Blaszczyk v. Horace T. Potts Co.
| Decision Date | 06 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 83-5124. |
| Citation | 591 F. Supp. 871 |
| Parties | Stanley A. BLASZCZYK v. HORACE T. POTTS COMPANY and Warehouse Employees Union Local 169. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
David R. Black, Media, Pa., for plaintiff.
Richard E. Geschke, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., for Horace T. Potts Co.
Bruce E. Endy, Meranze, Katz, Spear and Wilderman, Philadelphia, Pa., for Warehouse Employees' Union Local 169.
Plaintiff's complaint seeks equitable relief and money damages against defendant employer for allegedly discharging plaintiff in violation of a collective bargaining agreement. The complaint also seeks money damages against defendant union for allegedly failing to pursue plaintiff's grievance against the employer in violation of the union's duty of fair representation. The equity complaint was originally filed in the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, but was properly removed to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441. The defendants have moved for summary judgment. The motions will be granted.
The material facts are not in dispute. Plaintiff commenced his employment with the Horace T. Potts Company (Potts) in late January, 1973. At that time, plaintiff was required to become a member of the Warehouse Employees' Union Local 169 (the Union), the exclusive bargaining representative at Potts. Under the terms of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, special or "super"-seniority was granted to the Shop Committee, consisting of the shop stewards at Potts. Plaintiff was duly elected shop steward of the Stainless Steel Division of Potts.
Sometime in January, 1982, plaintiff was transferred from the Stainless Steel Division, located in an adjacent building, back to the main warehouse at Potts. At some point prior to being laid-off on July 23, 1982, plaintiff spoke by phone with Sonny Hill, a Union vice president. Plaintiff was informed that as a result of being transferred back to the main warehouse from the Stainless Steel Division, he had lost his stewardship and thus his "super" -seniority status. Plaintiff then filled out a grievance form which he gave to his supervisor on July 30, 1982. The grievance stated plaintiff's belief that his stewardship had been taken away from him for unjustifiable reasons and was therefore in violation of the bargaining agreement.
Plaintiff learned some three to four weeks later that the grievance had been denied.1 Because this sequence of events is crucial to disposition of this case, extensive reference to plaintiff's deposition testimony is necessary.
Mr. Blaszczyk stated at his deposition:
Q. What is the next thing that you heard about your grievance?
A. Three or four weeks later.
Q. What did you hear three or four weeks later?
A. It was denied.
Q. How did you hear?
A. Within the three to four weeks that my grievance was turned in, I called up to find out whether it was answered. A week, two weeks, and there was no answer.
Finally, I called up Joe Thompson, and he told me it was answered, and he had a copy of my grievance. I went down and picked it up.
Q. Did Thompson tell you how it was answered?
A. No.
.....
Q. Weren't you curious about how it was answered?
A. Well, he did say it was denied. That's common, but I expected that anyway.
Q. Why did you expect that?
A. Why wouldn't I? I mean, from what Sonny Hill told me, I thought to myself, well, this grievance only was a procedure that I had to go through and when I filled it out, like I said, I expected it was going to be denied, and I started taking legal action.
Q. Is that when you consulted Mr. Black?
A. No, it wasn't.
Q. So, you expected the grievance to be turned down or denied because of what Sonny Hill had already told you?
A. Right.
Q. The reason you filed the grievance was so you could exhaust whatever procedures you had to exhaust before you could take other legal action?
A. Right.
Q. What other legal action were you planning?
A. Well, I felt that I was taken away my stewardship and my position, and I wanted to retain them back.
Q. When did you go to Mr. Thompson to pick up your grievance?
A. I don't know. It was about three or four weeks, when the grievance was answered.
Q. But, eventually, you made a visit to the plant in person?
A. Yes, I think so.
Q. Did Mr. Thompson give you a copy of this document?
A. Yes.
Q. When you got the copy, was this portion of the document filled out under disposition of grievance step B the words, "no case"?
A. I can't recall.
Q. But you were certain, in your mind, that the grievance had been denied?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have a conversation with Mr. Thompson on the day that you picked up the grievance?
A. No, not really. We weren't allowed to talk to employees on company time.
Q. Did you make any effort to get ahold of Sonny Hill again?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. The day you got his grievance, did you make any effort to call 169?
A. No, I haven't.
Q. Did Mr. Thompson tell you that there had been a meeting between the union and the company to discuss your grievance?
A. Not in those words. He said they were going to have a meeting with grievances discussed. There were more than one grievance.
Q. Did he say that they would discuss your grievance?
A. I can't recall if he discussed it or they discussed it. I can't recall what he said, but he said my name was mentioned.
Q. Was this before or after you picked up a copy of this from Mr. Thompson?
A. It was after.
....
Q. After you got this grievance from Mr. Thompson, did you ask Mr. Thompson to do anything else on your behalf?
A. I took it as I don't think he could have done anything for me.
Q. I don't understand that.
A. Meaning, since the grievance was denied and I really didn't think he could help me at all any more.
Q. Let me see if I understand this correctly.
You did not call the union or ask Sonny Hill or Andy O'Hara or anybody else from the union to do anything for you after you got this grievance; isn't that right?
A. True.
Q. I understand now that you are telling me you did not ask Mr. Thompson to do anything more for you because you felt he could not, for whatever reason?
A. Right. Well, I was laid off, the grievance was denied. The only conversation I had with Thompson was prior to other meetings that he would call me if my name was mentioned.
Q. You were aware, weren't you, that there was a contract between the company and the union?
A. Yes.
Q. It is sometimes called a collective bargaining agreement or a labor agreement?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you familiar with that contract?
A. Yes.
Q. You were aware that it had a grievance procedure in it; is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you aware that that grievance procedure had certain steps in it?
A. Yes.
Q. Is it fair to say that you filed this document, Blaszczyk Exhibit-1, with Jerry Bradley because that was the first step of the grievance procedure?
A. Be more specific. I don't follow.
Q. Did you give your grievance to Mr. Bradley because Mr. Bradley was the first step of the grievance procedure?
A. Yes, I believe it was. You turn in your grievances to any supervisor, whatever shift you are on.
Q. Are you aware that the last step of that grievance procedure can be arbitration?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you ask Mr. Thompson to take your case to arbitration?
A. No. We discussed it, but nothing was really said about it.
Q. I don't understand that. You discussed it?
A. Well, I mentioned to him that I would like to take it to arbitration, and he said "We'll do what you want."
Then, that was it, the end of it, and I never went farther than that.
Q. Did you ever ask Sonny Hill to take your case to arbitration?
A. No.
Q. Did you ever ask any other union officer or employee to take your case to arbitration?
A. No.
Q. When was it that you had this discussion about arbitration with Mr. Thompson?
A. Prior to — on the phone, I guess, from after I received the grievance. I usually talked to him on the phone.
Q. You mean after you got the denial back?
A. Yeah.
Q. But was this just a casual mention of arbitration with Thompson? Better yet, I will withdraw the question.
Tell me, to the best of your recollection, what did you say, what did he say?
A. I can't recall.
Q. Did you believe that the union would not take this case to arbitration?
A. I believed they wouldn't, no.
Q. When did you form that belief?
A. Well, after the grievance was denied.
Q. So, you were not waiting for some word from some other union officer about taking your case to arbitration, were you?
A. No. I said before that I was only waiting for Joe Thompson's remarks from other meetings that were going to be held throughout the company.
The last meeting, I can't recall, but like I said, my name was mentioned, but nothing has been done about it.
Q. It was after that that you got back the grievance was denied?
A. Yeah.
Q. You knew, then, that the union would not take your case to arbitration?
A. Right.
Q. In fact, you never asked them to take it to arbitration, did you?
A. No, I never did. No.
On a motion for summary judgment, the moving party bears the burden of proving that there are no genuine issues of material fact. The non-moving party is entitled to have all inferences viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and doubts as to the existence of genuine issues of fact are to be resolved against the moving party. Hollinger v. Wagner Mining Equipment Co., 667 F.2d 402, 405 (3d Cir.1981).
In Del Costello v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983), the Supreme Court had opportunity to decide the applicable statute of limitations in a case where an employee alleges that the employer had breached a provision of a collective bargaining agreement, and that the union had breached its duty of fair representation by mishandling the ensuing grievance — and — arbitration...
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