LOCAL 9, INT. U. OF OP. ENG. v. Siegrist Construction Co.

• Decision Date: 05 May 1972
• Docket Number: No. 71-1443.,71-1443.
• Parties: LOCAL 9, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SIEGRIST CONSTRUCTION CO., a Colorado corporation, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

458 F.2d 1313 (1972)

LOCAL 9, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SIEGRIST CONSTRUCTION CO., a Colorado corporation, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 71-1443.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

May 5, 1972.

William E. Myrick, Denver, Colo. (Robert O. Newton, Denver, Colo., with him on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee.

Maurice Reuler, Denver, Colo., for defendant-appellant.

Before PICKETT, HILL and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.

PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

This suit was instituted by Local 9, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO against Siegrist Construction Company to enforce a collective bargaining agreement providing for the payment of fringe benefits. Jurisdiction is based on 29 U.S.C. § 185, the Labor Management Relations Act.

The facts are undisputed. Plaintiff union is composed of operators of heavy equipment in the construction industry and defendant is a construction company engaged in general engineering and construction, primarily contracting with federal and state agencies and governments. In 1966 the union concluded a collective bargaining agreement, called the Master Agreement for the State of Colorado, concerning wages and other conditions of employment with various construction companies, including Siegrist. Contemporaneously with this Master Agreement and incorporated therein by reference, the union and these construction companies, including Siegrist, entered into a Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement which provided that the companies would make payments of a specified amount per hour per employee into the Health, Welfare and Pension Trust Funds which were established for the benefit of union members. These payments are generally referred to in the area of labor relations as fringe benefits.

The Master Agreement, which was to expire March 1, 1969, was for a period of three years. By its terms the Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement provided that it was not to expire prior to April 30, 1971. Siegrist made these benefit payments until March 1, 1969, the date upon which the 1966 Master Agreement expired. The company, however, refused to make additional payments into the trust funds thereafter, contending that insomuch as it had not entered into a subsequent master agreement, its obligation to make payments under the Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement was terminated. The union maintains, on the other hand, that the unequivocal provisions of the Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement obligated Siegrist to make these payments into the fund for the remaining two years regardless of whether or not it was a party to a new master agreement.

The sole purpose of this action is to collect the amount due under the second contract for the period March 1, 1969 to March 1, 1971.¹ The trial court rejected Siegrist's contentions, holding that the contract was unambiguous, and requiring Siegrist to account for the amount due.²

The Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement provides, in part:

OPERATING ENGINEERS COLORADO HEALTH AND WELFARE AND PENSION AGREEMENT 1966-1971

WHEREAS the parties have contemporaneously entered into an Operating Engineers Colorado Building, Highway, Heavy and Engineering Agreement dated May 31, 1966, and

WHEREAS said collective bargaining agreement by its terms may expire on Midnight, April 30, 1969, and

WHEREAS with respect to Health and Welfare and Pensions the parties desire a settlement and collective bargaining agreement covering Health and Welfare and Pensions which, by its terms, may not expire prior to April 30, 1971:

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED:

* * * * *

3. Paragraph 3 contains the schedule for payments to be made by the employers into the Health, Welfare and Pension Funds to March 1, 1971.

* * * * *

6. Except as herein otherwise provided, this Agreement shall be effective as of the 31st day of May, 1966 and remain in effect until the 1st day of March, 1971 and shall continue from year to year thereafter, unless either the Employer or the Union shall give written notice to the other of a desire to change, amend, modify or terminate the Agreement at least sixty (60) days prior to March 1, 1971, or March 1 of any succeeding year. It is agreed that in the event either party should exercise its rights under this paragraph, the parties will for a period of sixty days prior to March 1, 1971, or any year thereafter, bargain exclusively with each other with respect to the Health and Welfare and Pension Funds referred to in this Agreement.

We agree that the language of the pension agreement is clear on its face and is unambiguous. The determination as to whether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law for the court, and the mere fact that the parties to the contract disagree on the construction does not necessarily establish a case of ambiguity. Metropolitan Paving Co. v. City of Aurora, Colorado, 449 F.2d 177 (10th Cir. 1971). It may well be that Siegrist anticipated that it would be a party to a new master agreement following expiration of the 1966 agreement, and in that event the amount of its payments into the union Health, Welfare and Pension Funds would be predetermined and nonnegotiable until 1971 by virtue of the 1966 Health, Welfare and Pension Agreement. There is, however, no provision in the fringe benefit...