Master Sheet Metal Workers & Composition Roofers Ass'n of Rhode Island, Inc. v. Local Union No. 17

397 F. Supp. 1372, 22 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 536, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11293
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedJuly 25, 1975
DocketCiv. A. 74-274
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 397 F. Supp. 1372 (Master Sheet Metal Workers & Composition Roofers Ass'n of Rhode Island, Inc. v. Local Union No. 17) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Master Sheet Metal Workers & Composition Roofers Ass'n of Rhode Island, Inc. v. Local Union No. 17, 397 F. Supp. 1372, 22 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 536, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11293 (D.R.I. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

DAY, District Judge.

This is a civil action wherein the plaintiff,--a construction industry “management” association, seeks declaratory and injunctive relief in an effort to forestall the enforcement of an allegedly improper and invalid arbitration award. 1 Specifically, the plaintiff seeks a court order declaring that the aforementioned arbitration award, insofar as it purportedly commands the plaintiff to furnish certain job-related benefits to the members of the defendant Local Union Number 17 (hereinafter Local 17) is “null, void and inoperative”. Moreover, as previously alluded to, the plaintiff prays for the issuance of a court order vacating, modifying and/or correcting the arbitration award in question. 2

*1374 Prior to an analysis and final disposition of the precise legal issues which are presently in controversy before the Court, a brief recital of the pertinent facts herein involved must, in an effort to facilitate disposition of said legal issues, be set forth. Accordingly, an abbreviated statement of the facts presently before this Court follows immediately below.

On July 1, 1973 the plaintiff management association, by and on behalf of its members, executed a collective bargaining agreement with the defendant Local 17. Said agreement governed the

“. . . [r]ates of pay, rules and working conditions of all employees of the employer . . .’’See 1973-74 Collective Bargaining Agreement, at p. 4.

from July 1, 1973 through and until June 30, 1974. This Court is, for purposes of a reasoned disposition of the matter presently in controversy, particularly and exclusively concerned with Articles eight (8) and ten (10) and Addenda seven (7) through nine (9) of said aforementioned collective bargaining agreement.

Article 8 and Addenda 7 of said 1973-74 agreement both address the issue of the applicable hourly minimum wage for all journeymen sheet metal workers employed “in a shop or on a job” within the jurisdiction of the defendant Local 17. Specifically, Article 8 provides for an hourly minimum wage of nine dollars and thirteen cents ($9.-13). Addenda 7 modifies Article 8 by providing for a wage increase, effective as of January 1, 1974, of ten cents per hour. It is both interesting and important to note that Addenda 7, by its terms, expressly conditions the implementation of the aforementioned wage increase on official sanction and approval by the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee (hereinafter “CISC”). 3

Addenda 8 and 9, cited above, provide for a five (5) cent increase in the hourly rate of monetary benefits to be paid by the plaintiff to the defendant Local 17’s insurance and pension plan funds, respectively. As was true with the aforementioned wage increases set forth in Addenda 7, these hourly increases in the payments to be deposited in Local 17’s insurance and pension plan funds CISC, to have become effective on Januwere subject to the approval of the ary 1, 1974.

Article ten (10) of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement contains a particularized “grievance-arbitration” procedure. Section 5 of said Article 10, which is quoted in pertinent part below, bears particular import to the instant action. Said Section 5 provides, inter alia, as follows:

“Section 5. A Local Joint Adjustment Board and the National Joint Adjustment Board are empowered to render such decisions and grant such relief to either party as they deem necessary and proper, including awards of damages or other compensation and, if it is believed warranted, to direct that the involved agreement and any other agreement or agreements between the employer and any other local union affiliated with the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association be cancelled. .” See 1973-74 Collective Bargaining Agreement at p. 14.

Subsequent to the execution of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement, that is, on October 9, 1973, the CISC declined to authorize the plaintiff’s disbursement of the increments provided for in Addenda 7-9. The CISC, upon *1375 Local 17’s application for reconsideration, reaffirmed its decision to preclude the implementation of said pertinent wage, insurance fund and pension plan increases.

On April 30, 1974, the federal government’s authority to impose wage and price controls expired. 4 Almost immediately thereafter, certain officers of Local 17 filed a request with representatives of the plaintiff association seeking implementation of the aforementioned wage, insurance fund and pension plan increases. Specifically, said request sought disbursement of the aforementioned increases by the plaintiff from May 1, 1974 through and until the expiration date of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement, that is, through and until June 30, 1974. The plaintiff refused to comply with said implementation request.

Subsequent thereto, that is on June 14, 1974, Local 17 notified the plaintiff that, pursuant to the dictates of Article 10 of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement, it wanted to submit the dispute concerning the propriety of the plaintiff’s disbursement of the increases provided for in Addenda 7-9 to arbitration. The plaintiff rejected Local 17’s demand for arbitration.

Notwithstanding the plaintiff’s aforementioned refusal, Local 17 submitted the dispute in question to arbitration. An arbitration hearing was held on October 23, 1974, 5 and, pursuant thereto, an award was entered by the arbitrators in favor of Local 17. 6

One final, and significant, factual circumstance must be noted. Prior to the expiration of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement, the parties presently before the Court entered into contract negotiations on an agreement which would govern the rates of pay, rules and working conditions of all of Local 17’s members employed by the plaintiff from July 1, 1974 through and until June 30, 1975. No final, comprehensive and/or integrated collective bargaining agreement resulted from said contract negotiations. It is important to note that no formal collective bargaining agreement has ever been executed for the 1974-75 contract term. Notwithstanding the lack of a formalized and integrated agreement, however, the negotiating parties did reach a new one year agreement concerning applicable hourly wages, insurance fund and pension plan benefits. 7 It is of ultimate importance to note that this less than comprehensive, yet binding, agreement concerning *1376 wage, and other monetary benefits, did not expressly include any. provision for Local 17’s receipt of the increments set forth in Addenda 7-9 of the 1973-74 collective bargaining agreement.

As previously mentioned, the plaintiff has brought this action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in an effort to forestall the enforcement of the aforementioned arbitration award.

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397 F. Supp. 1372, 22 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 536, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/master-sheet-metal-workers-composition-roofers-assn-of-rhode-island-rid-1975.