Pace, JR. v. Honolulu Disposal Serv., AFL-CIO
| Decision Date | 25 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CIO,No. 99-15796,99-15796 |
| Citation | 227 F.3d 1150 |
| Parties | (9th Cir. 2000) RANDALL E. PACE, JR.; HENRY TACUB; WADE HANSON; ROSALINO BALLESTEROS, on behalf of themselves and former and current employees of Honolulu Disposal Service, Inc. and/or Alii Refuse Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HONOLULU DISPOSAL SERVICE, INC.; ALII REFUSE CORPORATION; CLYDE KANESHIRO; LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, Local 368,; The Members of the Executive Board of the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 368, being Benjamin Saguibo, Norma Jimeno, Mel Cremer, Norman K. Janicki, Jr., Oliver Kupau III, Clayton Saguibo, Herbert Loo, Sally Forges, Rick Pagatpatan, Bernaldo Pascua and Larry Sadaba; HAWAII LABORERS' TRUST FUNDS, (Hawaii Laborers' Health and Welfare Trust Fund and its trustees Harry Ushijima, Greg Muth, Albert Hamamoto, John Murchison, Mel Cremer, Elmo Sinclair, Benjamin Saguibo, Daniel Nakamura, Stephanie Mahelona, John Roxburgh Jr., and Larry Cadiz; Hawaii Laborers' Pension Trust Fund and its trustees Stanley Wada, Daniel Nakamura, Ernie Bello, Randall Ching, Wilton Ching, Anacleto Alcantra, Norman Janicki Jr., Benjamin Saguibo, Mel Cremer, Norman Janicki Sr., Larry Cadiz; Marilyn Tanaka, Larry Sadaba, John Murchison; E.S. Akin and Cynthia Tolentino; Hawaii Laborers' Training TrustFund and its trustees Anacleto Alcantra, Edwin Huligee, Richard Honjiyo, Ryan Y. Wada, Gilbert Ho; Benjamin Saguibo, Alvis McCann, Melvin Kalama, Ryan Tohara, Scott Higa, Oliver H. Kupau, III; John Roxburgh, Jr.; and Cynthia Tolentino; Hawaii Laborers' Vacation & Holiday Trust Fund and its trustees Tamateru Kodama, Leonard Song, Vincent K. Nihipali Sr., Walter Arakaki, Salvador Ambrocio, Benjamin Saguibo, Ismael Solis, Clayton Saguibo, and John Roxburgh, Jr., Hawaii Laborers' Annuity Trust Fund and its trustees Walter Arakaki, Vincent K. Nihipali Sr., Richard Honjiyo, Tamateru Kodama, Leonard Song, Melvin Kalama, Salvador Ambrocio, Clayton Saguibo, Rick Pagatpatan and Ismael Solis dba Hawaii Laborers' Pension Trust Fund db |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
James J. Bickerton and William Saunders, Bickerton Saunders Dang & Bouslog, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Jerrold Y. Chun, Chun Chipchase Takayama Nagatani, Honolulu, Hawaii, for the appellants.
Wesley M. Fujimoto and Paul A. Schraff, Dwyer Imanaka Schraff Kudo Meyer & Fujimoto, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Honolulu Disposal Service, Inc., Alii Refuse Corporation, and Clyde Kaneshiro.
Colleen Hanabusa, Colleen Hanabusa, A Law Corporation, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellee The Laborers International Union of North America, Local 368, AFL-CIO.
Alfredo G. Evangelista, Evangelista & Quiban, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees Hawaii Laborers' Trust Funds, American Benefit Plan Administrators, Inc., and Wayne Chun.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Helen Gillmor, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-97-00335-HG
Before: Harry Pregerson, Michael Daly Hawkins, and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.
We must resolve a conflict between the clear language of a series of collective bargaining agreements ("CBAs") and decide whether evidence of an oral agreement is admissible to supplement the terms of unambiguous CBAs. The heart of the case is a contractual rather than representational dispute, and the district court had jurisdiction to decide it. Because we conclude that the parol evidence rule bars admission of an oral agreement that not only contradicts the terms of an unambiguous CBA but would essentially eviscerate its plain language, we reverse.
Appellants, four former and current employees who have worked as roll-off drivers (the "Drivers") for Honolulu Disposal Service, Inc. ("HDS"), claim that they are entitled to wages and benefits under a series of written CBAs from 19791996 negotiated by HDS and The Laborers International Union of North America, Local 368, AFL-CIO (the "Union").
Appellees, HDS, the Union, and several union trust funds (the "Trust Funds"),1 argue that the Drivers are not covered by the CBAs because HDS and the Union orally agreed to limit the scope of the bargaining unit to a couple of employees not including these Drivers. Invoking the doctrine of primary jurisdiction to challenge both the district court's and our jurisdiction, appellees contend that this case boils down to a representational dispute over who is in the bargaining unit--or, to put it another way, whom the Union represents--that must be decided in the first instance by the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"). They alternatively argue that even if there is federal court jurisdiction, the oral agreement between HDS and the Union is admissible and enforceable and precludes the Drivers from recovering under the CBAs. The Drivers counter that this is a contractual rather than representational dispute and argue that the oral agreement, the very existence of which they question, is not admissible.
The genesis of this case dates back to 1978, when Liborio Cadiz, then a Union business agent, approached Clyde Kaneshiro, then vice president of HDS, after seeing him drive a refuse truck onto a construction site. After Cadiz told Kaneshiro that HDS had to sign up with the Union to haul refuse from the site, they agreed to establish a collective bargaining relationship allegedly on the oral understanding that the bargaining unit would be limited to a "couple " of HDS drivers. Kaneshiro then signed a written, Union-prepared CBA. This was the first of six CBAs at issue here.
This CBA, effective from 1979-81, is titled "Master Agreement By and Between" HDS and the Union. Section 1 contains a coverage provision stating, in relevant part:
The Company recognizes the Union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of its employees employed in the State of Hawaii in the job classifications set forth in Exhibit "A," excluding clerical employees, office employees, watchmen, guards, part time employees who work less than thirty hours per week, and all supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.
Exhibit A lists seven classifications of workers, including "Roll-Off Driver."
Three sections of the CBA covering health/welfare, pension, and annuity trust funds, state, respectively, that "[t]he Company shall participate in the" fund and "shall contribute . . . for each hour worked by each employee covered by this Agreement, the following amounts" as specified in the CBA. The CBA also contains a clause prohibiting oral modification ("no-oral-modification clause"), titled "Modification of Agreement," which provides that "[t]his Agreement shall not be amended, modified, changed, altered or waived except by written document executed by mutual agreement between the parties hereto," and an integration clause,2 titled "Document Contains Entire Statement," which asserts, "[t]his document contains the entire Agreement of the parties and neither party has made any representations to the other which are not contained herein."
When the first CBA expired, HDS and the Union enteredinto a new CBA, effective from 1982-85, similar in relevant respects to the first. This second CBA also has no-oralmodification and integration clauses. The "Employees Covered" subsection of the section devoted to coverage is similar to the coverage provision in the first CBA; it states that "employees covered . . . are all regular full time employees of the Contractor employed in the State of Hawaii in the classifications set forth in the classification and hourly wage schedule which is attached hereto as Exhibit `A,' . . . except for office clerical employees . . . and supervisors . . . . " Exhibit A, as in the first CBA, lists the same seven classifications, including roll-off drivers. The second CBA also includes similar health/welfare, pension, and annuity trust fund provisions and adds a training fund provision requiring the contractor to participate in and contribute to the fund on the same basis as the other funds, that is, "for each hour worked by each employee covered by this Agreement."
The next four CBAs, spanning the years 1987-89, 1990-92, 1993-96, and 1996-99,3 contain coverage provisions, no-oralmodification clauses, integration clauses, and trust fund provisions similar to those in the second CBA, and in each case Exhibit A lists roll-off drivers as a covered classification.4
HDS and the Union contend that they applied the oral agreement reached in 1978 to each successive CBA, such that the bargaining unit remained limited to two or three designated people who knew they were in the unit.5 Although each of the six CBAs was prepared by the Union, none reflects this oral agreement. Indeed, HDS and the Union have submitted affidavits conceding that the bargaining unit language in the six CBAs "does not accurately reflect the oral agreement" to restrict the scope of the unit.
Each of the Drivers worked as a roll-off driver at HDS for some period of time between 1979 and 1996, and each claims to have performed the same work as the few HDS drivers who were in the Union. The Drivers--who are covered on the face of the CBAs, given the listing of roll-off drivers in Exhibit A, but are not covered under the alleged oral agreement-brought this class-action suit to recover wages and benefits claimed under the CBAs.
HDS, joined by the Union and the Trust Funds, moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that the district court lacked jurisdiction because plaintiffs' claims were representational claims within the primary jurisdiction of the NLRB. The district court denied the motion, holding that...
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