United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union v. Phillips 66 Co.

143 F. Supp. 3d 1106, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3549, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146696, 2015 WL 6604587
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 29, 2015
DocketCase No. 14-CV-086-JHP-PJC
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 143 F. Supp. 3d 1106 (United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union v. Phillips 66 Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Oklahoma 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 v. Phillips 66 Co., 143 F. Supp. 3d 1106, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3549, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146696, 2015 WL 6604587 (N.D. Okla. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES H. PAYNE, District Judge.

Before the Court are Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 20] and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 21]. After consideration of the briefs, and for the reasons stated below, Plaintiffs’ Motion is GRANTED and Defendant’s Motion is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied-Industrial and Service Workers International Union and its Local 13-857 (collectively, the “Union”) and Defendant Phillips 66 Company (“Phillips 66” or the “Company”) are parties to a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) effective March 31, 2012, to March 31, 2015, covering various bargaining unit employees at the Company’s Ponca City, Oklahoma refinery. [Doc. No. 21-2, (Deck of Jason Smith), at ¶ 3]. The CBA was initially entered into between the Union and the Company’s predecessor company, Conoco-Phillips. [Id. at ¶ 4], When ConocoPhillips spun off certain assets, including the Pon-ca City refinery, into Phillips 66, Phillips 66 agreed to assume ConocoPhillips’ obligations under the CBA. [Id.].

Article 15 of the CBA covers health insurance benefits for bargaining unit employees. [Doc. No. 20-1, Ex. A-l (CBA), at 12-13]. Article 15 provides certain benefit plans named in the CBA, including the Employee Medical and Dental Plans, “shall be continued for the period of this Agreement subject to the rules and regulations of the plans and this contract.” [Id. at 12]. Article 15 further provides eligible bargaining unit employees

will participate in the Employee Medical and Employee Dental Plans generally available to the employees of the Company as of the date of this Agreement as well as subsequent modifications to these Plans that might occur during the term of this Agreement that also apply generally to the employees of the Company.

[Id. at 13]. Under Article 15, the Company “agrees to pay 80% of the premiums for the Employee Medical and Dental Plan” as well as “80% of any premium increases that occur during the term of this Agreement.” [Id.].

Article 30 of the CBA defines “grievance” as “a dispute or conflict between the Company and the Union as to the interpretation or application of the terms of this Agreement.” [Id. at 54]. Article 30 contains a four-step procedure for settling grievances. [Id. at 54-57].. The first step, Step A, must be initiated within 10 business days “of the date the incident arose.” [Id. at 54, 57]. The grievance procedure [1110]*1110culminates in arbitration when a dispute is not resolved at the earlier stages of the procedure. [Id. at 56]. “Only differences arising between the Union and the Company relating to interpretation or performance [of the CBA] which ... have gone through the grievance procedure are arbi-trable.” [Id. at 57].

The CBA also incorporates a 1997 letter of understanding governing successorship (the “Successorship Letter”). The Succes-sorship Letter provides, in relevant part, that following any “sale, merger, or joint venture” involving the Ponca City refinery, the successor company may establish a new package of employee benefits for bargaining unit employees, but must, upon request, “negotiate with the Union in good faith regarding those benefits.” [Id. at 69]. Should an agreement not be reached regarding those benefits, the successor company may proceed with implementation of the proposed benefit plans, and the Union will not have the right to strike. [Id.]. .

The Current Dispute

On July 13, 2012, the Company informed the Union via letter that it would be changing medical plan benefits for current employees and retirees effective January 1, 2013. [Doc. No. 20-1 (Deck of Andrew Sona), at ¶ 5; id. at Ex. A-2], Pursuant to Step A of the CBA grievance procedure, on September 8, 2012, the Union requested to bargain over the announced changes. [Id. at Ex. A-3]. In October 2012, the Company refused the Union’s request, citing Article 15 of the CBA and the Succes-sorship Letter. [Id. at Ex. A-4]. On November 12, 2012, the Union filed written grievances in accordance with Step B of the CBA grievance procedure, protesting the announced health care changes for both current employees and retirees. [Id. at Ex. A-5]. The Union cited Articles 1, 3, and 15 of the CBA, as well as the Succes-sorship Letter. [Id.]. On November 28, 2012, the Company denied the grievances, labeled (1) R12-5 — Changes to Employee Medical Plan and (2) R12-6 — Changes to Retiree Medical Plan (together, the “Grievances”). [Id. at Ex. A-6]. On December 4, 2012, the Union advanced the Grievances to Step C of the grievance handling procedure. [Id. at Ex. A-7]. On January 30, 2013, the Company issued a “Step C” response, again refusing to bargain over Grievances R12-5 and R12-6. [Id. at Ex. A-8].

On February 19, 2013, the Union advanced both grievances to Step D, the final step of the grievance procedure, by requesting arbitration. [Id. at Ex. A-9]. On October 2, 2013, the Company informed the Union it would not arbitrate the Grievances, on the ground they were not arbi-trable. [Id. at Ex. A-ll]. Regarding Grievance R12-5, the Company stated it had no duty to arbitrate because the CBA “delegated to the Company” authority to modify benefit plans, and thus “[t]he Company clearly did not agree to arbitrate disputes arising from such modifications.” [Id.]. The Company further stated that, because of the Union’s past practice of not seeking to .arbitrate the Company’s changes to the benefit plans, “the Union has waived its right, to the extent it ever had such right, to arbitrate the Company’s right to make such changes, or the changes themselves.” [Id.]. The Company also denied the Successorship Letter applied to either Grievance, because the Company’s spin-off from ConocoPhillips was not a “sale, merger, or joint venture.” [Id.]. Regarding Grievance R12-6, the Company stated, “there is no agreement to arbitrate any dispute over changes to [retiree health] benefits because there is no duty to bargain over such benefits in the first place and, therefore, nothing to arbitrate.” [Id.].

[1111]*1111The Union filed a Complaint in this Court on February 24, 2014, seeking an order to compel arbitration of Grievances R12-5 and R12-6 pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 185. [Doc. No. 2]. Both parties moved for summary judgment on November 7, 2014. [Doc. Nos. 20, 21], The motions are fully briefed and ready for review by this Court.

DISCUSSION

As a general rule, summary judgment is appropriate where “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). An issue is genuine if the evidence is such that “a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 F. Supp. 3d 1106, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3549, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146696, 2015 WL 6604587, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-steel-paper-forestry-rubber-manufacturing-energy-allied-oknd-2015.