Chambers v. Local Union No. 639

• Decision Date: 23 February 1978
• Docket Number: No. 76-1006,76-1006
• Citation: 188 U.S. App. D.C. 133,578 F.2d 375
• Parties: 97 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2823, 188 U.S.App.D.C. 133, 83 Lab.Cas. P 10,379 James W. CHAMBERS et al., Appellants, v. LOCAL UNION NO. 639, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 375

578 F.2d 375

97 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2823, 188 U.S.App.D.C. 133,

83 Lab.Cas. P 10,379

James W. CHAMBERS et al., Appellants, v. LOCAL UNION NO. 639, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, et al.

No. 76-1006.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Sept. 13, 1976.

Decided Feb. 23, 1978.

John V. Long, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Charles P. O'Connor, Washington, D. C., with whom Thomas K. Wotring, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee Kane Transfer Co.

S. G. Lippman, ^* Washington, D. C., with whom Thomas J. Hart,* Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee, Local 639 International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Before TAMM, ^** MacKINNON and WILKEY, Circuit Judges.

Opinion filed by MacKINNON, Circuit Judge.

Concurring statement filed by WILKEY, Circuit Judge.

MacKINNON, Circuit Judge:

An issue of relatively recent origin is involved in this case: to what extent the requirement of exhaustion of non-judicial avenues to relief shall be followed in the field of labor-management relations. Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 85 S.Ct. 614, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965), held that an employee must first attempt to pursue the grievance-arbitration mechanism of the collective bargaining contract, if any exists, before a federal court can entertain a section 301, 29 U.S.C. § 185, ¹ breach of contract suit. Two years later, in a case involving a claim of unlawful discharge, which the union had refused to take to arbitration, the court held that, on the facts of that case, failure to invoke that process could be excused only upon proof that the union breached its duty of fair representation. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). The Court had previously held that when an arbitration proceeding was followed to its conclusion, the decision of the arbitrator was entitled to a great deal of respect. United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). When an arbitrator's award upheld management's position, the employer could rely on his contractual right to have the arbitration decision become final and binding unless, once again, the union's representation of the employee was proven faulty. Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, 424 U.S. 554, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976).

Chambers, et al., in the present appeal raise the question whether existing law should be carried one step further to the area of processing internal union complaints. Specifically, we are asked to determine to what extent an employee, whose claim that his employer and the union violated the collective bargaining agreement is augmented by a claim of the union's breach of its duty of fair representation, must pursue an internal union complaint procedure. This issue is the expected outgrowth of the Steelworkers-Maddox-Vaca-Hines development, which placed new importance upon the suit for breach of a union's duty of fair representation as a prerequisite for suit on a collective bargaining contract. The issue also comes to us against the background of extensive case law development concerning the suit for breach of a union's duty, and with the support of the Landrum-Griffin Act from which we may receive guidance.

I. FACTUAL SETTING

The issue here is a familiar one: the accommodation of seniority rosters from two separate plants. In March of 1973, plaintiff-appellants, employees of Kane Transfer (hereafter, Kane), were laid off from a Tuxedo, Maryland plant for which Kane furnished trucking services. Kane Transfer had a "contract" account ² at another company, Grand Union, and appellants sought to bump into the seniority roster at that plant and displace drivers there who had less seniority. When they were denied that right, appellants brought a grievance to have the seniority rosters merged (dovetailed), claiming such right under Article 43, section 9 of the National Master Freight Agreement:

(This section) sets forth the seniority rights of employees of companies with "contract" and "house" accounts:

. . . with respect to such accounts, drivers on those jobs shall remain on the jobs they came to the Company with, or have gained by vacancies, or the increasing of trucks on such jobs after having been duly posted for bid and the only time Company seniority shall apply is when an older Company employee must be laid off because of lack of work in any Company job. The driver laid off can then "bump" a "House" or "Contract" account job, provided the length of time before regular seniority shall apply on such accounts as the result of general layoff shall be sixty (60) calendar days. When working conditions improve, permitting the senior driver or drivers to return to their former job, the account driver shall claim and return to his former job, and the "bumped" driver shall return also to his former job or to a position on the extra board according to his seniority.

(App. 30). ^***

On April 9, 1973, the grievance hearing was held as called for by the collective bargaining agreement. The minutes of that meeting report Employees from Tuxedo seniority list, who are on lay off status should have the right to bump into the seniority list at the Kane Grand Union operation . . .

Union position: . . . This deep cut into the seniority list at Tuxedo has caused several problems which has prompted the employees to allege contract violations on the part of Kane Transfer.

The specific grievances are as follows:

1. Employees on layoff status at Kane Tuxedo are not permitted to bump into Kane Grand Union, which is a contract account, as provided in Article 43, Section 9(a).

Company position: . . . Now general Freight Employees who are on lay-off status want to bump in on the house account.

. . . It was decided that the Company would take the position that General Freight drivers could not bump into the house account, present it to the panel and abide by the panel's decision.

Decision: The panel meeting in executive session, a motion was made, seconded and passed that the claim of the Union is upheld.

Exhibit B, Appendix, Union Brief.

This decision is hereafter referred to as the April 9, 1973 decision. In accordance therewith Kane notified Tuxedo drivers of their right to employment at Grand Union. The plaintiffs were among those so notified; but by September, 1973, it became clear to them, from their work week assignments, that they had not obtained dovetailed seniority. Then on September 12, 1973 (Union Brief p. 11 n. 5) through the union, as required by the collective bargaining agreement, they brought a second grievance, complaining that "there is no confusion about the final (bumping) decision" of April 9, 1973 but that they were entitled to back pay for Saturday work and when not called for Monday work. The basis of this claim was that the split-week work violated the specific provisions of Article 60 of the Agreement (App. 37). Thereafter, on or about October 1, 1973, Kane, "because of constant pressure from both transferred and existing employees unilaterally posted a seniority list . . . in which the Kane Tuxedo employees were dovetailed into the Grand Union seniority list." (Union Brief p. 11). This met with great consternation among the original Grand Union drivers, and the list was removed by Kane.

The grievance over the split-week then proceeded along the course set out in Article 45 of the Maryland-District of Columbia Supplemental Agreement to the National Master Agreement. Detwiler, the business agent for Local 639, then appeared on October 19, 1973 at a hearing on the grievance before the Maryland-District of Columbia Joint Area Committee. Neither Chambers nor any other grievant was present at this hearing. Nor were they notified of the hearing. Nor were they advised of the decision reached by the committee until after February 25, 1974 (the date they started their lawsuit) (App. 109). The union states that a union secretary neglected to send them the notice of the meeting. (Deposition of Detwiler, pp. 39-40, 53). Be that as it may, the hearing could have been postponed until they were notified and were able to be present if they so wished. And this attempted explanation does not constitute an excuse for not advising them of the result of that hearing and that the union had switched its position and had urged a reversal of the prior final decision on seniority which had not even been included in the article 60 grievance the second grievance. "At the hearing Detwiler opposed the position of the grievants" (Union Brief p. 11) and "used the pending grievances (under Article 60) . . . as a means to bring up (the earlier final decision on the first grievance)" (Union Brief n. 14). In its decision, the Committee "deadlocked" and because of this it is contended that "no prejudice to appellants occurred." However, if appellants had been afforded an opportunity to argue their position, appellants might have prevailed or at least have prevented the Committee from trying to undo a final arbitration decision that was not before them. All that was needed was to convince one more person. Since the decision had deadlocked the dispute went to the Eastern Conference Joint Area Committee. While this process was pending, plaintiffs on February 25, 1974 commenced this suit in federal district court.

On April 3, 1974, the district court dismissed the complaint for failure to exhaust the then on-going contract remedies. Shortly thereafter, the Eastern Conference Joint Area Committee hearing took place on April 22, 1974, at which plaintiffs, but not their counsel, were permitted to present their views. The union sided with management against dovetailing, and the union and Kane contend that the decision went against plaintiffs, though it was stated in ambiguous language. But however the decision may be interpreted, it terminated the hope of private contract redress, because of the finality provision of ...