Cornell University v. UAW Local 2300, United Auto. Aerospace and Agr. Implement Workers of America, 1274

• Decision Date: 14 August 1991
• Docket Number: D,No. 1274,1274
• Citation: 942 F.2d 138
• Parties: 138 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2427, 119 Lab.Cas. P 10,883, 69 Ed. Law Rep. 701 In the Matter of the Application of: CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Petitioner-Appellee, v. For a Judgment Staying the Arbitration Commenced by UAW LOCAL 2300, UNITED AUTOMOBILE AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, (Health Insurance Changes/Cost), Respondent- Appellant. ocket 90-9100.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 138

942 F.2d 138

138 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2427, 119 Lab.Cas. P 10,883,

69 Ed. Law Rep. 701

In the Matter of the Application of: CORNELL UNIVERSITY,

Petitioner-Appellee, v. For a Judgment Staying the Arbitration Commenced by UAW

LOCAL 2300, UNITED AUTOMOBILE AEROSPACE AND

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF

AMERICA, (Health Insurance

Changes/Cost),

Respondent-

Appellant.

No. 1274, Docket 90-9100.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued April 12, 1991.

Decided Aug. 14, 1991.

Alicia Lynch, New York City (Thomas J. Giblin, Giblin & Lynch, Union, N.J. and New York City, Laurence F. Sovik, Smith, Sovik, Kendrick, Schwarzer & Sugnet, P.C., Syracuse, N.Y., of counsel), for respondent-appellant UAW Local 2300, United Auto. Aerospace and Agr. Implement Workers of America.

Stanley L. Goodman, New York City (Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman, P.A., New York City, of counsel to Walter J. Relihan, Jr., Walter J. Relihan, Jr., Thomas Mead Santoro, Ithaca, N.Y., of counsel), for petitioner-appellee Cornell University.

Before CARDAMONE and MAHONEY, Circuit Judges, and McKENNA, District Judge. ^*

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

UAW Local 2300, United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (union or Local 2300), appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (McCurn, J.), entered November 21, 1990, granting Cornell University summary judgment. The issue on this appeal is a simple one: when a Collective Bargaining Agreement enumerates those matters subject to arbitration, may it reasonably be inferred that those not enumerated are excluded; or, must all those matters that are not specifically excluded by the Agreement be included within it and subject to arbitration. We think the answer to the question is found generally in the Latin maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius--specific inclusion of one thing is the exclusion of another.

I

Local 2300, representing certain employees of Cornell University, and Cornell University are parties to a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (Agreement) effective from June 30, 1988 to June 30, 1992. It contains, in Article XI, a clause stating that an arbitrable grievance is "any matter involving the interpretation or application of this Agreement which alleges a violation of the rights of an employee or the Union under the terms of this Agreement." It further states, in Article XXXIV, that if Cornell changes the Cornell Health Care Plan it must notify the union prior to implementation of the proposed changes.

The Health Care Plan referred to has been in existence for a number of years and now covers almost 10,000 Cornell employees, including the approximately 1,000 Local 2300 bargaining unit members and 250 other employees employed in three bargaining units represented by other unions. In the past ten years, Cornell has changed employee contribution levels, plan provisions, and plan designs of the Health Care Plan without the involvement of Local 2300 or the other unions.

During the negotiations leading up to the Agreement, the union made several proposals that Cornell rejected. The proposals thereafter were incorporated in a letter of understanding, and included a clause that stated the union and Cornell agree to establish a health insurance committee for the purpose of cost containment and for review of health insurance plan information. The letter is silent on the subject of arbitration.

In the fall of 1989, Cornell announced changes to the Health Care Plan and notified the union of the changes. Believing that the university had ignored the joint employer-union health insurance committee created by the letter, the union filed a grievance seeking to make Cornell rescind the changes and to abide by the letter's terms. Dissatisfied with the decision reached by the university official authorized to hear the grievance, the union sought arbitration before the American Arbitration Association. Cornell asserted that the claim was not arbitrable since it did not constitute a grievance under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The union replied that the grievance was arbitrable because the letter was part of the Agreement.

The university obtained a stay of the arbitration pending disposition of a petition it had filed in New York State Supreme Court. The union thereupon removed the case to federal court and filed an answer and counterclaim alleging Cornell breached the Agreement by refusing to arbitrate the dispute. Both parties moved for summary judgment. Judge McCurn granted Cornell's summary judgment motion, denied the union's motion for the same relief, and dismissed the union's counterclaim seeking arbitration and damages. This appeal followed. We affirm.

II

Contending that matters not specifically excluded by the parties to a Collective Bargaining Agreement "come within the scope of [its] grievance and arbitration provisions," United Steelworkers of America v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 581, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1352, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960), the union insists that it...