American Postal Workers Union of Los Angeles, AFL-CIO v. U.S. Postal Service

• Decision Date: 04 November 1988
• Docket Number: AFL-CI,No. 86-6081,P,86-6081
• Citation: 861 F.2d 211
• Parties: 129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2944 AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION OF LOS ANGELES,laintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 211

861 F.2d 211

129 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2944

AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION OF LOS ANGELES, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 86-6081.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Feb. 5, 1987.

Decided Nov. 4, 1988.

Robert D. Vogel, Wohlner, Kaplon, Phillips, Vogel, Shelley & Young, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.

Kevin B. Rachel, Office of Labor Law, U.S. Postal Service, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before BROWNING, TANG and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The American Postal Workers Union of Los Angeles (Local Union) appeals the district court's dismissal for lack of standing of its action to vacate an arbitration award on the ground that the arbitrator should have granted its request for a continuance. The Local Union contends that there are factual disputes and legal errors in the district court's decision which require reversal of its standing decision. The United States Postal Service (USPS) argues there was no error but that dismissal of the complaint could also be upheld on the alternative ground that the arbitrator's award should be enforced. We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

Raul D. Smith, a motor vehicle operator at the Los Angeles Post Office, was discharged for allegedly operating a postal vehicle without a valid driver's license. The Local filed a grievance on Smith's behalf in accordance with the grievance-arbitration provisions of the National Agreement, asserting the USPS lacked just cause for discharging Smith. After USPS management denied the grievance at the first three steps of the grievance procedure, the Local Union's authorized Western Regional Representative, Raydell Moore, certified the grievance for arbitration.

An arbitrator scheduled a hearing for July 15, 1985, but the Local Union claims not to have received notice of the hearing. On the day of the hearing Jose Nunez, President of the Local, came to the hearing in response to a telephone call to explain that the Local had been unaware of the scheduled hearing and was unprepared to proceed. Nunez asked for a continuance. The arbitrator determined that notice had been sent to the Local and denied the request for a continuance. Nunez left the hearing and the arbitrator took evidence only from the USPS. The arbitrator offered On November 21, 1985 the Local filed its complaint in district court, seeking to vacate the award on the ground the arbitrator should have granted the continuance. The USPS moved for dismissal or summary judgment on the grounds that the Local Union did not have standing to challenge the arbitration award and that the award was entitled to judicial deference even if the Local did have standing. The district court determined the Local did not have standing because it did not have written authorization from the National President and dismissed the action. The Local Union timely appeals.

the Local an opportunity to submit arguments within two weeks but it did not do so. On August 20, 1985, the arbitrator issued his award sustaining the discharge.

ANALYSIS

I. Standard of Review

Standing is a question of law reviewed de novo. Bruce v. United States, 759 F.2d 755, 758 (9th Cir.1985).

The Local argues that the district court's order should be construed as a grant of summary judgment because the court relied on documents beyond the pleadings. If it is so construed, the Local argues that the grant of summary judgment should be reversed because there are material facts in dispute. The district court based its decision solely on its interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement, which was attached to the Local's complaint. The Local is not contesting facts relative to the standing question, but the interpretation of the agreement. As for the facts supporting the Local's arguments that it had implied or actual authority to contest the arbitration award, the facts are not in dispute; the district court merely held them to be legally insufficient.

The district court properly considered the preliminary question of standing as a limitation on its jurisdiction. Even though it had to consider affidavits beyond the pleadings, such a review does not convert the preliminary hearing on standing into a summary judgment procedure. See e.g., Doherty v. Rutgers School of Law-Newark, 651 F.2d 893, 898 n. 6 (3d Cir.1981) (Since plaintiff failed to adduce, by affidavit or otherwise, any evidence to support a conclusory allegation that would have established standing, a dismissal for lack of standing was proper.). This is the preferred disposition of a standing question because "[t]he plaintiff's obligation to establish standing should not be passed to the defendant by the simple device of waiting for a summary judgment motion." 13A C. Wright, A. Miller, and E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure: Jurisdiction 2d Sec. 3531.15, at 99 (1984).

The issue before this court is whether the district court erred in deciding the Local Union lacked standing as a matter of law.

II. Standing

For the sake of clarity we note at the outset that the argument over "standing" in this case has little to do with the constitutional doctrine of standing developed under article III of the United States Constitution. Even if the Local Union is not a party to the collective bargaining agreement, it did represent the Local's interests in the arbitration and stands to lose or gain from our decision, thus it has a sufficient stake in the outcome to have article III standing. See American Postal Workers Union v. USPS, 823 F.2d 466, 477 (11th Cir.1987); American Postal Workers Union v. USPS, 595 F.Supp. 403, 413 (D.Conn.1984) (Objection to standing without merit because "the main requirement for standing under Article III is 'injury in fact,' Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, 438 U.S. 59, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978), and there is no question that the union may assert its members' rights, NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488 (1958)"), rev'd on other grounds, 766 F.2d 715 (2d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1046, 106 S.Ct. 1262, 89 L.Ed.2d 572 (1986). As the Eleventh Circuit has explained, the Postal Service actually contends not that the Local Union lacks constitutional standing but contractual authorization to bring suit, which is akin to the capacity to sue. Postal Workers, 823 F.2d at 477.

There are several possible sources of the Local Union's claimed authority to seek to vacate the arbitration award in this case. The district court considered only the terms of the collective bargaining agreement to reach its conclusion that the Local must have written authorization from the National Union and that such authorization was lacking here.

The district court held that oral authorization conveyed in a telephone conversation between the Local's counsel and the National Union's counsel, unsupported by any written authority in the constitution or by-laws, was legally insufficient to confer standing on the Local Union, relying on Pittsburgh Metro Area Postal Workers Union v. United States Postal Service, 463 F.Supp. 54 (W.D.Pa.1978), aff'd, 609 F.2d 503 (3d Cir.1979) (mem.), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 950, 100 S.Ct. 1598, 63 L.Ed.2d 785 (1980). Pittsburgh Metro held that Metro lacked the right to enforce contract provisions without the permission of the national organization and that it had made no showing of a special grant, "i.e. pursuant to the national union's constitution or by-laws." 463 F.Supp. at 57.

The district court held in this case that the oral permission could not be viewed as a special grant without some showing of written authorization for such a procedure in the constitution or by-laws. Because the Local did not provide the court with a copy of the Union's constitution or by-laws, the district court assessed the need for written authorization to seek judicial review of an arbitration award by reviewing the collective bargaining agreement, Art. 15.4A(2), which states:

No grievance may be arbitrated at the National level except when timely notice of appeal is given the Employer in writing by the National President of the Union involved. No grievance may be appealed to arbitration at the Regional level except when timely notice of appeal is given in writing to the appropriate Regional official of the Employer by the certified representative of the Union in the particular Region. Such representative shall be certified to appeal grievances by the National President of the Union to the Employer at the National level.

The district court read this passage to say that "in order for a local union to have standing to arbitrate, it would have to have written authorization from the national president of the union." We disagree. This language does not require the National President to authorize arbitration at the regional level, only at the national level. The provision also says nothing about certification of authority being in writing; the required written notices are to the employer, not to the union representatives. Even if the authorization to appeal grievances to arbitration were required to be in writing, we see no compelling reason to agree with the district court that "in order to seek judicial review of an arbitration award, consistency would require written authorization from the national president of the union, unless the constitution or by-laws provide otherwise." See Postal Workers, 823 F.2d at 477 (the collective bargaining agreement restricts the right of locals to take claims to arbitration, not the right to contest arbitration or seek enforcement in court).

The district court noted that a local union's standing could only derive from proper authorization from the national union because it is the national union which is a party to the collective bargaining agreement with the...