United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union, Local 9550 v. Cequent Towing Products

920 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2013 WL 366295, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3221, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12184
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJanuary 30, 2013
DocketCause No. 3:12-CV-713 RLM
StatusPublished

This text of 920 F. Supp. 2d 932 (United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union, Local 9550 v. Cequent Towing Products) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union, Local 9550 v. Cequent Towing Products, 920 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2013 WL 366295, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3221, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12184 (N.D. Ind. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

ROBERT L. MILLER, JR., District Judge.

The plaintiff labor unions represent workers at the Goshen, Indiana, plant of Cequent Performance Products, Inc., f/k/a Cequent Towing Products. The Unions filed suit in this court seeking a status quo injunction to prevent Cequent from moving its Goshen operations to Reynosa, Mexico, until the parties can arbitrate the issue of whether Cequent’s move to Mexico is a violation of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. The court held a hearing on January 17, 2013 on the Unions’ motion for preliminary injunction and Cequent’s motions to cancel the hearing and to dismiss the complaint. The court denied Cequent’s motions to cancel and to dismiss and took the Unions’ motion under advisement. Having considered the parties’ oral arguments and written submissions, the court denies the Unions’ motion for preliminary injunction.

I. Background

The parties don’t dispute the facts surrounding their dispute. The Unions represent some 375 production and maintenance workers at Cequent’s Goshen facility where workers manufacture trailer hitches for sale to automobile manufacturers and after-market suppliers. Cequent is owned by TriMas Corporation, which has plants world-wide and is headquartered just outside Detroit. The applicable collective bargaining agreement between Cequent and the Unions covers the period March 13, 2011 to March 12, 2014. Compl., Exh. A.

On October 18, 2012, Thomas Benson, Cequent’s President, sent a letter to Union [935]*935representatives informing them that “after serious consideration and analysis, management at TriMas Corporation, parent company of Cequent Performance Products, has made the preliminary recommendation to close our Goshen, Indiana plant and to relocate the operations and work performed at the Cequent-owned facility in Reynosa, Mexico.... We would like to emphasize that no final decision has been made at this point. However, TriMas plans to reach a final decision on or soon after November 19, 2012. Accordingly, any information and/or input from the United Steel Workers that the Union believes should be considered prior to TriMas reaching a final decision should be provided sufficiently in advance of November 19, 2012, so that we may consider all such information and input prior to reaching a final decision.” Compl., Exh. B.

The day after receiving Mr. Benson’s letter, the Unions filed a grievance on behalf of “all Cequent employees plant wide” complaining about the company’s plans to “shut down the Goshen plant and out source the work to Mexico” and asking that Cequent “make all employees whole in all aspects plant wide;” Cequent denied that grievance on October 23 based on its conclusion that the grievance “failfed] to allege that any provision of the CBA was violated. Regardless, no violation exists under the CBA and the grievance is denied in its entirety.” Compl., Exh. C.

The Unions’ bargaining team met with Cequent officials on October 30 to discuss the planned move. At the meeting, union representatives asked Cequent to stop moving component parts and equipment out of the plant until the bargaining process ended, and, on November 1, the Unions sent a follow-up letter to Cequent management reiterating their request that the company “cease and desist” moving equipment, tools, etc. until resolution of the Unions’ grievance. Compl., Exh. E. The Unions report that Cequent said the parts in question weren’t connected with the proposed closure.

The Unions filed an amended grievance with Cequent on November 5, again on behalf of all employees plant wide, alleging company violations of specific provisions of the CBA. Compl., Exh. D. In denying that grievance, Cequent stated that no violation of the CBA had occurred and the dispute relating to closure of the Goshen facility wasn’t subject to arbitration. O’Brien Dec., Exh. 6. The Unions then requested that the company proceed to arbitration on the amended grievance.

On November 8, the Unions filed their complaint in this court under Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), asking that Cequent (i) be ordered to proceed to arbitration on the Unions’ grievance relating to closure of the Goshen facility and (ii) be enjoined from closing the Goshen plant during the pendency of the arbitration. Cequent moved to dismiss, the Unions filed their response, and the Unions moved for injunctive relief seeking to preserve the status quo pending arbitration.

Shortly before the preliminary injunction hearing, Cequent informed the court that the company had agreed to proceed to arbitration on the Unions’ grievance. In Cequent’s notice to the court of the parties’ agreement, the company reiterated that its Goshen facility isn’t “scheduled to close permanently until the end of 2013 and no employees will be let go until February 22, 2013, more than half will remain employed through the end of June 2013, and the last will remain until December 20, 2013,” which Cequent said demonstrated that “it is now indisputable that [the Unions] are not facing any actual or threatened irreparable harm and there is no basis for this lawsuit.” Deft. Notice of Supp. Evidence, ¶¶ 4, 9-10. Cequent con-[936]*936eluded that subject matter jurisdiction was lacking so the complaint should be dismissed and the preliminary injunction hearing cancelled. Deft. Notice of Supp. Evidence, ¶¶ 14, 15. The Unions objected to canceling the hearing based on their claim that evidence at the hearing would “show that the Union does indeed face an irreparable injury justifying an injunction in aid of arbitration.” Pltfs. Resp. to Notice, at 1.

The parties’ dispute relates to the following provisions of the applicable CBA:

Article 2 — Management Rights
Subject to the terms of this Agreement, [Cequent] has and shall continue to have full and complete control over matters relating to the management and conduct of its business, the direction of the workforce and the planning and processing and the determining of methods of operations.... [Cequent] also retains the right to close, discontinue, or relocate all or any part of the operations or work performed in Goshen, Indiana for any lawful reason subject to any bargaining obligation imposed under federal law.
Article 9 — Grievance Procedure
Section 1. Grievances Generally. Should any grievance, disputes, or complaints arise over the interpretation or application of the Agreement, there shall be an earnest effort on the part of the parties to arrange a settlement promptly through the Grievance Procedure. Grievances shall be processed as follows:
Step 4: If the grievance is not settled in Step 3, and where the Union representative may indicate his desire in writing ... to appeal the grievance to Arbitration[,] [t]he parties shall then select an arbitrator in accordance with the Rules and Procedures of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service who shall be a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. The arbitrator shall have no authority or jurisdiction to add to, detract from, or alter the terms and conditions of the Agreement. The decision of the arbitrator, within the limits herein prescribed, shall be final and binding on both parties to the dispute.
Article 27 — Contracting Out

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Bluebook (online)
920 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2013 WL 366295, 194 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3221, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-steel-paper-forestry-rubber-manufacturing-energy-allied-innd-2013.