Geddes v. Chrysler Corp., 77-1251

• Decision Date: 30 October 1979
• Docket Number: No. 77-1251,77-1251
• Citation: 608 F.2d 261
• Parties: 102 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2756, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,636 James GEDDES, Shield Kogan and Hugh J. Miller, on behalf of themselves and all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, and the International Union United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America(UAW), Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 261

608 F.2d 261

102 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2756, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,636

James GEDDES, Shield Kogan and Hugh J. Miller, on behalf of themselves and all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, and the International Union United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America(UAW), Defendants-Appellees.

No. 77-1251.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Feb. 20, 1979.

Decided Oct. 30, 1979.

Lawrence S. Katkowsky, Keller & Katkowsky, Southfield, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellants.

John Corbett O'Meara, Philip M. Frost, Dickenson, Wright, McKean, Cudlip & Moon, Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellees.

Marley S. Weiss, Detroit, Mich., for UAW.

Before EDWARDS, Chief Judge, MERRITT, Circuit Judge, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

Appellants are a group of salaried technical and engineering employees of Chrysler Corporation who were organized by the UAW in 1968. Apparently they were rather a select group; at the time they were organized, they were receiving higher salaries and more fringe benefits than other personnel doing similar work. During the organizational campaign, the union made promises, orally and in writing, that their collective bargaining agreement would include a provision that any changes in their status respecting these special benefits could not be imposed unilaterally by the company, but only after negotiation and as part of a general reduction in the benefits received by all employees entitled to those benefits. The employees formed their own bargaining unit within Local 412 which served technical, office and professional personnel in the geographical area. A Letter of Agreement was negotiated ensuring the continuation of the group's special conditions of employment under the collective bargaining agreement.

In 1974, Chrysler notified the UAW that it was closing the offices at the Hamtramck Assembly Plant (where the plaintiffs were working) and that the operations would be resumed at new offices a few miles away at Chrysler's Outer Drive offices. It took the position that this move was a "transfer of operations" under section 57(b) of the collective bargaining agreement, and that therefore neither the transfer itself nor the employees' benefits at the new office were negotiable, a position with which the Union agreed. The plaintiffs wrote letters to the International Union, protesting the characterization of the move as a section 57(b) transfer of operations, because such a characterization left them vulnerable to unilateral action by the company and the potential loss of their special benefits. Under section 57(b), though the transfer itself is not negotiable, the "advisability of transferring to the receiving unit employees who are affected" is subject to negotiation, and a transfer agreement was worked out between Chrysler and the UAW under which the employees were offered positions at the new plant, retaining their seniority, but losing, for the most part, their special benefits and higher salaries.

The employees were laid off temporarily, their bargaining unit was disbanded, and they were later reinstated at the new location. The company and the UAW took the position that the employees would become members of the preexisting Engineering Local 212 at the Outer Drive offices. Essentially, as the plaintiffs view it, Chrysler has succeeded in stripping them of their bargained-for rights and their bargaining unit, with the Union's sanction, simply by moving their offices a few miles. This, they contend, is not a result contemplated by the section 57 transfer provisions, nor a result permitted by a reasonable reading of the contract as a whole. Furthermore, if the contract does provide that the employees' benefits may be taken away from them unilaterally, they contend that the UAW is liable to them for breach of its express promise. Therefore, the plaintiffs filed suit, charging the company with a breach of the collective bargaining agreement, and charging UAW with a breach of its duty of fair representation, and with breach of promise.

The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants, concluding that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust available intraunion remedies in their attempt to resolve the complaint. The court ruled that an appeal was possible to the Constitutional Convention Appeals Committee of the International Union, which the plaintiffs failed to take. The trial judge did not rule on the other issues urged by the defendants to justify their request for summary judgment, though he suggested that the issue of whether contractual remedies had been exhausted posed a "serious, and close, question." The only issue before this Court is whether the trial court properly concluded that a failure to exhaust intraunion remedies justified summary judgment in this case; we conclude that it did not, and therefore remand to the district court for further consideration.

The Claims Against Chrysler : The plaintiffs' position is that because of the unusual nature of their complaint, there did not exist any reasonable avenue of relief, either through the grievance procedure set out in their collective bargaining agreement with Chrysler, or through intraunion remedies set out in the UAW constitution. They point out that their problem was handled by International UAW representatives during the time when they were laid off, their bargaining unit disbanded, and their shop steward unavailable to process complaints. Once they were rehired, the UAW and Chrysler had already reached an agreement adverse to them concerning the proper interpretation of the contract, and, as the district court noted, any failure to utilize the grievance procedure made "little difference in terms of the actual airing of the grievance and consideration of it." Furthermore it appears that the company has taken the position that these benefits are not a condition of employment under the contract and are solely within its discretion, which seems to mean that the grievance procedure is not available as to revocation or alteration of the benefits. Employers are normally estopped from seeking dismissal of a claim based on failure to exhaust remedies when they have taken the position that those remedies are not available to the employees. "An obvious situation in which the employee should not be limited to the exclusive remedial procedures established by the contract occurs when the conduct of the employer amounts to a repudiation of those contractual procedures." Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 185, ...