Higgins v. International Union, Security, 03-2203.
| Decision Date | 04 February 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-2203.,03-2203. |
| Parties | John HIGGINS, et al. Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, SECURITY, POLICE, FIRE PROFESSIONALS OF AMERICA (SPFPA), International Executive Board of the SPFPA, and DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: Ann Curry Thompson, Kelman, Loria, Downing, Schneider & Simpson, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Scott A. Brooks, Gregory, Moore, Jeakle & Heinen, Detroit, Michigan, Richard M. Tuyn, Cattel, Tuyn & Rudzewicz, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Alan B. Posner, Kelman, Loria, Downing, Schneider & Simpson, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Scott A. Brooks, Gregory, Moore, Jeakle & Heinen, Detroit, Michigan, Richard M. Tuyn, Lisa S. Lane, Cattel, Tuyn & Rudzewicz, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for Appellees.
Before: KENNEDY, MARTIN, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.
A group of fire and security employees appeals the district court's summary judgment in favor of their union and employer in this hybrid action under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act. On appeal, the employees claim that the district court erred in holding that the lawsuit was barred by the statute of limitations and in finding that they failed to establish a breach of contract by their employer or a breach of duty of fair representation by their union. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
The plaintiffs in this case, led by John Higgins, are former and current fire and security employees of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation. The employees were covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the International Union, Security, Police, Fire, Professionals of America and DaimlerChrysler effective from August 31, 1998 to August 31, 2003. The claims at issue here arise out of DaimlerChrysler and the Union amending the terms of a part of that collective bargaining agreement known as Letter 53, which provided for the use of supplemental security personnel by DaimlerChrysler. As originally drafted, Letter 53 permitted DaimlerChrysler to use supplemental employees on an as-needed basis, generally limited, however, to eight hours per day, twenty-four hours per week, and provided that such supplemental employees would be paid only $8.50 per hour.
In anticipation of layoffs at DaimlerChrysler, DaimlerChrysler and the Union entered into a Letter of Understanding on March 22, 2001, which modified the terms of Letter 53. The Letter of Understanding altered Letter 53 in several respects, in part by giving DaimlerChrysler the permission to hire full-time supplemental employees and increasing the maximum hourly rate for supplemental employees to $10.50. The Letter of Understanding also limited the proportion of supplemental employees to 15% of the permanent workforce.
On May 25, lead plaintiff John Higgins sent a protest-charge letter on behalf of "Concerned DaimlerChrysler Members" to Dennis Eck, the International Secretary-Treasurer for the Union. The letter demanded that the March Letter of Understanding be submitted to the Union membership for a ratification vote because it involved economic changes. According to the letter, the Purpose and Intent Living Agreement entered into between the parties in August 1998 impliedly required membership ratification of all economic changes to the collective bargaining agreement. Based on the Union's conduct involving the March Letter of Understanding, the May 25 letter also "charge[d]" several Union officials with "violating the constitution, Article XIX Contracts and Negotiations, Purpose and Intent of the Living Agreement between DaimlerChrysler Corporation and the [Union]."
The International President of the Union, David Hickey, responded with a letter dated May 29, which directed that the March Letter of Understanding be submitted to the membership for ratification because it contained changes that could be considered economic within the meaning of the Living Agreement. Hickey ordered the ratification vote even though he apparently believed that ratification may not have been required. As the district court found, economic changes to the collective bargaining agreement generally favorable to Union employees were made in the past without membership ratification. On June 20, Eck sent a letter to Higgins to notify him that his "charge" against the Union officers did not appear to comply with Article XX of the Union's constitution, and to ask if he wished to withdraw his protest and charge in light of Hickey's order of the ratification vote.
On June 27, Higgins replied to Eck's letter by telling him that the employees would get back to him. The ratification vote was held and the effort to ratify the Letter of Understanding failed. Consequently, the Union notified DaimlerChrysler on July 18 that the terms of the March Letter of Understanding were no longer in effect. DaimlerChrysler, however, apparently thought that the agreement remained effective despite the vote. On July 23, Higgins sent a letter to Eck requesting that despite the failed ratification vote he wished to "proceed with the protest/charges filed on May 25, 2001." Eck responded in a letter dated August 3 declaring that the protest was "moot" because the March Letter of Understanding was submitted for a ratification vote and the Union did not have jurisdiction to hear the charge because Higgins failed to comply with certain procedural requirements. Higgins took no further action regarding this charge.
Several months later, on October 2, the Union and DaimlerChrysler reached another agreement in an effort to resolve the controversy regarding the March Letter of Understanding. The October agreement, which remains effective, is substantially similar to the March Letter of Understanding, but was never submitted to a ratification vote by the Union membership.
The employees filed the instant lawsuit under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, on January 11, 2002, claiming a breach of the 1998 collective bargaining agreement between DaimlerChrysler and the Union and a breach of the Union's duty of fair representation. According to the complaint, the Union and DaimlerChrysler negotiated and implemented the March Letter of Understanding without submitting the modification to the Union membership for ratification.
At the close of discovery, all parties moved for summary judgment and the employees filed a motion for class certification. After a hearing on the motions was held on May 15, 2003, the district court issued a written opinion granting DaimlerChrysler's and the Union's motions for summary judgment and denying the employees' motion for class certification. According to the court, the employees' Section 301 claims for breach of the collective bargaining agreement and breach of the Union's duty of fair representation...
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