United Mine Workers of America, Dist. No. 2 v. Barnes & Tucker Co.

• Decision Date: 22 August 1977
• Docket Number: No. 1269,A,No. 76-2548,1269,76-2548
• Parties: 96 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2144, 82 Lab.Cas. P 10,103 UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT NO. 2, and United Mine Workers of America, Localppellants, v. BARNES & TUCKER CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 1093

561 F.2d 1093

96 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2144, 82 Lab.Cas. P 10,103

UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISTRICT NO. 2, and United

Mine Workers of America, Local No. 1269, Appellants, v. BARNES & TUCKER CO.

No. 76-2548.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued May 6, 1977.

Decided Aug. 22, 1977.

Lloyd F. Engle, Jr., Melvin P. Stein, Kuhn, Engle, Blair and Stein, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellants.

Wm. Alvah Stewart, III, Howard D. Schwartz, Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellee.

Before SEITZ, Chief Judge, ROSENN, Circuit Judge, and LORD, Chief District Judge. ^*

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

Appellant United Mine Workers ("the Union") initiated this action under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1970), to obtain specific enforcement of certain grievance settlements negotiated by the Union with Barnes & Tucker Co. ("the employer"). The district court dismissed the action on the ground that the matters raised by the Union were exclusively within the grievance procedures established by the parties' collective bargaining agreements and that the court therefore had no equitable power to deal with them. On this appeal, we must decide whether general assurances made by the employer as a part of grievance settlements are judicially enforceable. We conclude that under the circumstances of this case they are not, and affirm the district court's order dismissing the action.

I.

District 2 and Local 1269 of the United Mine Workers of America represent approximately 1250 employees working at four Barnes & Tucker Coal Mines in Western Pennsylvania. From November 12, 1971, through November 12, 1974, the Union and the employer were subject to the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1971 which governed the wages, hours, working conditions, and other terms and conditions of employment of Barnes & Tucker's production and maintenance employees. The Union and the employer are currently subject to the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1974, which became effective on December 6, 1974, and which expires on December 6, 1977.

Both the 1971 and 1974 Agreements provide five-step grievance-arbitration procedures which culminate in final and binding arbitration. By the express terms of the Agreements, settlements reached at any step are final and binding on both parties. The grievance-arbitration procedures apply to disputes over the interpretation of the Agreements, to differences about matters not specifically mentioned in the Agreements, and to "local trouble of any kind." In addition, the Agreements prescribe separate grievance-arbitration procedures for health and safety disputes.

The 1971 and 1974 Agreements specifically prohibit the use of supervisory personnel to perform bargaining unit work, except in emergencies and except as such work is necessary for training employees. Both Agreements require the parties to observe pertinent state and federal safety laws and regulations. The 1974 Agreement restricts the use of new, inexperienced employees, defined as employees "with less than ninety (90) days prior underground mining experience."

Pursuant to the provisions of the Agreements, Local 1269 filed a series of grievances which were processed through various steps of the applicable procedures. The grievances relevant to this case fell into three categories: first, complaints regarding supervisors doing bargaining unit work; second, complaints alleging violations by the employer of state and federal regulations governing the movement of equipment in underground mines; and third, complaints relating to the assignment of new, inexperienced workers to jobs as operators and helpers at the mine face. It was to enforce a series of promises allegedly made by the employer as a part of the settlement of these grievances that the Union brought this suit.

The evidence adduced at a hearing before the district court showed that the vast majority of grievances concerned supervisors performing bargaining unit work; some of the grievances, rather than dealing with specific instances of supervisors performing classified work, raised the problem generally. The Union offered testimony that in the course of negotiating settlements of these grievances the employer repeatedly made promises, some in writing and made a part of the record, that supervisors would not perform classified work. Similarly, the Union offered testimony that in the settlement of grievances protesting violations of safety guidelines, the employer repeatedly made general written assurances that it would comply with federal and state safety laws and regulations. And finally, the Union introduced into evidence a written agreement, executed in settlement of a particular grievance, by which the employer promised that employees with less than ninety days' underground experience would not be assigned as helpers "on continuous miners or roof bolting machines." Urging that these three types of promises were made as part of settlements which, by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, were final and binding, and contending that Barnes & Tucker had failed to adhere to its promises, the Union requested the district court to enter a mandatory injunction compelling compliance with the settlements.

The district court found that the evidence of supervisors doing classified work failed to establish a company policy of violating the contractual prohibition; on the contrary, the court noted, Barnes & Tucker had taken substantial affirmative action to reduce, if not eliminate, instances of supervisors performing bargaining unit work. The court found that the employer had abided by its duty to consider and arbitrate all grievances related to the performance of classified work by supervisory personnel. In addition, the court stated, the employer had not attempted to avoid its obligation to consider and arbitrate the grievances regarding violations of safety regulations and use of inexperienced personnel. The court concluded that the matters raised by the Union's complaint and the evidence produced at the hearing were exclusively within the grievance procedure established by the collective bargaining agreement, and that the court therefore had no equitable powers to deal with them.

II.

The Union argues that the grievance settlements in this case specifically, the general promises contained therein are entitled to the same enforcement as would be granted an arbitration award. The employer suggests, in response, that only arbitration awards, and not settlement agreements, are enforceable. We agree with the Union that where a collective bargaining agreement designates settlement agreements as being final and binding, the fact that a settled grievance does not proceed to arbitration does not preclude judicial enforcement of the settlement agreement.

The well established federal policy favoring the arbitration of labor disputes, Gateway Coal Co. v. UMW, 414 U.S. 368, 377, 94 S.Ct. 629, 38 L.Ed.2d 583 (1974), derives from section 203(d) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 173(d) (1970):

Final adjustment by a method agreed upon by the parties is declared to be the desirable method for settlement of grievance disputes arising over the application or interpretation of an existing collective bargaining agreement.

It is not arbitration per se that federal policy favors, but rather final adjustment of differences by a means selected by the parties. If the parties agree that a procedure other than arbitration shall provide a conclusive resolution of their differences, federal labor policy encourages that procedure no less than arbitration. A determination made pursuant to that chosen procedure is no less enforceable in a federal court than is an arbitration award.

In General Drivers Local 89 v. Riss & Co., 372 U.S. 517, 83 S.Ct. 789, 9 L.Ed.2d 918 (1963), the Supreme Court considered the enforceability of a grievance determination made by a Joint Area Cartage Committee. The union sought specific enforcement of a committee ruling, but its complaint was dismissed on the ground, inter alia, that the Committee's award was not an arbitration award and therefore not enforceable under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. The Supreme Court held that the dismissal was improper. If the Committee's award was final and binding under the collective bargaining agreement, the Court said, then the district court had jurisdiction to enforce it under section 301:

(W)e have held that the policy of the Labor Act "can be effectuated only if the means chosen by the parties for settlement of their differences under a collective bargaining agreement is given full play." United Steelworkers v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 566, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960); cf. Retail Clerks v. Lion Dry Goods, Inc., 369 U.S. 17, 82 S.Ct. 541, 7 L.Ed.2d 503 (1962). Thus, if the award at bar is the parties' chosen instrument for the definitive settlement of grievances under the Agreement, it is enforceable under § 301.

372 U.S. at 519, 83 S.Ct. at 791. The First Circuit, relying on Riss & Co., has held that the decision of a joint conference committee may be enforced if the collective bargaining agreement makes the decision "final and binding," notwithstanding that the agreement also provides for the arbitration of disputes. Electrical Contractors Association v. Local 103, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 458 F.2d 590, 592 (1st Cir. 1972). See also Haynes v. United States Pipe & Foundry Co., 362 F.2d 414, 417 (5th Cir. 1966).

In this case, both the 1971 and 1974 Agreements provide that settlements reached at any step of the grievance procedures shall be final and binding on both parties. We therefore believe that the settlement agreements at issue are as enforceable as arbitration awards. Our decision is supported not only by General Drivers...