Cape Cod Gas Co. v. United Steelworkers of America, Local 13507

• Decision Date: 14 May 1975
• Citation: 3 Mass.App.Ct. 258,327 N.E.2d 748
• Parties: , 89 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2499, 77 Lab.Cas. P 10,884 CAPE COD GAS COMPANY v. UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 13507.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

Page 748

327 N.E.2d 748

3 Mass.App.Ct. 258, 89 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2499,

77 Lab.Cas. P 10,884

CAPE COD GAS COMPANY v. UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 13507.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued May. 20, 1974.

Decided May 14, 1975.

G. Lamar Crittenden, Jr., Boston, for plaintiff.

John .f. McMahon, Boston, for defendant.

Before ROSE, GOODMAN and GRANT, JJ.

GOODMAN, Justice.

This is an application by the plaintiff (the company), filed in the Superior Court under G.L. c. 150C, § 11, to vacate an award made by the board of conciliation and arbitration (board)--see G.L. c. 23, § 7--in an arbitration between the company and the defendant (union), parties to a collective bargaining agreement which provided for arbitration by the board as the final step of a grievance procedure. ¹

The facts out of which the grievance arose, as found by the board and substantially uncontroverted, are as follows: On December 29, 1972, one Ernest Currie, an employee of the company, was assigned to work on the 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. shift on December 31. He was also asked to work the following shift from 4:00 P.M. to midnight. After changing his New Year's plans, he agreed to do so. He was thus scheduled to work two eight-hour shifts 'back to back' on December 31, extending through New Year's Eve. At about 10:00 A.M. on December 31, while working on the first of the two scheduled shifts, he was notified that he would not be needed to work the later shift. He claimed he was entitled to eight hours' pay, and the union and the company jointly referred the controversy to the board under the following submission: 'Did the Company violate the agreement between the parties relative to the grievance of Ernest Currie dated January 1, 1973? If so, what shall the remedy be?'

The board, with the industry member dissenting, 'after having weighed the evidence and arguments of the parties,' made the following award: 'The Company violated the agreement between the parties relative to the grievance of Ernest Currie dated January 1, 1973 . . .. The Board directs that Ernest Currie be awarded 8 hours pay at the appropriate rate for the shift cancelled on Sunday, December 31, 1972.' The company's application to vacate the award was denied in the Superior Court, and judgment was ordered to be entered accordingly. The company appealed to this court. We hold that the Superior Court correctly refused to vacate the award.

The claim was based on the clause of the contract (Art. VI, § 1(e)) insuring that '(e)mployees shall be assigned a definite time to report for work' and providing for advance notice of lack of work and a guarantee of eight hours' work for any employee who reports at his regular time. The submission, made jointly by the parties, thus left to the board the question how, in the circumstances of this case, to deal with the frustration of an employee's expectation of work for which he reported, and the resulting inconvenience. Looking to discover how this not uncommon irritant--the subject matter of Article VI, § 1(e)--had been handled by the parties, the board found that 'the evidence regarding past practice reveals that the company has either paid for or provided 8 hours work for those employees who reported before they were notified of the cancellation of their extra or overtime work.' ²

The award, based on the contract clause informed by the practice, complied precisely with the provision of the arbitration clause that the board may not 'pass upon or decide any question except that which is submitted to them in the Submission Agreement.' (See fn. 1, supra.) Thus '(t)he reference and the award drew their 'essence from the collective bargaining agreement.' Morceau v. Gould-National Batteries, Inc., 344 Mass. 120, 124--125, 181 N.E.2d 664, 667 (1962), citing and quoting from United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). As was said in Greene v. Mari & Sons Flooring Co., Inc., --- Mass. ---, ---, ^a 289 N.E.2d 860, 862 (1972). 'In the instant case, the parties contracted to submit their controversy to an arbitrator for final determination. His decision answered the questions submitted to him and was within the scope of the reference. The parties bargained for his final interpretation of their collective bargaining agreement. They got what they bargained for. ' (Where) the arbitrator's decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts have no business overruling him because their interpretation of the contract is different from his"--citing United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. at 599, 80 S.Ct. at 1362. 'Even a grossly erroneous decision is binding in the absence of fraud.' Trustees of Boston & Maine Corp. v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Authy., --- Mass. ---, ---, ^b 294 N.E.2d 340, 343 (a case of commercial arbitration in which judicial scrutiny is at least no narrower than in a labor arbitration; see United Steelworkers of America v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 578, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960)). ³

The company argues that in dealing with this submission the board was limited by subclause (a) (see fn. 1, supra), which provides that the board may not 'add to . . . or modify any of the terms of this Agreement'--a contention which is open to it. Morceau v. Gould-National Batteries, Inc., 344 Mass. at 124, 181 N.E.2d 664. GREENE V. MARI & SONS FLOORING CO., INC., ---MASS. AT---- ---, 289 N.E.2D 860.^C See School Committee of Hanover v. Curry, --- Mass.App. ---, --- - ---, ^d 325 N.E.2d 282 (1975). This subclause is common in arbitration clauses. See Holly Sugar Corp. v. Distillery, Rectifying, Wine & Allied Wkrs. Int'l Union, AFL-CIO, 412 F.2d 899, 904 (9th Cir. 1969) which characterizes such a subclause as 'boiler--plate.' Indeed, a substantially similar provision was involved in Morceau v. Gould-National Batteries, Inc., 344 Mass. at 123--124, 181 N.E.2d 664, in which the court said (p. 124, 181 N.E.2d p. 667), "(I)n the absence of fraud the decision of the arbitrators is binding even though they may have committed an error of law or fact.' (citing cases) . . . 'The parties received what they agreed to take, the honest judgment of the arbitrator as to a matter referred to him.' (citing cases).'

In United Steelworkers of America v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 565, 80

S.Ct. 1343, 1345, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403, and fn. 1 (1960), the court referred to an arbitration clause containing just such a subclause as 'a provision for arbitration (regarded as the standard form) of all disputes between the parties 'as to the meaning, interpretation and application of the provisions of this agreement. '' The court pointed out, without dealing explicitly with this subclause (p. 567, 80 S.Ct. p. 1346); 'Yet, the agreement is to submit all grievances to arbitration . . .. There is no exception in the 'no strike' clause and none therefore should be read into the grievance clause, since one is the quid pro quo for the other.' In our case, too, in which the contract binds the parties to arbitrate 'any difference . . . between the Company and the Union or its members as to the meaning and application of this Agreement' (see fn. 1, supra) and contains a no-strike clause, the board was empowered to deal with the 'subject submitted to' them. TRUSTEES OF THE BOSTON & MAINE CORP. V. MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSP. AUTHY., --- MASS. AT ---, 294 N.E.2D 340.^E Western Iowa Pork Co. v. National Bhd. Packinghouse & Dairy Wkrs., 366 F.2d 275, 278 (8th Cir. 1966). Humble Oil & Ref. Co. v. Local 866, 447 F.2d 299, 233 (2d Cir. 1971).

The company also seems to argue that subclause (a) (see [3 Mass.App.Ct. 263] fn. 1, supra) somehow precludes the consideration of plant practice. The answer to this contention is found in Humble Oil & Ref. Co. v. Local 866, supra, at 232. The contract there provided for arbitration of a violation of 'an express provision' of the contract; the court in upholding an arbitration award used much the same approach as we adopt. The court said (p. 232): 'In construing the provisions of Article 30--1 of the contract to determine the employees' recall rights, the Chairman made use of a typical battery of construction techniques, relying especially upon the parties' previous practices under predecessor bargaining agreements . . ..' The court further said (pp. 232--233): 'We see nothing in the arbitration clause which forbids resort to such rudimentary tools of construction. If the Board were barred from resorting to bargaining history and rights established under similar language in past contracts, the parties to the contract would be remitted to securing arbitration only when there was a violation of a provision so plain and unambiguous as to require no collateral evidence of intent--and we might add hardly requiring arbitration itself. To emasculate the arbitration clause, absent a more clear and definite intent that the parties intended it to have such a wooden effect and to be construed so antiseptically, would be contrary to the well-recognized presumption in labor law favoring private settlement of labor disputes'---citing the 'Steelworkers trilogy.' ⁴

Similarly, in Western Iowa Pork Co. v. National Bhd. Packinghouse & Dairy Wkrs., 366 F.2d 275, 278 (8th Cir. 1966), the court dealt with a clause (like subclause (a)) that the arbitrator 'shall have no power to add to, subtract from, change or modify any provision of this Agreement but he is authorized only to interpret the specific provisions of this Agreement . . ..' The court said (p. 278): 'This exclusion is broad and general in its application and does little more than repeat the law found in the Enterprise case, supra (363 U.S. at 597, 80 S.Ct. 1358 (1960)), to the effect that an arbitrator is 'confined to interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement.' This exclusion does not clearly take this dispute or the award outside of...