Adamiec v. Gas Workers Union, Local 18007 Service
| Citation | 18 F.Supp.2d 855 |
| Decision Date | 06 August 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97 C 1586.,97 C 1586. |
| Parties | David D. ADAMIEC, Plaintiff, v. GAS WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 18007 SERVICE EMPLOYEES' INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO and The Peoples Gas Light & Coke Company, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Susan Bogart, Law Office of Susan Bogart, Chicago, IL, for David D. Adamiec.
Barry Milton Bennett, Dowd, Bloch & Bennett, Chicago, IL, Stephen Jay Feinberg, Margaret Ann Angelucci, Asher, Gittler, Greenfield, Cohen & D'Alba, Chicago, IL, for Local 18007 Gas Workers Union, Service Employees' Intern. Union, AFL-CIO.
Stephen Jay Feinberg, Margaret Ann Angelucci, Asher, Gittler, Greenfield, Cohen & D'Alba, Chicago, IL, John P. Jacoby, Paula Kay DeAngelo, James Vincent Garvey, Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, Chicago, IL, Michael V. Perry, Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, Phoenix, AZ, for Peoples Gas, Light and Coke Co.
David Adamiec began working for defendant Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company ("Peoples Gas") in 1979 and stayed there for over seventeen years. He eventually rose in the ranks to Crew Leader of the North Shop storeroom in the company's Purchasing and Stores Department, the unit responsible for buying supplies used in company operations. On May 31, 1996, however, Adamiec's employment came abruptly to a halt. He was unceremoniously summoned to a conference room by Stores Manager Pat Fergus and, with little explanation, suspended without pay. At Adamiec's request, his Union Steward1, John DeWitt, attended the meeting:
Fergus: The purpose of this meeting is to discuss a serious issue which will result in disciplinary action.... We are currently conducting an investigation into irregularities with Storeroom records, missing material and information regarding the reported May 30th [North Shop] break in. You may not contact any of your fellow employees, except the steward, regarding this investigation or in any way hamper or interfere with this investigation. You are not allowed on any company premises unless requested by your supervisors. If you have any questions you should contact me directly. This is a direct order! Failure to follow this order will be considered insubordination.
Effective immediately, you are placed on indefinite unpaid layoff subject to discharge pending completion of the investigation. We will contact you when we have finished the investigation and will inform you of any charges which may result. We may contact you as a part of the investigation. Do you have any questions?
Adamiec: What are the charges against me?
Fergus: We are currently conducting an investigation into irregularities with Storeroom records, missing material and information regarding the reported May 30th break in.
Adamiec: What specifically are the charges? You're not giving me any specifics!
Fergus: That's right. I'm giving you what I'm giving you.
DeWitt: Does it have to do with the files?
Fergus: It has to have something to do with the files.
DeWitt: What specific missing material?
Fergus: I can't tell you at this time.
...
Adamiec: How long is the layoff?
Fergus: Indefinite.
Adamiec: No specifics?
Fergus: Not at this time.
Adamiec: I don't understand.
Fergus: You'll have adequate time to respond.
Adamiec: Layoff, just like that?
Fergus: Yes, per the serious information I have.
Adamiec: What is the charge?
Fergus: You'll be told at a later time. No further questions.
Pl.'s Ex. E. Adamiec and DeWitt were thus left with only the vaguest of notions about the charges prompting Adamiec's indefinite layoff.
One month later, Adamiec was discharged. His alleged offenses were: (1) placing orders for supplies without authorization; (2) falsifying reports of a North Shop break in; (3) failure to maintain control over storeroom stock; and (4) insubordination for contacting an employee during his suspension. Adamiec filed a grievance under the procedures set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA") between the Union and Peoples Gas, but the Union pursued his grievance only through the second step — two steps short of arbitration. Within six months after the Union Executive Board's final decision to drop the grievance, Adamiec filed suit in this Court, alleging that both the company and the Union violated section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 ("LMRA"). Adamiec claims that the Union breached its duty of fair representation under the Act by refusing to take his grievance past the second step. He alleges that Peoples Gas breached the CBA in violation of the Act by, inter alia, discharging Adamiec without either just cause or a fair investigation. Pl.'s Complt. ¶¶ 7-11.
Before the Court is the Union and Peoples Gas' joint motion for summary judgment. Defendants argue that Adamiec cannot demonstrate that the Union's handling of his grievance breached its duty of fair representation. Because proving this representational breach is one of two compulsory LMRA elements (the other being the company's breach of the CBA), defendants contend that summary judgment is in order. Although we question the treatment Adamiec received from management at Peoples Gas, we do not have doubts about the adequacy of the Union's representation. Under the facts presented here, no reasonable juror could find that the Union breached its duty of fair representation to Adamiec. As such, we grant the defendants' motion for summary judgment.2
Summary judgment is proper when the record shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Flanders Elec. Motor Serv., Inc., 40 F.3d 146, 150 (7th Cir.1994). A genuine issue for trial exists when "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The court must view all evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and draw all reasonable inferences from the evidence in the nonmovant's favor. Cincinnati Ins., 40 F.3d at 150. But if the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, or just raises "some metaphysical doubt as to the material fact," summary judgment may be granted. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 261, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Matsushita Elec. Indus. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
In making its determination, the court's sole function is to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to support a verdict in the nonmovant's favor. Credibility determinations, weighing evidence, and drawing reasonable inferences are jury functions, not those of a judge deciding a motion for summary judgment. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505.
Section 301 of the LMRA grants an employee the right to sue for violation of a collective bargaining agreement between the employee's union and employer. 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). If the agreement contains an employment dispute resolution mechanism (such as a grievance procedure) the employee must prove two propositions to prevail under section 301:(1) the union breached its duty of fair representation and (2) the employer violated the agreement. Filippo v. Northern Indiana Pub. Serv. Corp., 141 F.3d 744, 748 (7th Cir.1998) (citing DelCostello v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 163-64, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 186, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967)). In these so-called "hybrid 301" cases, "the employee's claim against the union and his claim against the employer are interlocked: neither claim is viable if the other fails." Crider v. Spectrulite Consortium, Inc., 130 F.3d 1238, 1241 (7th Cir.1997). The motion before us challenges only Adamiec's ability to establish the Union's representational breach; we focus our opinion accordingly.
A union breaches its duty of fair representation under section 301 if its actions are arbitrary, discriminatory, or pursued in bad faith. Air Line Pilots Ass'n Int'l v. O'Neill, 499 U.S. 65, 67, 111 S.Ct. 1127, 113 L.Ed.2d 51 (1991); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 190, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967); Filippo, 141 F.3d at 748. Phrased in the alternative, this formulation presents three different ways in which the plaintiff can prove a representational breach; courts must separately examine the proof supporting each alternative. Garcia v. Zenith Elecs. Corp., 58 F.3d 1171, 1176 (7th Cir.1995); Griffin v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n Int'l, 32 F.3d 1079, 1083 (7th Cir.1994); cf. Filippo, 141 F.3d at 749 (). Judicial review of union representational activity is nonetheless "highly deferential." McKelvin v. E.J. Brach Corp., 124 F.3d 864, 867 (7th Cir. 1997). This deference stems from the fact that "Congress did not intend courts to interfere with the decisions of the employee's chosen bargaining representative." Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted); see also O'Neill, 499 U.S. at 78, 111 S.Ct. 1127 ().
The arbitrariness test, for example, is "quite forgiving." Garcia, 58 F.3d at 1176. A union acts arbitrarily only if, in light of the factual and legal landscape at the time, its actions are "so far outside a wide range of reasonableness as to be irrational." O'Neill, 499 U.S. at 67, 111 S.Ct. 1127. In the grievance context, this translates into the following principle: "so long as a colorable argument could be made at the time of the union's decision to drop its support...
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...29 U.S.C. § 159(a)." [8] at 4; see also Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 177, (1967); Adamiec v. Gas Workers Union, Local 18007 Serv. Employees' Int'l Union, AFL-CIO, 18 F. Supp. 2d 855, 860 (N.D. Ill. 1998). Defendants argue in their motion to dismiss that Plaintiff has not alleged and cannot ......