Apogee Coal v. Intern. Union, United Mine Workers

• Citation: 12 F.Supp.2d 19
• Decision Date: 11 June 1998
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 98-558(SS).,CIV.A. 98-558(SS).
• Parties: APOGEE COAL CO., Lone Mountain Processing, Inc., and Cumberland River Coal Co., Plaintiffs and Counter-defendants, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant and Counter-claimant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

12 F.Supp.2d 19

APOGEE COAL CO., Lone Mountain Processing, Inc., and Cumberland River Coal Co., Plaintiffs and Counter-defendants, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Defendant and Counter-claimant.

No. CIV.A. 98-558(SS).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

June 11, 1998.

Ellen Moran Dwyer, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.

Deborah Stern, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SPORKIN, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the Plaintiffs and Defendant's cross motions for summary judgment. Plaintiff Apogee Coal Company produces bituminous coal in Illinois, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Apogee is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arch Coal, Inc. Plaintiffs Lone Mountain Processing, Inc. and Cumberland River Coal Company are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Catenary Coal Holdings, Inc., which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arch Coal. Defendant United Mine Workers of America ("UMWA") represents Apogee's employees for collective bargaining purposes. In 1993, the UMWA and Apogee, together with other members of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association ("BCOA") negotiated the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1993 ("NBCWA"), a collective bargaining agreement that set the terms and conditions of employment for UMWA members employed at signatory operations. Neither Lone Mountain nor Cumberland River is a signatory or bound by the provisions of the NBCWA.

Following the negotiation of the NBCWA, Apogee negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Job Opportunities (the "MOU") with the UMWA. Apogee executed the MOU as an agent of its parent corporation, Arch Coal, and Arch's nonsignatory coal companies, including Lone Mountain and Cumberland River. The MOU requires nonsignatory operators, including Lone Mountain and Cumberland River, to offer the first three out of every five new job openings to laid-off or active Apogee miners. Pursuant to the terms of the MOU, disputes alleging a breach of its terms are arbitrated by Mr. William J. Usery, the Chairman of the Labor Management Policy Committee ("LMPC").

On May 27, 1997, the Defendant, UMWA, filed a complaint with Mr. Herbert Fishgold (the person designated by Chairman Usery to monitor compliance with the MOU) claiming that Lone Mountain and Cumberland River had breached the MOU by failing to hire three applicants who were members of Apogee. UNWA claimed that Loan Mountain and Cumberland River had discriminated against three employees at Apogee because of their union activity. Cumberland River and Loan Mountain claimed that the applicants failed to pass mandatory equipment tests. A hearing was held before Mr. Fishgold, who issued a Proposed Decision and Award on October 17, 1997. Mr. Fishgold's Proposed Decision found that neither Lone Mountain nor Cumberland River denied employment to the three Miner Applicants because of their union activity. Although he found no discrimination, Mr. Fishgold ordered Lone Mountain and Cumberland River to, among other things, provide the three applicants with an opportunity to re-take the equipment tests, to have a non-employee UMWA representative observe the equipment tests, and to have a 60-day trial period to demonstrate that the applicants were qualified for the position. See Job Monitor's Proposed Decision and Award (Oct. 17, 1997), at 14. The Plaintiffs objected to the Proposed Decision and Award and the Defendant filed its responses.

On February 8, 1998, Mr. Usery issued a Final Decision. In his Decision, Chairman Usery, like Mr. Fishgold, concluded that the three applicants had not been discriminated against because of their union activity. However, the Chairman held that Lone Mountain and Cumberland River could not disqualify MOU applicants solely because they failed regularly-administered equipment tests. See Final Decision of the Chairman: Findings of Fact, Conclusions, and Remedy (Feb. 9, 1998) ("Final Decision"), at 12. As a remedy, the Chairman ordered Lone Mountain to allow the three applicants to re-take its equipment tests. See id. at 13. In the event they again failed the tests, he ordered Lone Mountain to hire each applicant for a trial period of 60 days to see whether they were qualified for a position. See id. at 13-14.

The Plaintiffs claim that the Chairman exceeded the scope of his jurisdiction. The Plaintiffs do not contest the Chairman's jurisdiction to determine the issue of whether the Plaintiffs had discriminated against the applicants. The Plaintiffs claim that the Chairman's jurisdiction was limited only to this issue because this was the sole issue raised in the complaint before Mr. Fishgold. The Plaintiffs argue that the Chairman went beyond this issue when he determined that the Plaintiffs had improperly excluded the applicants based exclusively on the test results. Accordingly, the Plaintiffs request that the Court vacate all those portions of the Chairman's award dealing with this "extraneous" issue and affirm the Chairman's finding that the Plaintiffs had not discriminated against the applicants.

"`[A]rbitration is a matter of contract and a party cannot be required to submit to arbitration any dispute which he has not agreed so to submit,'" AT & T Technologies, Inc. v. Communications Workers, 475 U.S. 643, 648, 106 S.Ct. 1415, 89 L.Ed.2d 648 (1986) (quoting United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 582, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960)). The issue in this case concerns Chairman Usery's interpretation of the scope of the complaint: Was the complaint narrowly limited to the question of whether the Plaintiffs discriminated against the applicants? Or was it broader, involving general issues about the hiring process for the job opportunities provided for in the MOU? The Court's scope of review of an arbitrator's decision is "extremely narrow." American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO v. U.S. Postal Service, 52 F.3d 359, 361 (D.C.Cir.1995). In reviewing arbitration awards, the courts are limited to determining whether the...