Hooks v. International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 8

905 F. Supp. 2d 1198, 2012 WL 5877536, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2813, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166460
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedNovember 21, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:12-cv-01691-SI
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 905 F. Supp. 2d 1198 (Hooks v. International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 8) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hooks v. International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 8, 905 F. Supp. 2d 1198, 2012 WL 5877536, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2813, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166460 (D. Or. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SIMON, District Judge.

This action arises from a dispute at Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland concerning the work of plugging in, unplugging, and monitoring refrigerated shipping containers (the “reefer work”). The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (“ILWU”) and the Pacific Maritime Association (“PMA”) contend that their collective bargaining agreement — the Pacific Coast Longshore Contract Document (“PCLCD”) — requires ICTSI Oregon, Inc. (“ICTSI”), the operator of Terminal 6 and a PMA member, to assign the reefer work to ILWU members. ICTSI, the Port of Portland (the “Port”), and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (“IBEW”) Local 48 contend that other contracts — including the Terminal 6 Lease Agreement between the Port and ICTSI and the District Council of Trade Unions Agreement between the Port and IBEW— require that the reefer work be assigned to IBEW members. On August 13, 2012, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) issued a decision pursuant to § 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 160(k), concluding that employees represented by IBEW are entitled to perform the reefer work. Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 358 NLRB No. 102, 2012 WL 3306478 (Aug. 13, 2012).

Several shipping companies that call on the Port of Portland (the “Carriers”) are members of PMA, and, as such, are parties to the PCLCD. Notwithstanding the NLRB’s § 10(k) decision, ILWU, ILWU Local 8, and ILWU Local 40 (collectively “Respondents”) have continued to file and process lost work opportunity grievances against the Carriers, seeking lost wages for reefer work assigned to IBEW members. In addition, ILWU has not withdrawn its claim made under § 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act against ICTSI in Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union v. ICTSI Oregon, Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-01058-SI (D.Or.) (the “§ 301 claim”), a related action pending in this Court. In its § 301 claim, ILWU asks this Court to confirm arbitration awards made pursuant to the PCLCD that require ICT-SI to assign the reefer work to ILWU members.

In response to Respondents’ refusal to withdraw their § 301 claim and their con[1202]*1202tinued pursuit of grievances against the Carriers, ICTSI filed two unfair labor practice charges with Petitioner Ronald K. Hooks, the Regional Director of the Nineteenth Region of the NLRB (“Petitioner”). Petitioner consolidated ICTSI’s charges and issued an administrative complaint against Respondents. The administrative complaint alleges that Respondents are violating §§ 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) and (D) of the NLRA by continuing to pursue their § 301 claim and lost work opportunity grievances after the NLRB’s § 10(k) decision awarded the reefer work to IBEW members. This administrative complaint is pending before the adjudicatory section of the NLRB.1

Before the Court is Petitioner’s petition for a preliminary injunction pursuant to § 10(0 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. § 160(0. Dkt. 1. Petitioner seeks to enjoin Respondents from pursuing grievances against ICTSI and the Carriers and maintaining their § 301 claim against ICTSI pending the NLRB’s final decision on Petitioner’s unfair labor practice charges. For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds that Petitioner has satisfied the criteria for a preliminary injunction. Accordingly, as described more fully below, the Court preliminarily enjoins Respondents from filing lost work opportunity grievances against ICTSI or the Carriers pending the NLRB’s final decision.2 In addition, the Court will stay ILWU’s § 301 claim in the pending case Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union v. ICTSI Oregon, Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-01058-SI (D.Or.).

BACKGROUND

A. The Parties

PMA is a multi-employer collective bargaining association whose members include stevedoring companies, terminal operators, and shipping companies. Dkt. 2-2 at 136-37. The Carriers, who are members of PMA, include Cosco North America, Inc., Hamburg Sud North America, Inc., Hanjin Shipping America, LLC, Hapag Lloyd America, Inc., “K” Line America, Inc., and Yang Ming America Corporation. See, e.g., Dkt. 2-2 at 18 and 60; Dkt. 2-3 at ¶ 5. Respondents are labor organizations. Dkt. 2-2 at 136.

ILWU and PMA are party to a collective bargaining agreement known as the PCLCD.3 The PCLCD governs the terms and employment of all ILWU longshore workers employed by PMA member companies. Under Section 1 of the PCLCD, ILWU members appear to be entitled to [1203]*1203perform the reefer work at ports along the West Coast, including the Port of Portland. Dkt. 2-2 at 161. The PCLCD contains a grievance and arbitration procedure for resolving disputes arising under the PCLCD. See Dkt. 2-2 at 165-84; see also Pac. Mar. Ass’n v. Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 8, 3:12-cv-1100-SL 2012 WL 2994062 (D.Or. July 20, 2012) (discussing PCLCD grievance and arbitration procedures).

The Port is not a member of PMA and is not party to the PCLCD. IBEW is also not a party to the PCLCD. The Port and IBEW, however, are parties to their own collective bargaining agreement, known as the District Council of Trade Unions Agreement (“DCTU Agreement”). Under the DCTU Agreement, IBEW-represented employees are entitled to perform the reefer work at Terminal 6 and have done so since 1974. Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 2012 WL 3306478, at *1.

ICTSI is a cargo handling company. Petition for Preliminary Injunctive Relief (“Pet.”) at ¶ 8(a) (Dkt. 1). In 2011, ICTSI entered into a 25-year lease with the Port to operate Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland. Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 2012 WL 3306478, at *1. Although ICTSI is not a signatory to the DCTU Agreement, the Terminal 6 Lease provides that ICTSI may not “undertake any action that would cause the Port to be in violation of the terms of the DCTU Agreement.” Id. at *2 (quoting Terminal 6 Lease Agreement). Shortly after ICTSI entered into the Terminal 6 Lease, it joined PMA. As a member of PMA, ICTSI became bound by the PCLCD. Id. Even though ICTSI is party to the PCLCD, the Port, IBEW, and ICT-SI contend that the DCTU Agreement and the Terminal 6 Lease require ICTSI to use IBEW-represented employees to perform the reefer work on Terminal 6. When it began operating Terminal 6, ICTSI used IBEW members to perform reefer work on Terminal 6.

B. The § 10(k) Decision

In early 2012, pursuant to the PCLCD’s grievance procedures, Respondents began to file “lost work opportunity” grievances against ICTSI and the Carriers. See, e.g., Dkt. 2-2 at 9, 12-20. These grievances allege that ICTSI and the Carriers are inappropriately contracting non-ILWU members (ie., IBEW members) to perform the reefer work, in violation of Section 1 of the PCLCD. In June, pursuant to the PCLCD’s arbitration provisions, an arbitrator issued two decisions directing ICTSI to assign the reefer work to ELWU members. Dkt. 2-2 at 191, 196-97. Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, provides United States District Courts with jurisdiction to enforce final and binding arbitration awards. Gen.

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905 F. Supp. 2d 1198, 2012 WL 5877536, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2813, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hooks-v-international-longshore-warehouse-union-local-8-ord-2012.