Bricklayers' Local Union No. 14, Intern. Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsman, AFL-CIO v. Colasanti Corp., AFL-CIO
| Decision Date | 23 June 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-1482,AFL-CIO,91-1482 |
| Citation | 968 F.2d 1214 |
| Parties | 140 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2744 NOTICE: Sixth Circuit Rule 24(c) states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Sixth Circuit. BRICKLAYERS' LOCAL UNION # 14, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF BRICKLAYERS AND ALLIED CRAFTSMAN,, a voluntary unincorporated labor organization, Plaintiff-Appellant, Bricklayers & Trowel Trades' International Pension Fund; Bricklayers Industry Advancement Fund; Bricklayers Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, Plaintiffs, v. COLASANTI CORPORATION, a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Michigan, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Before MARTIN and MILBURN, Circuit Judges, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.
Bricklayers' Local Union # 14 appeals the district court's decision granting summary judgment to the Colasanti Corporation. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
Colasanti is a Michigan-based structural concrete contractor. Local 14 is a union local that governs various construction trades including cement masons. Local 14's "geographical jurisdiction" is Washtenaw County, Michigan, and portions of Livingston County, Michigan. Local 14's union authority over cement masons does not, however, extend to the three-county area surrounding Detroit. Thus, in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties three other union locals govern cement masons: (1) Cement Masons, Local 514 in Detroit, (2) Cement Masons, Local 29 in Pontiac, Michigan, and (3) Cement Masons, Local 26 in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
On August 6, 1987, the Washtenaw Contractors Association entered into a collective bargaining agreement with Local 14 effective from August 6, 1987, until July 31, 1990. Under the agreement, the Washtenaw Contractors Association recognized Local 14 as the sole collective bargaining agent for employees who (1) were represented by Local 14, and (2) worked on an association member's construction project if the project was located in Local 14's jurisdiction. The agreement contained numerous provisions including a provision setting forth the hourly compensation for cement masons. Although Colasanti was not a member of the Washtenaw Contractors Association, the company became bound by the Local 14 collective bargaining agreement by signing a "memorandum of agreement" for "non-association contractors." The memorandum stated that Colasanti agreed to be bound by all the terms of the Local 14 collective bargaining agreement. The agreement also stated:
[Colasanti], by its authorized agent who has executed this Agreement, hereby affirms that it has read the collective bargaining agreement attached hereto and that it is familiar with its terms, and [Colasanti] hereby adopts and accepts the attached agreement in its entirety as the basis upon which it will employ members of Local Union No. 14 MI.
(emphasis added)
This case gets more complicated because at all times relevant to this litigation Colasanti was a member of a Detroit contractors' association. In the 1980's, this association entered into a collective bargaining agreement with Local 514, Local 29, and Local 26. Because Colasanti was a member of the association, it became bound by the collective bargaining agreement between the contractors' association and the three Detroit-area unions. The agreement, which was effective from June 1, 1987, until June 1, 1989, governed working conditions for the locals' cement masons on any construction project located in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb County. Thus, the agreement set forth the hourly compensation for cement masons.
In 1987, Colasanti began working on a construction project in Washtenaw County that required the use of cement masons. Washtenaw County, of course, was part of Local 14's cement masons' jurisdiction. A majority of the cement masons that Colasanti used on the project were members of Local 14, and Colasanti paid these cement masons according to the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between Local 14 and the Washtenaw Contractors Association. Colasanti, however, also used several of the corporation's permanent cement masons who were members of Local 514, Local 29, or Local 26. Colasanti paid these cement masons according to the collective bargaining agreement between the Detroit contractors' association and the three Detroit-area unions.
In 1989, a Local 14 audit of Colasanti's records revealed that Colasanti had paid cement masons who were members of the Detroit-area unions according to the Detroit collective bargaining agreement even though the construction project was located within Local 14's jurisdiction. On June 19, 1989, four plaintiffs filed an action against Colasanti alleging that the company had breached Local 14's collective bargaining agreement because the corporation (1) did not pay wages to all cement masons according to Local 14's collective bargaining agreement; (2) did not pay union dues to Local 14 on behalf of all cement masons; and (3) did not pay fringe benefit contributions to all cement masons according to Local 14's collective bargaining agreement.
Subsequently, the plaintiffs and Colasanti filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment to Colasanti after ruling there was nothing in Local 14's collective bargaining agreement that imposed a duty on Colasanti to pay members of the three Detroit-area unions in accordance with Local 14's agreement. All four of the plaintiffs appealed from the district court's...
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