Pace Local Union 1967 v. Champion International Corp.

8 F. App'x 404
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 18, 2001
DocketNo. 00-3599
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 8 F. App'x 404 (Pace Local Union 1967 v. Champion International Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pace Local Union 1967 v. Champion International Corp., 8 F. App'x 404 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff Pace Local Union 1967 (the “Union”) appeals the dismissal of this action to enforce an arbitration award in a dispute over a collective bargaining agreement provision regarding lunch breaks. The Union argues that (1) the arbitration award entered by Edward P. Goggin should be enforced so as to require Defendant Champion International Corp. (“Champion”) to maintain paid working lunch breaks, and (2) alternatively, the case should be remanded to the arbitrator for clarification of the award. We AFFIRM.

I.

In Spring 1996, Champion and the Union entered into “reconfiguration-restructuring” negotiations at Champion’s mill in Hamilton, Ohio. Prior to these negotiations, Champion had provided employees with a paid, unworked lunch break. As a result of the negotiations, the paid, unworked lunch periods were eliminated in three departments: the Supercalendar Complex, the Rewinder Department; and the Embosser Department. However, Champion did not provide any additional compensation to the workers in these departments for the loss of their unworked lunches.

In July 1996, the Union filed grievances requesting that the employees in the three departments be compensated for their loss [405]*405in accordance with the wage rates proposed by the Union during the rate setting meeting. The grievances alleged that the change from a “shutdown” lunch to a “continuous operation” lunch constituted a “substantial change in job content” within the meaning of Section 30.02 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”),1 which provides that a substantial change in job content requires a new rate “in line with the existing rate structure.”

The grievances went to arbitration. In February 1998 Arbitrator James Duff upheld the grievances and sustained the rates proposed by the Union. Thus, the employees were awarded a pay adjustment of feth of each employee’s hourly rate, in addition to back pay from the time the “shutdown” lunches were eliminated in 1996.

Champion complied with Duffs award, but determined thereafter that the cost of paying the higher rate for the continuous operation lunches was uneconomical in two of the three departments. Champion therefore reinstated the paid shutdown lunches in the Embosser and Rewinder departments, and returned the employees to the original rates that had been established in the CBA prior to the elimination of those lunches.

On July 8, 1998, the Union filed another grievance for the employees in the Embosser and Rewinder departments, complaining that Champion’s actions in reinstating the shutdown lunches violated Arbitrator Duffs decision and Section 21.07 of the CBA, which provides that lunch time “shall be changed only by mutual agreement .”2 The Union sought “[t]o be made whole for any and all losses .”

The arbitration hearing for the 1998 grievance was held on August 31, 1999, before Arbitrator Edward P. Goggin. The Union argued that Arbitrator Duffs award did not give Champion the option of reinstating the shutdown lunches, and that because Champion had bargained to eliminate the shutdown lunches, it must also bargain to reinstate them. Champion countered that Duffs decision did not require retention of the continuous operation lunches, but only that Champion pay employees who were required to work through lunch. Arbitrator Goggin concluded that the change back from a continuous operation lunch to a shutdown lunch substantially changed job content, and that Champion had not obtained the “mutual agreement” of the Union as required by Section 21.07. Therefore, Goggin “sustained” the grievance. However, in determining the proper remedy, Goggin reasoned that “[ajlthough [Champion] violated the Agreement by failing to obtain the agreement of the Union under Section 21.07, pursuant to Section 30.02, [Champion] must ‘... set a rate for each job in line with existing rate structure.’ ” Goggin concluded that the rate for each changed job “would be the rate listed for the job in the ‘Extension of the Agreement’ which was in effect at the time” the lunch period was initially changed from a shutdown lunch to a continuous operation lunch. Thus, although Goggin sustained the griev[406]*406anee on the issue of unilateral change without bargaining, he determined that no remedy was appropriate because Champion was already paying the proper rate.

The Union filed a Complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, as provided in the CBA, seeking enforcement of Goggin’s award under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185. The Union also sought attorney fees and expenses. The Union argued that Gog-gin’s award established that Champion must pay employees in the Embosser and Rewinder departments an increased rate of pay, as determined by Arbitrator Duff. Alternatively, the Union requested that the case be remanded to Goggin for clarification of his award.

Champion moved for dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), asserting that Gog-gin did not award a remedy for Defendant’s violation of Section 30.02 of the CBA because that provision contains its own remedy (a rate in line with the existing rate structure), with which Champion was already in compliance. Champion further argued that Goggin’s award was not ambiguous and thus did not require remand.

The district court granted Champion’s motion to dismiss, concluding that Gog-gin’s award drew its essence from Section 30.02 of CBA, and was not ambiguous.

II.

The Union asserts that Arbitrator Gog-gin’s award required Champion to maintain the employees’ pay at the rate established by Arbitrator Duff. Alternatively, the Union argues that Goggin’s award is ambiguous and must be remanded to him for clarification.

The standard of review in arbitration cases is extremely narrow. Anaconda Co. v. International Assoc, of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, 693 F.2d 35, 36 (6th Cir.1982). Courts do not weigh the merits of grievances, balance equities, or search for language in written agreements that supports claims. United Steelworkers of Am. v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 568, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960). Rather, courts are bound by an arbitrator’s findings of fact and serve only as a mechanism to enforce arbitrator’s awards. International Bhd. of Electrical Workers, Local lp29 v. Toshiba Am., Inc., 879 F.2d 208, 210 (6th Cir.1989). The arbitrator’s award is affirmed if “it draws its essence from the collective bargaining agreement.” 3 Cement Divisions, National Gypsum Co. v. United Steelworkers of Am.

., Local 1S5, 793 F.2d 759, 766 (6th Cir. 1986). So long as the arbitrator’s interpretation of the contract and his award are arguably witfiin the scope of his authority, the Court may not overturn the decision even if it “is convinced [the arbitrator] committed serious error.” United Paper-workers Int’l Union v. Misco, Inc.,

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