Office & Professional Employees International Union, Local 425 v. National Labor Relations Board

419 F.2d 314
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 19, 1969
DocketNos. 21550, 21710
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 419 F.2d 314 (Office & Professional Employees International Union, Local 425 v. National Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Office & Professional Employees International Union, Local 425 v. National Labor Relations Board, 419 F.2d 314 (D.C. Cir. 1969).

Opinion

LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge:

This case is before us on a petition to review and set aside a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order filed by the Employer (which in this case happens to be a union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen), a petition for modification filed by the Union (Office & Professional Employees International, Local 452, AFL-CIO), and a cross-petition for enforcement filed by the NLRB. Finding substantial evidence in the record supporting the findings of fact and no error in the application of law, we deny both the petitions to reverse and to modify the order, and we grant enforcement.

The Employer, Brotherhood, is a labor organization representing railroad employees throughout the United States and Canada. Its central office, the Grand Lodge, is located in Lakewood, Ohio, and it has approximately 1,200 local units whose operations are occasionally audited by The Grand Lodge. The Grand Lodge is the unit involved in this case. For several years prior to 1966, while the employees in this unit were represented by the Grand Lodge Employees Association, nearly all auditing work was done by certain chosen employees taken from within this bargaining unit. Following an election in August 1966, appellant Union was certified as the new bargaining representative for the employees of this unit.

On September 8, 1966, contract negotiations between the Employer and Union began. The Employer proposed that three classifications — -Programmer, Insurance Underwriting Supervisor, and Auditors — be exempted from the bargaining unit. The final collective bargaining agreement, dated October 1, 1966, makes no mention of auditors or exemptions thereof, but provides that employees performing the work customarily done by the statistical clerks outside of the central office would receive no less than the rate of statistical clerk.

Toward the end of October, the Employer, without notifying or consulting with the Union, made plans to have the auditing work done outside the Union. It checked with employees to ascertain who would be willing to accept assignments as full-time auditors. Effective November 1, 1966, it granted two volunteer office employees of the unit a one year leave of absence from the unit and appointed them in its new (as of 1966) classification of General Organizer-Auditors, to perform audits full time. The Union protested and stated that it was invoking the grievance procedure. On November 25, the Union advised the Employer that it would like to suspend the grievance proceedings pending resolution of an unfair labor practice charge being prepared by the Union. The Employer answered on November 29 that if the Union had a grievance at all, the time for processing it had expired under the grievance procedure. The Union filed charges against the Employer on December 1.

The NLRB adopted the Trial Examiner’s findings that the Employer had violated Section 8(a) (1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act)1 by unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of employment without fulfilling its duty to bargain. It ordered the Employer to cease and desist from its unlawful action and to restore the status quo ante by rescinding the new classification and returning the two employees to their former classification in the unit.

The Employer seeks reversal of the Board’s order on three grounds: First, the NLRB abused its discretion by asserting jurisdiction instead of deferring to the mandatory grievance procedure; Second, the merits were improperly decided by the Board; and Third, the remedy is improper. The Union seeks [317]*317to extend the remedy so that the order would (1) prohibit any change of the auditing work during the term of the contract without Union agreement; and (2) require reimbursement of the Union for dues lost. We discuss these contentions in the order listed.

1. NLRB’s Failure to Defer to Arbitration Is Not Abuse of Discretion.

The Employer does not question the statutory jurisdiction of the Board over this case2 but rather asserts that under the circumstances the NLRB should have deferred to arbitration. The Employer contends that the Supreme Court’s decisions in Textile Workers v. Lincoln Mills3 and the Steelworkers’ Trilogy,4 express a philosophy which the NLRB must implement, of strengthening collective bargaining by giving full play to private adjustment machinery established by the parties, and that it is inconsistent with the statutory policy favoring arbitration for the Board to resolve disputes which, while cast as unfair practices, essentially involve a dispute as to interpretation or application of the collective bargaining agreement.5

The Supreme Court’s decisions in Textile Workers and the Steelworkers’ Trilogy do, indeed, laud the policy of respecting arbitration agreements reached by the parties. But as the Court pointed out in NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U.S. 432, 436, 87 S.Ct. 565, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967), these earlier decisions “dealt with the relationship of courts to arbitrators. The weighing of the arbitrator’s greater institutional competency, which was so vital to those decisions, must be evaluated in that context. * * The relationship of the Board to the arbitration process is of a quite different order. See Carey v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 375 U.S. 261, 269-272, 84 S.Ct. 401, 11 L.Ed.2d 320” (1964).

The Board’s basic jurisdiction in the premises has recently been confirmed by the Supreme Court. See NLRB v. Strong, 393 U.S. 357, 89 S.Ct. 541, 21 L.Ed.2d 546 (Jan. 15, 1969):

Admittedly, the Board has no plenary authority to administer and enforce collective bargaining contracts. Those agreements are normally enforced as agreed upon by the parties, usually through grievance and arbitration procedures, and ultimately by the courts. But the business of the Board, among other things, is to adjudicate and remedy unfair labor practices. Its authority to do so is not “affected by any other means of adjustment or prevention that has been or may be established by agreement, law, or otherwise * * * " § 10(a), 61 Stat. 146, 29 U.S.C. § 160(a). Hence, it has been made clear that in some circumstances the authority of the Board and the law of the contract are overlapping, concurrent regimes, neither pre-empt-ing the other. NLRB v. C & C Plywood Corp., 385 U.S. 421, 87 S.Ct. 559, 17 L.Ed.2d 486 (1967); Carey v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 375 U.S. 261, 268, 84 S.Ct. 401, 407, 11 L.Ed.2d 320 [318]*318(1964); Smith v. Evening News Ass’n, 371 U.S. 195, 197-198, 83 S.Ct. 267, 268-269, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962); Local 174, Teamsters, etc. v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
419 F.2d 314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/office-professional-employees-international-union-local-425-v-national-cadc-1969.