International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, Dist. Lodge No. 50, Local Lodge No. 389 v. San Diego Marine Const. Corp.
| Decision Date | 04 June 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-2604,78-2604 |
| Parties | 104 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2613, 89 Lab.Cas. P 12,103 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS & AEROSPACE WORKERS, DISTRICT LODGE NO. 50, LOCAL LODGE NO. 389, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SAN DIEGO MARINE CONSTRUCTION CORP., a California Corporation, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Kathleen M. Kelly, Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff & Tichy, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
Douglas F. Olins, Olins & Foerster, San Diego, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
Before TUTTLE, * WALLACE and NELSON, Circuit Judges.
This case arises from the San Diego Marine Construction Corporation's ("the Company's") decision to dismiss James Heller, the chief shop steward of Local 389 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ("the Union"). Heller and the Union protested the dismissal before an arbitrator, asserting, among other things, that the Company fired Heller without just cause. The arbitrator found that, although Heller's misconduct justified disciplining him, firing him was too severe a sanction under the circumstances. He therefore ordered Heller reinstated, but without back pay.
The Company brought an action in state court seeking correction of the arbitration award. The Union removed the case to District Court, because a dispute over the powers of an arbitrator as set forth in a labor agreement is a dispute over the violation of a contract between an employer and a labor organization within the meaning of § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. The District Court confirmed the arbitration award on the basis of the arbitrator's oral opinion and its interpretation of the labor agreement. The Company now appeals to this Court.
In this appeal, the Company raises two issues: (1) Did the contract between the Union and the Company give the arbitrator authority to override a Company's decision to fire (rather than suspend) an employee, once he found that the Company was justified in disciplining him? (2) Did the arbitrator order the employee reinstated because of Company misbehavior after Heller was fired, and, if so, did the arbitrator thereby exceed the scope of his authority? These questions are primarily factual ones, and factual findings of the District Court, even those based on an interpretation of undisputed written evidence, must stand unless clearly erroneous. F.R.Civ.Proc. 52(a); Lundgren v. Freeman, 307 F.2d 104, 115 (9th Cir. 1962). Applying this standard, we find that the arbitrator had the power to reinstate the employee without back pay, and, although his oral opinion may seem ambiguous, that the arbitrator properly focused on the issue of whether the Company had just cause to fire Heller. We therefore affirm the order of the District Court granting the petition to confirm the arbitration award and denying the petition to correct it.
For at least several months before the events in question here, the Company and the Union found themselves in a "state of upheaval, discord, anger, (and) rebelliousness." Though it did not base its decision to fire Heller on his Union activities, the Company did think him among those chiefly responsible for the unrest.
The confrontation that led to Heller's firing arose because Heller believed that under the collective bargaining agreement he only needed to notify some shop steward or supervisor before he could leave his work area and go about union business, and a high management official believed that an employee like Heller needed permission before he could go about union business. The arbitrator found that regardless of whether Heller was right in asserting that he did not need permission, he could not of his own accord disregard the direct order of a high management official to the contrary; Heller was required, under the terms of the contract, to obey the order and file a grievance.
On April 4th, however, Heller left his work area without permission, and while he was talking to two members of another union, he noticed two management officials a hundred feet away from him. Heller went over to them, interrupted their conversation, and asked them, in essence, why they did not have more important things to do than spend their time watching him. The arbitrator found this conduct "rude," "disrespectful," "obstreperous," and "arrogant." Shortly afterwards, an informal grievance meeting took place between Heller and two management personnel to discuss what had taken place. At this time, Heller asserted flatly that he would say nothing unless a union representative were present. But even when a union representative was brought in, Heller refused to say anything until there was a formal grievance meeting.
The arbitrator determined that had Heller simply talked at this point about the dispute he was having (whether he needed permission to leave his work area and engage in union activities), he would never have been fired. Moreover, the arbitrator noted that one of the two management personnel at this initial meeting had in the past few months made comments to the union that were "coercive, intimidating and totally improper and violative of employee's rights." The arbitrator found that Heller only remained silent because he distrusted this official (Higgins) and because he was unaware that he would be fired if he did not talk. Therefore, the arbitrator reasoned, it was incumbent on Higgins to tell Heller that, if he did not talk, he would be fired. After describing the grievance procedure that took place after Heller was fired, the arbitrator concluded that it was unreasonable, in light of the full factual picture, for the company to discharge Heller.
The Company points to Article 13, Section 1, of the collective bargaining agreement between the parties, the Management Rights Clause. It says, in relevant part, "(t)he right to . . . suspend or discharge employees for just cause . . . is vested exclusively in this Company, subject to the terms of this Agreement." The Company concedes that the arbitrator could have refused to uphold Heller's dismissal if he had found that the Company acted without "just cause," but it argues that because the arbitrator found...
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