Williams v. Pacific Maritime Ass'n

• Decision Date: 08 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 77-1398,77-1398
• Citation: 617 F.2d 1321
• Parties: 103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2659, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,827 George R. WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PACIFIC MARITIME ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1321

617 F.2d 1321

103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2659, 87 Lab.Cas. P 11,827

George R. WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PACIFIC MARITIME ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 77-1398.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Feb. 8, 1980.

Rehearing Denied May 13, 1980.

Arthur Brunwasser, San Francisco, Cal., argued, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Lillick McHose & Charles, Gary J. Torre, Norman Leonard of Leonard & Patsey, Richard Ernst of Ernst & Daniels, San Francisco, Cal., argued; Gladstein, Andersen, Leonard & Sibbett, Kendall W. De Bevoise, Ernst & Daniel; San Francico, Cal., on brief, for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Before DUNIWAY and KENNEDY, Circuit Judges, and BONSAL, ^* District Judge.

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge:

This appeal is from an order of the district court dismissing several claims due to appellants' failure to exhaust contractual remedies, and finding that appellees Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) and ILWU Local 10 did not breach a duty of fair representation owed to appellants. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We disagree with the trial court on the initial question of exhaustion of remedies, but we rule that it was correct in concluding that there was no breach of the duty of fair representation. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment. ¹

I Facts Underlying The Dispute

Appellants are former limited registration Class B longshoremen employed by PMA, an organization of steamship, stevedoring, and terminal companies doing business on the Pacific Coast. The ILWU is the exclusive bargaining representative of longshoremen in the area. Local 10 is the ILWU's constituent local in the Port of San Francisco.

PMA, and the ILWU are parties to a collective bargaining agreement covering substantially all longshore work on the Pacific Coast. ² Under that agreement, a Joint Port Labor Relations Committee (the "Port Committee"), made up of representatives of PMA and ILWU Local 10, maintained a central dispatching hall for the hiring and dispatching of all longshoremen at the Port of San Francisco. The agreement provided for two classes of longshoremen, the preferred employees, called Class A, and the limited registered longshoremen, Class B. In operating the hiring hall, the Port Committee distributed work among longshoremen according to their registered status. Fully registered Class A longshoremen received priority for available work. Class B longshoremen had limited rights to available work, were subject to stricter rules and more stringent penalties than were applicable The agreement provided that Class B workers could apply periodically for promotion to Class A status. At such times, the Port Committee would review the record of the Class B worker and decide whether to grant or deny his promotion or to discharge him entirely. Class B longshoremen could be deregistered at any time for "cause." The causes were not exhaustively enumerated but included pilferage, intoxications, assault, unexcused failures to be available for work, and dropping hours from time sheets or "chiseling." ³ In essence, this system had been in effect since 1934, when longshoring was primarily a labor intensive industry in which the workers manually moved cargo to and from ships. Gradually, economic pressures forced the industry to mechanize. Mechanization required a shift in the work force. It demanded fewer but more highly skilled laborers to operate sophisticated, expensive machinery. See generally, New York Shipping Ass'n v. Federal Maritime Comm'n, 187 U.S.App.D.C 282, 285, 571 F.2d 1231, 1234 (D.C.Cir.1978); Pacific Maritime Ass'n (Johnson Lee), 155 N.L.R.B. 1231, 1233 (1965).

to Class A workers, and were ineligible for membership in Local 10. Each worker paid a pro rata share of the cost of running the hiring hall.

To meet the needs of the industry, PMA and the ILWU agreed early in 1963 to transfer 400 to 450 of the approximately 530 limited registered Class B longshoremen to Class A status and to eliminate the Class B list and deregister all other existing Class B longshoremen. Implementing this decision, the Union and PMA jointly adopted the following standards to guide their selection of the most qualified persons for transfer.

1. Any Class "B" longshoreman found to have 10 or more hours of Low-Man-Out violations shall be considered ineligible for advancement to Class "A" registration.

2. Any Class "B" longshoreman found to have been late in the payment of his pro rata eight or more times (or six or more times with an otherwise blemished record) shall be considered ineligible for advancement to Class "A" registration.

3. Any Class "B" longshoreman found to have failed to meet the 70% availability requirement for any 30-day period shall be considered ineligible for advancement to Class "A" registration.

4. Any Class "B" longshoreman who has been the subject of one or more employer complaints for intoxication or pilferage that the Joint Port Committee has sustained shall be considered ineligible for advancement to Class "A" registration.

5. The standards shall be applied uniformly and no exceptions shall be made.

On June 17, 1963, a few weeks after adopting the new standards, the Port Committee promoted 448 Class B longshoremen to Class A status and ordered the deregistration of all other existing Class B longshoremen, including the appellants, who were notified of their immediate and summary deregistration. The notices did not state the specific infractions that brought about each deregistration, but advised each individual that he had a right to file a grievance with the Port Committee. Until the date they were deregistered all appellants were, and had been for at least four years, registered in Class B and in good standing.

All but two of the appellants and several other deregistered Class B longshoremen At the conclusion of the hearings, the Port Committee reinstated four B men whose deregistrations had been based on mistakes of fact, and affirmed the deregistrations of the appellants. The Committee notified each longshoreman whose deregistration had been sustained that he could file a discrimination grievance under the collective bargaining agreement that would institute a collateral attack on the decision sustaining his deregistration.

requested a hearing by the Port Committee regarding the grounds for the deregistrations. At those hearings, Port Committee representatives notified each longshoreman of the reason he was deregistered and gave each the opportunity to challenge the factual basis for the discharge. Thereafter, the Port Committee conferred with individual longshoremen to establish and document the infractions leading to their deregistrations. With few exceptions there was no dispute over the underlying facts. Rather, the deregistered longshoremen vainly attempted to challenge the standards for dismissal, alleging that the new rules were not reasonably related to the needs of the industry in 1963 and were arbitrary, capricious and unfair, particularly as they were applied retroactively and to conduct that was not a violation of any rule when it occurred.

Section 17 of the Pacific Coast Longshore Agreement created an exclusive, if somewhat complex, mechanism for resolution of disputes arising under the contract. It provided for a series of joint labor relations committees to adjudicate disputes: a joint port committee, a joint area committee, and a joint coast committee. These committees were composed of three or more representatives designated by the union and three or more representatives designated by the employer with each side of the committee having equal vote.

Section 17.15 outlines the grievance procedure for disputes between labor and management. ⁴ The Port Committee first investigates the dispute and tries to agree on an appropriate resolution. ⁵ If the union and management sides of the committee cannot agree, the dispute proceeds to the Joint Area Committee for resolution. ⁶ If the members of the Area Committee also fail to agree on a disposition, the dispute proceeds to an Area Arbitrator for resolution. ⁷

If the Port or Area Committee does come to a decision, either party may appeal the decision to the Coast Committee. ⁸ If the two sides of the Coast Committee fail to agree, the dispute is resolved by a Coast Arbitrator. ⁹ If the parties to the dispute claim that the decision of the Port or Area Committee conflicts with a provision of the collective bargaining agreement, the appeal to the Coast Committee is a matter of right. On the other hand, if the dispute involves operation of the hiring hall, interpretation of dispatching rules, pay or discharges, it is a matter for the Coast Committee's discretion whether to accept the appeal. ¹⁰

Section 17.4 of the agreement provides a separate procedure whereby an individual longshoreman may bring a claim of discrimination by the union or his employer under section 13 of the collective bargaining agreement. Section 13 prohibits discrimination against any longshoreman on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, religious or political beliefs, membership or nonmembership in the union, or activity for or against the union. ¹¹ An allegation of a section 13 violation also begins with the filing of a grievance with the Port Committee. The longshoreman may appeal any decision of the Port Committee to the Coast Committee, and any decision of the Coast Committee to the Coast Arbitrator.

The collective bargaining agreement contains no other provisions for resolution of disputes.

In late July, 1963, most of the appellants and several other Class B longshoremen whose deregistrations had been sustained filed grievances with the Port Committee under section 17. Although the written complaints of the deregistered longshoremen On April 15, 1964, nearly nine...