Mathers v. Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen, Local 1

779 F. Supp. 914, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19112, 1991 WL 286276
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 27, 1991
DocketNo. 5:89-CV-83
StatusPublished

This text of 779 F. Supp. 914 (Mathers v. Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen, Local 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mathers v. Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen, Local 1, 779 F. Supp. 914, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19112, 1991 WL 286276 (W.D. Mich. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

ENSLEN, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on the parties’ motions for summary judgment: plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment, filed on August 2, 1991; and [915]*915defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, and for summary judgment, filed on August 28, 1991. The underlying complaint is an action instituted by bricklayers and tile setters, who are members of Local 31, against the Local 1 health and welfare benefits plan (Plan) and the Plan’s trustees, in whose jurisdiction plaintiffs have periodically worked.1 Plaintiffs allege violations of section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. § 186, and section 502(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a). This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, 29 U.S.C. § 186(e), and 29 U.S.C. § 1132(e).

I. Background of the Plan

Plaintiffs allege without dispute that Locals 31 and 1 are voluntary, unincorporated labor organizations which exist for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, rates of pay, hours of employment and conditions of work and which represent employees in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 152(3), (5), (6), (7). Defendant Plan is an employee welfare benefit plan pursuant to section 3(1) of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(1), an employee benefit plan pursuant to section 3(3) of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(3), and a jointly trusteed employee benefit plan pursuant to LMRA § 302(c)(5), 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(5).

The Plan is administered by a six-member board of trustees (Trustees). Pursuant to the LMRA, § 302(c)(5), the Plan is maintained and jointly trusteed by equal numbers of union and employer trustees. Three trustees are appointed by Local 1 and three are appointed by Grand Rapids area contractors. The Trustees take action with respect to the Plan by majority vote. The Trustees have the duty and power to “construe and interpret the Plan and ultimately decide all questions of eligibility, participation and claims.” Defendants’ Brief in Support at 4-5. The Plan expressly provides, however, that the trustees must govern and construe the Plan in accordance with the ERISA and the LMRA. See Plan, art. X, § 10.7, at 45, in Plaintiffs’ Brief in Support, Ex. A.

The plan is self-funded, providing health care benefits directly from its assets. It does not purchase health care coverage from an insurer. The funds for the Plan come from contributions by collective bargaining agreement signatories who employ Local 1 members as well as members of other unions, including Local 31. The Plan’s funds, however, are used exclusively to pay benefits to Local 1 members and their dependents and to defray administrative expenses.2

The 21 plaintiffs to this action are members of Local 31, which has approximately 250 bricklayer members. Local 31 is considerably larger than Local 1. Local 31 and Local 1 have jurisdiction over their respective geographic areas, and each union bargains on behalf of its members with employers in its jurisdiction.

Prior to 1991,3 since approximately 1973, there is no evidence that any health benefits plan or collective bargaining agreement expressly provided that the members of Local 31 were participants in a health benefits plan. Local 1, on the other hand, has had the defendant benefit Plan in place since 1965 when Local 1 and Grand Rapids area contractors established it pursuant to collective bargaining agreements. In addition to Local 31 and Local 1, there are approximately 20 other bricklayer local unions located around the State of Michigan. Like the members of Local 1, and unlike the members of Local 31, the members of all but one of these other local unions were, [916]*916at the times relevant to this lawsuit, expressly made participants in a locally established health benefits plan.

Members of other bricklayer union locals work within the jurisdiction of Local 1, and Local 1 members work within the jurisdictions of other locals. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the various bricklayer health plans began implementing a state-wide “reciprocity” system. Under this system, when a member of one union works within the geographic jurisdiction of another union, the contributions made to the benefit plan of the other union are, by agreement, transferred back to the benefit plan of the union with which the member is affiliated. This reciprocity system affords a member of any particular union the flexibility of working within the jurisdiction of any other union while maintaining uninterrupted participation in his union’s benefit plan, which credits the member for the time worked elsewhere. To implement this reciprocity system, the Local 1 Plan entered agreements to reciprocate contributions to health plans established for members of bricklayer unions based in numerous other Michigan cities. Because plaintiffs’ local union does not participate in a health benefits plan, they have not benefited from the reciprocity system when employed outside their local jurisdiction, at least in regard to their work in the Local 1 jurisdiction.

In 1981, the Trustees amended certain terms of the Plan. Pursuant to the amendment, the Plan restricted participation in the Plan benefits to those employees who are members of Local 1. See Plan, Art. II, ¶ 2.1(a), at 3, in Defendants’ Brief in Support, Ex. M at. Defendants expressly state that the purpose of the Plan is to provide “health and welfare benefits to Local No. 1 members and their eligible dependents.” Defendants’ Brief in Support at 3-4. According to defendants, the Plan has never paid benefits to members of other union locals, even though the employers of such members contribute to the Plan based on the number of hours worked by those members in the jurisdiction of Local 1.

II. Facts

Since 1985, plaintiffs have periodically worked for employers who were bound by the collective bargaining agreements between the Grand Rapids area contractors and Local 1. When working in the Local 1 jurisdiction for one of those employers, plaintiffs must allow the employers to contribute $1.75 to the Plan for each hour worked by each employee. The employers are required, pursuant to “working Agreements,” to make contributions on behalf of plaintiffs to the Plan. See Plan, Art. I, 111.2, at 1, in Plaintiffs’ Brief in Support, Ex. A.

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Bluebook (online)
779 F. Supp. 914, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19112, 1991 WL 286276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathers-v-bricklayers-allied-craftsmen-local-1-miwd-1991.