United Steelworkers v. General Electric Co.

211 F. Supp. 562, 51 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2531, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4148
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedNovember 20, 1962
DocketCiv. A. No. 37415
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 211 F. Supp. 562 (United Steelworkers v. General Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Steelworkers v. General Electric Co., 211 F. Supp. 562, 51 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2531, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4148 (N.D. Ohio 1962).

Opinion

GREEN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on cross motions for summary judgment filed by both the United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO, et al., plaintiffs, and the General Electric Company, defendant. The action was brought by the plaintiff labor organizations against the defendant employer for an order to compel the employer to arbitrate grievances filed by thirteen of the defendant’s employees in the plant operated by the defendant at Coshocton, Ohio. This case was filed under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185. The grievance alleged by the plaintiffs was the result of defendant’s change of method of payment applicable to certain employees from a piecework rate to a day rate affecting employees in two job classifications, Tube Roller and Machine Operator in the Tubes and Rods Unit of the Coshocton plant.

The employees filed their grievance on September 9, 1961, which recites the following :

We are protesting the company’s proposed changing of our jobs from piecework to day work. This is nothing more than a wage cut and there is no section in the agreement which permits the company to cut a man’s wages. It has never been a practice by the company to change piecework jobs to day work and we do not intend that the company shall start with us.
Article VIII, Section 3B and C state very clearly how prices may be changed on piecework jobs and these are the only way they can be changed.
RELIEF SOUGHT. Leave our classifications on piecework as they were set up many years ago.

On September 26, 1961, the company answered the grievance. In substance, the company’s response indicated that the action was taken to get quality and costs in line, and was not the subject of any contractual restrictions.

On November 6, 1961, after the grievance had been processed through the steps of the grievance procedure as provided in the collective bargaining agreement between the parties, plaintiffs submitted a request for arbitration to the American Arbitration Association. Thereafter, on November 8, 1961, the association submitted a list of arbitrators to the parties, from which plaintiffs made a selection. On November 15, 1961, defendant requested an extension of time to return the list of arbitrators to the American Arbitration Association and obtained an extension to November 24, 1961.

Defendant refused to participate in the arbitration, taking the position that [564]*564the grievance plaintiffs sought to arbitrate did not present an arbitrable question under the collective bargaining agreement, since it did not present a question of contract interpretation, and alleging that the agreement expressly excluded from arbitration the very question presented by the grievance.

On November 22, 1961, defendant filed a petition in the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to enjoin the American Arbitration Association from proceeding to arbitrate the grievance submitted by plaintiffs. On November 24, 1961 that Court issued a temporary restraining order for that purpose. This action was filed thereafter by plaintiffs on December 15, 1961.

The issue before this Court is whether or not the collective bargaining agreement entered into between the parties and dated November 14, 1960, provided that grievances in the nature of the one here concerned should be the subject of arbitration.

The question of whether a dispute is arbitrable is a question of law for the Court to determine. United Steelworkers of America v. American Manufacturing Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960).

The guiding principles in this area were established by the Supreme Court in the decisions rendered in United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960); United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960); United Steelworkers v. American Manufacturing Co., supra; and Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (1957).

In United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, Justice Douglas stated:

“The Congress, however, has by § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, assigned the courts the duty of determining whether the reluctant party has breached his promise to arbitrate. * * * ”

As to whether or not a grievance is arbitrable depends upon the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and the courts have been rather liberal in the interpretation of the provisions in favor of arbitration.

In Proctor & Gamble Independent Union v. Proctor & Gamble Mfg. Co., 298 F.2d 644 (Cir. 2, 1962), Judge Medina stated:

“The nub of the matter is that under the broad and comprehensive standard labor arbitration clause every grievance is arbitrable, unless the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement concerning grievances and arbitration contain some clear and unambiguous clause of exclusion, or there is some other term of the agreement that indicates beyond peradventure of doubt that a grievance concerning a particular matter is not intended to be covered by the grievance and arbitration procedure set forth in the agreement.”

In the same vein, the Supreme Court in the Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company case, Justice Douglas, stated:

“An order to arbitrate the particular grievance should not be denied unless it may be said with positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute. Doubts should be resolved in favor of coverage.” 363 U.S. 574, 582, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1353.
“In the absence of any express provision excluding a particular grievance from arbitration, we think only the most forceful evidence of a purpose to exclude the claim from arbitration can prevail, particularly where, as here, the exclusion clause is vague and the arbitration clause quite broad.” 363 U.S. 574, 585, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1354.

The pertinent provisions of the collective bargaining agreement governing the [565]*565parties to this action ate, in part, as follows:

ARTICLE XXI
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
Section 1. Definition

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211 F. Supp. 562, 51 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2531, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-steelworkers-v-general-electric-co-ohnd-1962.