BROTHERHOOD OF LF & E. v. KENNECOTT COPPER CORP.(UTAH C. DIV., 7680.
| Citation | 338 F.2d 224 |
| Decision Date | 20 November 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 7680.,7680. |
| Parties | BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN, LODGE 844, an unincorporated association, Appellant, v. KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION (UTAH COPPER DIVISION), a corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Robert M. Yeates, Salt Lake City, Utah (Mulliner, Prince & Mangum and Gerald R. Miller, Salt Lake City, Utah, on the brief), for appellant.
Keith E. Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah (Calvin A. Behle and Parsons, Behle, Evans & Latimer, Salt Lake City, Utah, on the brief), for appellee.
Before MURRAH, Chief Judge, and PHILLIPS and LEWIS, Circuit Judges.
This is an action arising under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, in which the Brotherhood seeks declaratory and equitable relief for alleged infractions of its collective bargaining agreement with Kennecott. The action was dismissed by the trial court and this appeal followed. We deem the determinative question to be whether such dismissal was proper in view of the grievance procedures contained in the collective bargaining agreement. The appellant Brotherhood has admittedly not pursued such provisions as a condition precedent to its claimed cause of action.
The Brotherhood represents engineers, firemen, brakemen and other such classified employees engaged in the function of haulage at the Kennecott open pit copper mine at Bingham Canyon, Utah. The mine is one of many levels and its operation requires the movement of a great tonnage of material. In November, 1963, Kennecott initiated a major change in its haulage system by replacing some of its electric trains with large pieces of rubber-tire, diesel-powered equipment. Railroad tracks were removed at certain levels in the mine and the railroad train operations by members of the Brotherhood were supplanted by trucks. Rather than negotiating with the Brotherhood in reference to the new job classifications created by the different method of haulage, Kennecott entered into an agreement with the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local No. 485, and granted all the new haulage jobs to members of that union. The Brotherhood contends that this action constitutes a breach of Rule 18(C) (2)1 of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties, which relates to seniority rights of employees, and of Rule 5(A),2 which concerns rates of pay in new job classifications for the Brotherhood's members. In its complaint the Brotherhood characterizes its claim of breach of contract and the counter-assertion of Kennecott in such regard in these words:
Kennecott concedes the existence of the disputes3 and points to that fact as a proper basis for the dismissal of the complaint because of the compulsion of Rules 25 and 27 of the collective bargaining agreement. Rule 25 states:
Rule 27 provides for arbitration of complaints and claims not decided under Rule 25.
We find Kennecott's position to be unassailable as a premise for the correctness of the trial court's judgment. The nature of the admitted dispute between the parties fits comfortably with the contractual language of Rule 25 as "a difference of opinion * * * as to the interpretation or application * * * of the provisions of this agreement * * *." and consequently triggers the contractual obligation to process the controversy through designated grievance procedures and, if necessary, to arbitration. Strong federal policy, oft-stated as in John Wiley & Sons v. Livingston, 376 U.S. 543, 549-550, 84 S.Ct. 909, 11 L.Ed.2d 898, favors arbitration as a means of settling industrial disputes. The congressional policy founding section 301 actions is succinctly stated by Mr. Justice White in Drake Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 50, American Bakery etc., Workers, 370 U.S. 254, 263, 82 S.Ct. 1346, 1352, 8 L.Ed.2d 474, where he states:
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