Service Employees Intern. Union Local 36, AFL-CIO v. City Cleaning Co., Inc., AFL-CIO

• Decision Date: 28 December 1992
• Docket Number: No. 92-1268,AFL-CIO,92-1268
• Citation: 982 F.2d 89
• Parties: 142 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2158, 124 Lab.Cas. P 10,515 SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 36,v. CITY CLEANING COMPANY, INC., Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 89

982 F.2d 89

142 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2158, 124 Lab.Cas. P 10,515

SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 36, AFL-CIO v. CITY CLEANING COMPANY, INC., Appellant.

No. 92-1268.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Sept. 17, 1992.

Decided Dec. 28, 1992.

Michael F. Kraemer (argued), Debbie R. Sandler, White and Williams, Philadelphia, PA, for appellant.

Charles T. Joyce (argued), Spear, Wilderman, Borish, Endy, Browning & Spear, Philadelphia, PA, for appellee.

Before STAPLETON, SCIRICA and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

NYGAARD, Circuit Judge.

City Cleaning Company appeals from a summary judgment in favor of Service Employees Union Local 36 in its action to enforce a grievance committee's award under § 301 of the National Labor Management Relations Act. We will affirm.

I.

City Cleaning provides contract cleaning services to commercial properties throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. The Union represents employees in the commercial building maintenance industry. For several years, the Union has been a party to a collective bargaining agreement with the Building Maintenance Contractor's Association (the BMCA Agreement). The Building Maintenance Contractor's Association serves as a negotiating agent for several companies including the City Cleaning company.

The Union is also party to a collective bargaining agreement with another management organization--Building Operator's Labor Relations Inc. ("BOLR"). Article 34(a) of the BMCA Agreement permitted City Cleaning to provide services to facilities governed by the provisions of the BOLR Agreement. Specifically, this provision of the BMCA Agreement permitted BMCA companies to perform maintenance work on facilities governed by the BOLR Agreement, or facilities subject to the BOLR Agreement. Such work was expressly conditioned on the employer's adherence to the "terms and conditions of the then current BOLR contract."

City Cleaning began providing maintenance service to the Mellon Independence Center building in Philadelphia. The maintenance work at Mellon had been performed by the ARA Environmental Services Company. ARA was a party to yet another, different agreement with the Union. ARA had agreed to be bound by the terms and conditions of the BOLR Agreement for ARA employees working at Mellon, even though ARA was not an actual party to the BOLR contract. In union parlance this contract was known as a "BOLR Me-too Agreement."

Soon after beginning work at Mellon, City Cleaning informed the Union that City Cleaning was willing to enter into a BMCA type contract for its workers at Mellon. The Union rejected this offer, arguing that since ARA had performed the work at Mellon under the BOLR Contract, the union would only represent employees under a BOLR-type agreement.

When the Union learned that City Cleaning had begun paying its employees at Mellon less than they had been paid under the ARA "BOLR Me-too" Agreement, it filed a grievance, contending that this was a violation of Article 34(a) of the BMCA Agreement. A month later, City Cleaning filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, charging the Union with violating Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which provides:

Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8(a)(3).

29 U.S.C. § 157 (1990).

Before the NLRB decided these charges, the grievance committee issued its Report and Decision. The committee unanimously ruled in favor of the Union and directed City Cleaning to pay BOLR scale to its employees at Mellon. City Cleaning did not challenge the grievance committee's award, but simply refused to comply with it. Soon afterward, the NLRB issued a complaint against the Union and a notice of hearing on City Cleaning's unfair labor practice charges. This dispute was eventually settled and approved by the NLRB.

The Union filed an action under Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act in federal district court seeking a "judgment as a matter of law, and judicial enforcement of the Grievance Committee's Decision and Award." Both the Union and City Cleaning filed motions for summary judgment. The district court then granted the Union's motion and entered judgment in its favor.

II.

The district court had jurisdiction under § 301 of the Federal Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (LMRA); 28 U.S.C. § 185(a), 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and § 1337. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Although we exercise plenary review of the summary judgment, Carter v. Rafferty, 826 F.2d 1299 (3d Cir.1987), we recognize that courts play an extremely limited role in resolving labor disagreements. United Paperworkers Intern. Union, AFL-CIO, v. Misco, 484 U.S. 29, 36, 108 S.Ct. 364, 370, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987); News America Publications Inc. v. Newark Typographical Union, 918 F.2d 21, 24 (3d Cir.1990).

III.

City Cleaning challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Union on three grounds. First, it claims that the grievance committee award violates public policy. Second, it contends that the unfair labor practice settlement renders the grievance committee's report unenforceable. Finally, it argues that the district court erred by not applying a six month limitation to the Union's action to enforce the grievance committee's award.

A.

City Cleaning's primary argument is that the arbitration award is unenforceable because it runs counter to the well-established public policy that employees should not be subject to working conditions negotiated by a union which they have not selected. The union counters by arguing that the BMCA Contract is valid when viewed as a "union standards" clause.

Specifically, the company contends that the grievance committee's ruling violated public policy because the award "imposed upon its employees terms and conditions of employment bargained for by a union which does not represent them." When reviewing an arbitration award, our standard is extremely deferential to the arbitrator's decision. A decision rendered by a joint labor-management grievance committee, such as here, is entitled to the same deference due the decision of an arbitrator, Eichleay Corp. v. International Assn. of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, 944 F.2d 1047, 1056 n. 7 (3d Cir.1991) citing Griesmann v. Chemical Leaman Tank Lines Inc., 776 F.2d 66, 74 (3d Cir.1985). There is no dispute here that the grievance committee's award "draws its essence" from the BMCA Agreement. See Roberts and Schaefer Co. v. Local 1846, United Mineworkers of America, 812 F.2d 883, 885 (3d Cir.1987). The interpretation of Article 34(a) is the core of the grievance. The district court could only have overturned the grievance committee's award if, as City Cleaning argues, the award violated public policy.

City Cleaning cites United Paperworkers v. Misco, supra, in support of its contention that federal courts have the power and the obligation to refuse to enforce labor arbitration decisions that violate public policy. In Misco, the Court stated:

... a court's refusal to enforce an arbitrator's interpretation of such contracts is limited to situations when the contract as interpreted would violate some explicit public policy that is well defined and dominant, and is to be ascertained by reference to the laws and legal precedents and not from general considerations of supposed public interest.

484 U.S. at 43, 108 S.Ct. at 373. The Court further instructed that "the violation of such a policy must be clearly shown if an award is not to be enforced." Id. at 43, 108 S.Ct. at 373-374.

The public policy exception as set forth in Misco is slim indeed. In Misco, the Supreme Court made clear that its decision did not announce an expansive interpretation of the public policy exception. The Court, in reviewing the W.R. Grace decision, announced that: "[W.R. Grace ] does not ... sanction a broad judicial power to set aside arbitration awards as against public policy." Misco, 484 U.S. at 43, 108 S.Ct. at 373 quoting W.R. Grace Co. v. International Rubber Workers Union, 461 U.S. 757, 103 S.Ct. 2177, 76 L.Ed.2d 298 (1983). This limited exception to the usual deference given an arbitration award is only available when the arbitration decision and award create an explicit conflict with an explicit public policy that is "well defined and dominant and [can be] ascertained by reference to the laws and legal precedents and not from general considerations of supposed public interests." W.R. Grace Company v. International Rubber Workers Union, 461 U.S. 757, 766, 103 S.Ct. 2177, 2183, 76 L.Ed.2d 298 (1983). See also Muschany v. United States, 324 U.S. 49, 66, 65 S.Ct. 442, 451, 89 L.Ed. 744 (1945).

"As with any contract, however, a court may not enforce a collective bargaining agreement that is contrary to public policy." W.R. Grace Co., 461 U.S. at 765-66, 103 S.Ct. at 2183. Moreover, as the court said in Misco, the public policy must be explicit, well-defined and dominant. Misco, 484 U.S. at 43, 108 S.Ct. at 373. We agree with the district court that City Cleaning has failed in its burden of proving that this particular award violates an explicit public policy ¹. The district court determined that "City Cleaning has not shown whether the employment terms vitally affect the unit employees, and it therefore, has not shown an explicit conflict with a public policy." We likewise find in this record no conflict. We will affirm the...