LOCAL UNION NO. 36 v. Atlas Air Conditioning Co.

722 F. Supp. 561, 1989 WL 119360
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedOctober 6, 1989
Docket88-1834C(6)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 722 F. Supp. 561 (LOCAL UNION NO. 36 v. Atlas Air Conditioning Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LOCAL UNION NO. 36 v. Atlas Air Conditioning Co., 722 F. Supp. 561, 1989 WL 119360 (E.D. Mo. 1989).

Opinion

722 F.Supp. 561 (1989)

LOCAL UNION NO. 36, SHEET METAL WORKERS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff,
v.
ATLAS AIR CONDITIONING COMPANY, Defendant.

No. 88-1834C(6).

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, E.D.

October 6, 1989.

Sally E. Barker, Schuchat, Cook and Werner, St. Louis, Mo., plaintiff.

David G. Millar, Millar, Schaefer & Hoffmann, St. Louis, Mo., L.G. Clinton, Jr., L.G. Clinton, Jr. & Associates, Houston, Tex., for Atlas Air Conditioning Co.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GUNN, District Judge.

This case is presently before the Court on plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. For the following reasons, the Court will grant the motion.

Plaintiff Local Union No. 36, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, AFL-CIO ("Local 36") brings this action, pursuant to section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. *562 § 185, to enforce an arbitration award in its favor against defendant Atlas Air Conditioning Company ("Atlas"). Atlas contends that because it is not a signatory to a collective bargaining agreement with Local 36, the local has no standing to bring a grievance against Atlas or to enforce any award obtained.

Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a movant is entitled to summary judgment if it can "show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that [it] is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). See also Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 368 U.S. 464, 82 S.Ct. 486, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962). In passing on a motion for summary judgment, a court is required to view the facts and inferences that may be derived therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Buller v. Buechler, 706 F.2d 844, 846 (8th Cir.1983); Vette Co. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 612 F.2d 1076, 1077 (8th Cir.1980). The burden of proof is on the moving party, and a court should not grant a summary judgment motion unless it is convinced that there is no evidence to sustain a recovery under any circumstances. Foster v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 787 F.2d 390, 392 (8th Cir.1986). However, under Rule 56(e), a party opposing a motion for summary judgment may not rest upon the allegations of his pleadings but "must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). See also 10A Wright, Miller & Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 2739 (1983).

The non-moving party "must do more than show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The non-moving party must set forth specific facts to show that "there is sufficient evidence favoring [it] for a jury to return a verdict for [it]." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). As the Supreme Court recently observed, summary judgment is not "a disfavored procedural shortcut" but "an integral part of the Federal rules ... which are designed `to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.'" Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2555, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 1). Indeed, and if appropriate, summary judgment serves "a salutary purpose in avoiding a useless, expensive and time consuming trial where there is no genuine, material fact issue to be tried." Lyons v. Board of Education of Charleston, 523 F.2d 340, 347 (8th Cir.1975).

The undisputed material facts of this controversy are as follows. Local 36 is a labor organization affiliated with the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association ("the International"). The jurisdiction of Local 36 includes St. Louis County, the City of St. Louis, and forty-two other Missouri counties.

Atlas is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Texas and doing business in St. Louis County, Missouri.

Local unions affiliated with the International negotiate collective bargaining agreements in a two-step process. First, national level negotiations take place between the International and Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association, Inc. ("SMACNA"), a national association of employers in the sheet metal construction industry. These parties negotiate a standard form of union agreement that is distributed to local unions and employers for further negotiations. The local parties may adopt the agreement as is, with blanks filled in, or with modifications. The local unions and employers then sign the agreements which apply to sheet metal construction work in geographic areas spelled out in the agreements.

Local 36 has a collective bargaining agreement with the St. Louis chapter of SMACNA. This agreement is based upon the standard form of union agreement negotiated by the International and SMACNA. Local 36 does not have any bargaining agreement directly with Atlas.

Local 54 is also a local union affiliated with the International. It and Atlas are *563 parties to a collective bargaining agreement covering sheet metal construction work in Houston and surrounding Texas counties. The Local 54 agreement is also based upon the standard International/SMACNA agreement.

The opening sentence of the standard agreement provides: "This agreement covers the rates of pay, and conditions of employment of all employees of the employer...." Local 54/Atlas agreement, p.l. (The agreement, as referred to here and throughout this memorandum, is contained in Exhibit B to plaintiff's motion for summary judgment.) Further, at Art. VIII, Section 5, the agreement to which Atlas is a signatory provides: "Except as provided in Section 2 and 6 of this Article, the Employer agrees that journeyman sheet metal workers hired outside of the territorial jurisdiction of this Agreement shall receive the wage scale and working conditions of the Local Agreement covering the territory in which such work is performed or supervised." Local 54/Atlas agreement, p.9.

Both the Local 36 agreement and the Local 54 agreement contain the following provision:

Article VIII
* * * * * *
Section 6.

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