § 5.7 of the Eastern Area Cement Haul Agreement, 2 the collective bargaining agreement.
During the summer of 1971, a dispute arose at Union Bridge regarding the seniority of the newly transferred drivers from Baltimore. The original Union Bridge drivers objected to the floating seniority of the transferees, who could exercise their company seniority whenever they were laid off. 3 As a result of that dispute, the Local 992 union steward at the terminal, hoping to clear up the situation, filed a grievance with the Union. The grievance, which noted that two high seniority and three low seniority Baltimore drivers had transferred to Union Bridge, asserted that the original Union Bridge drivers were being denied their full working opportunities. It requested that all five drivers be returned to Baltimore because work was available for them there.
The grievance was heard before the Eastern Area Tank and Cement Haul Joint Committee, an arbitration panel established by the collective bargaining agreement, whose decisions, according to the agreement, are final and binding. 4 The Joint Committee, in Case No. 839, determined that only those employees who were forced to transfer to Union Bridge because of a loss of work at Baltimore were entitled to exercise floating seniority. Thus, the decision upheld only the right of the three junior drivers to transfer to Union Bridge, which group included the present plaintiffs. The decision required the Company to repost a list at Baltimore and required the senior drivers to return to Baltimore at the soonest practical opportunity.
In October 1971, the five former Baltimore drivers had meetings with representatives of the Company and the Union. The original Union Bridge drivers wanted all the Baltimore drivers to return to Baltimore; none of the Baltimore drivers, however, wanted to return. In the end, each of the Baltimore drivers, including the plaintiffs Sine and Danner, signed a letter in which he agreed to accept terminal rather than company seniority, except for fringe benefits, in return for the right to remain at Union Bridge.
Some six months later, around May of 1972, Sine and Danner were both laid off. Subsequently, both filed grievances requesting company seniority for purposes of layoffs, and the dispute was brought before the Joint Committee as Case No. 1007. The plaintiffs argued that the letter they had signed forfeiting their entitlement to floating seniority was null and void. 5 The Committee, however, rejected their contention; "Based upon the facts presented including the letter dated November 10, 1971, which was executed by the parties, the grievance is denied."
Following that decision, Sine and Danner, in July 1973, brought suit in the District of Maryland against the Local and the Company, seeking damages and injunctive relief restoring their company seniority. On June 6, 1975, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs against both defendants and awarded Sine $14,000 and Danner $11,000 in damages. With regard to the claim for injunctive relief, however, the court, in a letter dated October 29, 1975, advised that it was denying the plaintiffs' claim:
After reviewing the instructions, the evidence, and the pretrial order I find nothing in the jury's verdict that would require or justify the issuance of injunctive relief as requested by the plaintiffs. The actions of the parties are controlled by various union agreements and those agreements set forth the procedures to be followed in enforcing the rights of all parties. This enforcement neither requires nor justifies Court intervention based upon the jury's verdict.
The court filed a formal order denying injunctive relief on October 31, 1975.
In July 1975, prior to the court's denial of the requested injunctive relief, Sine and Danner once again filed grievances asking for their rightful company seniority and back pay from June 6, 1975, the date of the jury verdict. These grievances were heard together before the Joint Committee as Case No. 1384. The Union's attorney assisting Sine and Danner contended that not only was the letter null and void as an extra-contractual agreement, but also that the grievants were never aware of Case No. 839, and that fact negated the letter. The Committee, however, in its decision issued in November 1975, denied the grievance with respect to both the seniority rights and back pay. 6 Sine and Danner made no attempt to vacate that decision of the Joint Committee.
On December 3, 1975, the Local signed a consent order in which it agreed to observe the company seniority of the plaintiffs for daily dispatch purposes. The Company was not a party to that order which was entered by the district court.
On March 10, 1977, this court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed the plaintiffs' jury verdict against the Company and the Local. We held:
There is sufficient evidence in this case to support the jury's verdict and to show both a breach of the collective bargaining agreement by Mitchell and unfair representation of Sine and Danner by the union.
The letter signed by the Baltimore drivers did not operate as a waiver because a waiver is an intentional relinquishment of a known right. Here, there is a firm basis for a finding by the jury that Sine and Danner were not adequately informed of their rights, and, hence, under accepted principles of contract law, did not waive their rights.
Sine v. Mitchell Transport, Inc., No. 76-1201 (4th Cir. March 10, 1977), at 4-5.
Shortly after this court's affirmance of the jury's award, Sine and Danner again filed a grievance seeking back pay and seniority. This grievance went before the Joint Committee as Case No. 1524, and the Committee this time deadlocked on the vote, thus sending the matter to arbitration pursuant to the applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. 7
The arbitrator held, contrary to the jury's determination and contrary to that of this court, that Sine and Danner waived their rights to company seniority when they signed the letter. He thus denied the grievance with regard to the claim for back pay. However, with regard to the claim for seniority, the arbitrator upheld the grievance for equitable reasons and directed that Sine and Danner be dovetailed into the roster at Union Bridge in accordance with their company seniority. (The collective bargaining agreement which became effective on March 1, 1977 had altered the transfer policy and provided for complete dovetailing of rosters whenever there was a transfer of work from one terminal to another.) Because the Baltimore terminal had been closed and the newly transferred drivers with less company seniority would bump Sine and Danner, the arbitrator decided that the plaintiffs should be granted full seniority rights. The arbitrator issued his decision on August 22, 1978, and it was received at the Eastern Conference of Teamsters on August 24, 1978.
Still dissatisfied, Sine and Danner filed this...
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