Metropolitan Edison Company v. National Labor Relations Board, Local Union 563, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Intervenor

663 F.2d 478, 108 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3020, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 16035

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Decided: November 13, 1981
• Docket: 80-2588
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

SEITZ, Chief Judge.

Metropolitan Edison Company (the Company) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) finding that the Company violated section 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) by disciplining two officers of intervenor Local Union 563 (the Local) more severely than rank-and-file members for participating in an illegal work stoppage. The Board cross-petitions for enforcement of its order. This court has jurisdiction under section 10(e) and (f) of the Act, as amended. 29 U.S.C. § 160(e) & (f) (1976).

I.

The Company, a public utility that provides electrical power to customers in Southeastern Pennsylvania, started construction of a two-unit nuclear generating station at Three Mile Island (TMI) in 1968. The construction was still underway in 1977. At that time, over half of the Company’s employees were represented by five local unions of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (the Union) under a collective bargaining agreement that took effect on May 1, 1976. Article XI of the agreement provided:

The Brotherhood and its members agree that .. . there shall be no strikes or walkouts by the Brotherhood or its members, and the Company agrees that there shall be no lockouts of the Brotherhood or its members, it being the desire of both parties to provide uninterrupted and continuous service to the public.

Under prior collective bargaining agreements containing the same provision, members of the Union had violated the no-strike provision four times. On each occasion the Company disciplined the Union officers more severely than its members. The Company justified the disparity in discipline on the ground that union officers, unlike the members, have an affirmative duty to try to end an illegal strike. Twice the Union grieved to arbitration the issue of whether the Company could impose the extra discipline, and twice the Union lost.

The events that gave rise to this dispute occurred on August 30, 1977. Members of the Operating Engineers’ Union picketed the north entrance to TMI. Members of the Local, including its president Lang and vice-president Light, refused to cross that picket line. The administrative law judge succinctly described the events on that morning:

Both [Lang and Light] spent the morning of August 30, 1977, seeking to secure removal of the picket line so that their members, who had earlier indicated an unwillingness to cross any picket line, would go to work. Thus, Lang had come to [TMI] early on the morning of August 30, pursuant to a phone call from [the Company’s personnel administrator], in which [he] advised [Lang] that there was a picket line which the [Local’s] members were refusing to cross and requested him to see what could be done. In the course of their conversations that morning, [the administrator] reiterated to Lang a position taken by the Company a number of times previously that the union officers had a particular obligation to cross the picket line so that other employees would follow. When Lang arrived at the gate he spoke to the Operating Engineers’ picket captain, learned the reason for the picket line, and was told that the line would not be removed unless removal was ordered by his business agent. Lang called the business agent. Subsequently, Lang went to the union hall, . . . and directed Gene Light to go the Operating Engineers to see whether he could negotiate with them to get them off the bridge. When he returned to the picket line, Lang was again told [by two Company officers] that he had a particular obligation as a union official to cross the picket line. Lang told [one of them] that it was the consensus of the members that they were not going to cross until the picket line came down and he told [the other] that he felt it was better if he stayed out because then he could at least negotiate with the pickets. Gene Light had substantially similar conversations with both [officers].

In the course of discussing what it would take to have the picket line removed, the Operating Engineers’ steward told Lang that they would remove the picket line if the contractors ceased using the north bridge.

After Lang related this conversation to the Company’s coordinator of services, the Company set up a reserved gate for the contractors’ employees at the south bridge, the picket line came down, and the Local’s members went to work.

Of the 135 rank-and-file members who refused to cross the picket line, 121 received five-day suspensions, and fourteen who had participated in previous illegal stoppages received ten-day suspensions. Lang and Light each received a twenty-five-day suspension. The Company stated in the written records of its disciplinary action that the harsher discipline for each was justified because in addition to violating the no-strike clause, each had

[failed] as an elected official of [the Local] to demonstrate to the Company, in an objective manner, [his] affirmative duty as an elected officer to:

(a) Make every effort to uphold the sanctity of the Agreement and its established grievance procedures.

(b) Make every bona fide effort to prevent the unlawful work stoppage.

(c) Make every effort, including returning to work [himself], to end the unlawful work stoppage.

The Local filed an unfair labor practice charge, and the General Counsel issued a complaint against the Company. The administrative law judge found that the Company’s actions violated section 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act, and the Board adopted his rulings, findings, and conclusions, although modifying the terms of his cease and desist order. Metropolitan Edison Co., 252 N.L.R.B. 1030 (1980).

II.

An employer may impose greater discipline on union officials if the collective bargaining agreement enumerates specific affirmative steps a union official is to take in the event of an illegal work stoppage and the official has failed to perform those actions. In Gould Inc. v. NLRB, 612 F.2d 728 (3d Cir. 1979), cert. denied sub nom. Moran v. Gould Corp., 449 U.S. 890, 101 S.Ct. 247, 66 L.Ed.2d 115 (1980), this court held that an employer did not commit an unfair labor practice when it singled out from among fifty participants in an illegal work stoppage a union steward for discharge. The collective bargaining agreement contained a no-strike clause, and also required union officials to take affirmative steps to end illegal work stoppages:

In the event of an illegal [work stoppage], the Local and International Union and its officers shall immediately take positive and evident steps to have those involved cease such activity. These steps shall involve the following: Within not more than twenty-four (24) hours after the occurrence of any such unauthorized action, the Union, its officers and representatives shall publicly disavow same by posting a notice on the bulletin boards throughout the plant. The Union, its officers and representatives shall immediately order its members to return to work, notwithstanding the existence of any wildcat picket line. The Union, its officers and representatives shall refuse to aid or assist in any way such unauthorized action. The Union, its officers and representatives, will in good faith, use every reasonable effort to terminate such unauthorized action.

612 F.2d at 730 n.3. The court held that the employer’s discharge of the steward did not discriminate against the exercise of protected section 7 concerted activities because the company disciplined the steward not because of his status as a union officer but because of his failure to fulfill the responsibilities imposed on him by the collective bargaining agreement. The court further held that the discharge of the steward for violation of that contractual duty was not inherently destructive of employee rights and thus an unfair labor practice under the doctrine of NLRB v. Great Dane Trailers, Inc., 388 U.S. 26, 34, 87 S.Ct. 1792, 1798, 18 L.Ed.2d 1027 (1967), because (1) there is no right to strike illegally or to violate contractually imposed duties, and (2) anyone dissuaded from seeking union office by such a rule should be dissuaded if he or she intended to engage in illegal strikes or to violate contractual obligations. Id. at 730-33.

If the collective bargaining agreement requires in general terms that union officials take affirmative steps to end an illegal work stoppage, a union official does not breach that duty simply because he does not take the exact affirmative steps the employer ordered him to take. Only if his actions in complying with that duty are not in good faith does he become subject to greater discipline. In C. H. Heist Corp. v. NLRB, 657 F.2d 178 (7th Cir. 1981), an employer discharged only one out of twenty-five employees who participated in an illegal work stoppage — the shop steward. There was a no-strike provision in the collective bargaining agreement. The court held that the only basis for finding a greater obligation on the steward than on the other employees was a provision that, “The steward’s duties shall consist of seeing that all terms and conditions of the Agreement are being complied with . . . . ” Id. at 181. The steward, both before and during the work stoppage, attempted to dissuade the employees from striking, but would not cross the picket line as the employer wanted him to do. The court held that the employer had committed an unfair labor practice in more harshly disciplining the steward, because “[i]n the absence of a clear contractual provision requiring [the steward] to cross the picket line, his efforts were sufficient, if not the most effective possible, to satisfy his obligation to see that the no strike clause was complied with.” Id. at 183.

If the collective bargaining agreement does not specify that union officials have some responsibility to try to end an illegal work stoppage, then the company may not impose any greater discipline on union officials than on other participants in the strike. In Hammermill Paper Co. v. NLRB, 658 F.2d 155 (3d Cir. 1981), an employer had punished a union steward who took part in an illegal work stoppage more severely than other participants. The collective bargaining agreement contained a general no-strike clause. However, the Hammermill agreement contained no provision that placed any greater responsibilities on union officials than on the rank-and-file members, and the arbitrator in a grievance proceeding on the same matter had held that the contract placed no increased responsibilities on union officials. In those circumstances, the two members of the panel who reached the issue held that the company had committed an unfair labor practice in singling out the steward for harsher punishment. Id. at 163 (opinion of Rosenn, J.); id. at 166-67 (opinion of Higginbotham, J.).¹

The rules developed from the Gould, Heist, and Hammermill cases are consonant with sound labor policy. The rules recognize the principle that although statutory rights may be waived, courts will generally not find a waiver unless it is clear and unmistakable. See Texaco, Inc. v. NLRB, 462 F.2d 812, 815 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1008, 93 S.Ct. 442, 34 L.Ed.2d 302 (1972). The rules recognize that, since the holding of union office is the essence of protected union activities, see General Motors Corp., 218 N.L.R.B. 472, 477 (1975), enforced mem., 535 F.2d 1246 (3d Cir. 1976), discriminatory punishment solely on the basis of holding union office is a section 8(a)(3) unfair labor practice.² Hammermill, 658 F.2d at 163; id. at 166-67. Although it is true that we need not hesitate to adopt a rule that allows union officials to be punished discriminatorily if such a ruling would deter prospective union officials from seeking union office because they intend after assuming office to participate in illegal work stoppages and to repudiate voluntarily assumed contractual obligations, see Gould, 612 F.2d at 733, this case illustrates the limits of that rationale. Allowing the discriminatory punishment that the Company imposed on Lang and Light might deter others from seeking union office because of the fear that, if an illegal strike were to occur, they would be put into an untenable position: either obey the company and lose their authority,³ or follow their own judgment and risk harsher punishment. It is because of this dilemma that we will not interpret a collective bargaining agreement to impose additional responsibilities on union officials absent clear language showing that the union agreed to it. Compare Heist, 657 F.2d at 182-83 (similar analysis where agreement did not specify the responsibilities it imposed on union official).

Because the agreement here, like that in Hammermill, did not expressly impose a duty on the Union officials to attempt to halt an illegal work stoppage, the Company committed an unfair labor practice when it disciplined Lang and Light more harshly than the other participants in work stoppage of August 30.

III.

The Company argues that, notwithstanding the absence of any explicit contractual language placing greater responsibilities on the Union officials, two earlier arbitrations had interpreted identical language in previous collective bargaining agreements between the Company and the Union to require Union officials to take affirmative steps to end an illegal work stoppage. Because the relevant language was not changed in any of the renewals since the time of those decisions, the Company argues that we are bound by the arbitral awards construing the collective bargaining agreement to place greater responsibilities on union officials.

There are two arbitration awards on which the Company relies: the Howard arbitration in 1973 and the Seidenberg arbitration in 1975. Both arbitrations arose out of illegal work stoppages in which the Company had disciplined union officials more severely than rank-and-file members. Both times the issue before the arbitrator was whether the company had had just cause for the discipline. In neither hearing did the Union raise the issue whether the collective bargaining agreement placed greater responsibilities on the Union officials. The only discussion of the origin of the greater responsibilities occurred in the Howard arbitration. The arbitrator stated:

It is well-established that Union officials have an affirmative duty to protect the authority of the Union leadership from illegitimate action on the part of employees, and to uphold the sanctity of the Agreement and its established grievance procedures. Failure to exercise this responsibility subjects them to more serious penalties. . . . Indeed, the mere participation by Union leaders in an illegal work stoppage is sufficient to justify a differential penalty ....

(emphasis in the original).

The narrow issue before us is whether we are bound by the previous arbitral interpretations. We hold that we are not.⁴

Normally an arbitrator need not follow previous arbitrations construing the same agreement. See New Orleans Steamship Association v. General Longshore Workers, 626 F.2d 455, 468 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. granted sub nom. Jacksonville Bulk Terminals, Inc. v. International Longshoremen’s Association, 450 U.S. 1029, 101 S.Ct. 1737, 68 L.Ed.2d 223 (1981); Riverboat Casino, Inc. v. Local Joint Executive Board, 578 F.2d 250, 251 (9th Cir. 1978) (to require adherence to previous arbitration would reduce flexibility of the arbitral process). It follows that when this court is called upon to construe a collective bargaining agreement, it need not follow a previous arbitral interpretation. To bind this court to a contractual interpretation made in a previous arbitral award would not be consistent with what the parties bargained for: arbitration as a dispute resolution process for specific grievances. See NLRB v. Pincus Brothers, Inc.-Maxwell, 620 F.2d 367, 374 (3d Cir. 1980).

An exception to the general rule may be found if the collective bargaining agreement so provides. Riverboat Casino, 578 F.2d at 251. However, that exception is not applicable here, because the agreement between the Company and the Union does not provide that one arbitration is to be bound by an earlier decision, unless the earlier decision was made under the same collective bargaining agreement. Article IX, § 9.2, 4th (“A decision [by an arbitrator] shall be binding .. . for the term of this Agreement.”). The two arbitrations upon which the Company relies were made under previous agreements. Additionally, the agreement provides that “all Customs and Practices” between the Company and the Union are to be listed in the agreement. The agreement lists no practice of being bound to arbitrations under previous agreements.

IV.

The Company further argues that its harsher discipline of Lang and Light was justified because Lang and Light were leaders of the strike. See J. P. Wetherby Construction Co., 182 N.L.R.B. 690 (1970). The Board rejected this argument, finding that Lang and Light were not active leaders of the strike. Our review persuades us that the Board’s finding is supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole. See Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 487-88, 71 S.Ct. 456, 464-65, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951).

V.

The Company’s petition for review will be denied, and the Board’s order will be enforced.

1 . To the extent that Indiana & Michigan Electric Co. v. NLRB, 599 F.2d 227 (7th Cir. 1979), is inconsistent with Gould, Heist, and Hammer-mill, we decline to follow it. See Hammermill, 658 F.2d at 163-65 (opinion of Rosenn, J.) (distinguishing Indiana); id. at 167 (opinion of Higginbotham, J.) (rejecting Indiana). We also note that the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit appears to have limited the scope of the Indiana & Michigan decision. See Heist, 657 F.2d at 182-83.

2 . If union officials take a leadership role in support of an illegal work stoppage, then they may be more severely disciplined for that reason. See J. P. Wetherby Construction Co., 182 N.L.R.B. 690 (1970).

3 . This possibility was demonstrated on August 4, 1977. That morning, members of the Local had refused to cross the picket line established by the Pipefitters’ Union at the north entrance to TM1. After this incident the Company advised Lang and Light that they had a legal obligation to cross the picket line and to urge their membership to do the same. At a meeting after work on August 4, Lang told the members of their obligations, but the membership shouted down his urgings that they cross picket lines.

4 . The administrative law judge held that he was not bound to the previous interpretations because, if they had been made today, the Board “would likely find those awards repugnant to the purposes and policies of the Act,” 252 N.L.R.B. at 1035 (emphasis added), under the analysis of Spielberg Manufacturing Co., 112 N.L.R.B. 1080 (1955). Because we reach the same result on other grounds, we do not decide whether the conclusory Spielberg analysis was correct.