J. C. Bonnot, D/B/A Bonnot Construction Company v. Congress of Independent Unions Local 14J. C. Bonnot, D/B/A Bonnot Construction Company v. Congress of Independent Unions Local 14
- Reporters:
- , ,
- Before:
- Blackmun
. . , , . , . ,, . Thlsf anotbf case which raises the issue of contractual arbitrability.
^ The Congress of Independent Unions, Local
#14
(the union) brings the action under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947,
The union’s complaint alleges that the eontraetor, continuously since 1960 and contrary to the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, has failed and refused to recognize the union as the exclusive bargaining agent for the eon-tractor’s employees and has failed and refused to require membership in the union as a condition of employment, Damages consisting of the union’s loss of initiation and regular dues are claimed. Relief by way of injunction from further violation is also requested, The complaint does not allege that the asserted violations were processed through the contract’s grievance procedure.
The parties’ agreement is an exhibit attached to the complaint. It provides that “The Contractor agrees to recognize the Union as the sole and exclusive collective bargaining agency for all his employees” and that his employees “shall maintain their membership in the Union as a condition of employment”. Article 5, entitled “Grievances”, reads:
“Section 1. The Union and Contractor agree that there shall be no strikes, lock-outs, tie-ups or legal proceedings without first using all possible means of settlement, as provided in this Agreement, of any controversy which might arise.
“Section 2. A grievance shall in-elude any difference of opinion between the Contractor and any union member over the interpretation of this Agreement. * * * ”
Then follow conventional provisions as to the time within which a grievance is to be br°ught to the contractor’s atten^10n’ as to+ consideration _ of the matter by the contractor and union representatives and
In the event the two parties do not agree a£ter the steps outlined in paragraph 8 above, then either party may request arbitration and follow the following procedure: «* * * „
The procedure specified is a common one providing for the appointment of arbitrators and for the finality of the arbitration; its details are not pertinent here.
The contractor, before filing his answer, promptly moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it stated no “claim upon which relief can be granted”, This motion was denied. In an unreported memorandum in support of that ruling, the district court made the assumption that the motion was based upon the union’s failure to exhaust the contract’s arbitration procedure but went on the hold that the import of the agreement‘s language
«* * * is to include within the arbitration procedure only those disagreements involving the operation of the contract, and it cannot be said to include the requirement that civil actions between employer and the union for damages for breach of the essence of the agreement be arbitrated.”
After the denial of the motion to dismiss, the contractor filed his answer. Later he moved for reconsideration of the denial of the dismissal motion. This was upon the authority of Drake Bakeries Inc. v. Local 50, American Bakery etc., Workers, 370 U.S. 254, 82 S.Ct. 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 474 (1962), not theretofore cited to the court. In a supplemental mem
There may well be, of course, a logical inconsistency between the contractor’s reliance, in his motions to dismiss and for reconsideration, upon the efficacy of the bargaining agreement and its prescribed arbitration procedure, on the one hand, and, on the other, his assertion in his answer, of the contract’s illegality and ineffectiveness. For purposes of the contractor’s motion to dismiss, however, the trial court and this court are to accept as true the well pleaded allegations of fact contained in the complaint. Polk Co. v. Glover, 305 U.S. 5, 9, 59 S.Ct. 15, 83 L.Ed. 6 (1938); Creswell-Keith, Inc. v. Willingham, 264 F.2d 76, 81 (8 Cir. 1959); McCleneghan v. Union Stock Yards Co., 298 F.2d 659, 662 (8 Cir. 1962). This is to be done without reference or concern as to a subsequent responsive pleading chronologically compelled by the denial of the motion to dismiss. See Polk Co. v. Glover, supra, p. 9 of 305 U.S., 59 S.Ct. 15, 83 L.Ed. 6; Department and Specialty Store Employees’ Union, Local 1265 v. Brown, 284 F.2d 619, 623 (9 Cir. 1961).
With our view so confined, the case at once falls into that developing area of labor law governed by Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (1957) and its two companion cases, General Electric Co. v. Local 205, United Electrical etc., Workers, 353 U.S. 547, 77 S.Ct. 921, 1 L.Ed.2d 1028 (1957) and Goodall-Sanford, Inc. v. United Textile Workers, 353 U.S. 550, 77 S.Ct. 920, 1 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1957); by the trilogy of United Steelworkers of America v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960), United Steelworkers of America, A.F.L.-C.I.O. v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960), and United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960); by the later trilogy of Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U.S. 195, 82 S.Ct. 1328, 8 L.Ed.2d 440 (1962), Atkinson v. Sinclair Refining Co., 370 U.S. 238, 82 S.Ct. 1318, 8 L.Ed.2d 462 (1962), and Drake Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 50, American Bakery etc. Workers, supra, 370 U.S. 254, 82 S. Ct. 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 474 (1962); and by John Wiley & Sons v. Livingston, 376 U.S. 543, 84 S.Ct. 909, 11 L.Ed.2d 898 (1964). Our analysis of these opinions convinces us that the contractor’s motion to dismiss here should have been granted.
Lincoln Mills and its companions clearly establish the principles, pp. 451 and 455-456 of 353 U.S., pp. 915, 917 of 77 S. Ct., 1 L.Ed.2d 972, that § 301 “authorizes federal courts to fashion a body of federal law for the enforcement of these collective bargaining agreements and includes within that federal law specific performance of promises to arbitrate grievances under collective bargaining agreements”; that the statute “expresses a federal policy that federal courts should enforce these agreements on behalf of or against labor organizations and that industrial peace can be best obtained only in that way”; and that “the substantive law to apply in suits under § 301(a) is federal law, which the courts must fashion from, the policy of our national labor laws”.
In the Steelworkers trilogy we find renewed emphasis on arbitration as a stabilizing factor in effectuating national la
The second Atkinson and Drake lend even fux’ther emphasis to all this and, at the same time, clearly illustrate significant differences which may exist between collective bargaining agreements. Each case was an action under § 301 for damages for violation of a no strike clause. The question was whether the company was bound to arbitrate its claim. In Atkinson the court held that it was not. It reached this conclusion by an analysis of the agreement itself and by a conviction that the arbitration provisions were limited to employee grievances and could be invoked at the option of only the union. In Dx-ake, on the other hand, the court reached the opposite conclusion and held that the employer there must arbitrate its damages claim, although in a forum “very different from a courtroom”, p. 266 of 370 U.S., 82 S.Ct. 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 474, and that the arbitration clause was of such breadth as to compel a conclusion that the parties had agreed to arbitrate.
In Wiley the Supreme Court, in considering the effect of a corporate merger upon a bargaining agreement‘s arbitration clause, once again recognized and enunciated the same principles. There a unanimous court (other than one justice not participating) referred to “the central role of arbitration in effectuating national labor policy” and stated that “The preference of national labor policy for arbitration as a substitute for tests of strength between contending forces could be overcome only if other considerations compellingly so demanded”. The policy favoring arbitration was held in that case to be “not wholly overborne by the fact that [the emerging employer-corpox’ation] did not sign the contract being construed”. See also Local No. 721, United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers, A.F.L.-C.I.O. v. Needham Packing Co., 84 S.Ct. 773 (1964).
This court has necessarily followed this lead and has been obliged to give broad and liberal interpretation to arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements. See Selb Mfg. Co. v. International Ass’n of Machinists, 305 F.2d 177 (8 Cir.1962); Builders Ass’n of Kansas City v. Greater Kansas City Laborers District Council, 326 F.2d 867 (8 Cir.1964), petition for certiorari filed March 30, 1964; Bevington & Basile Wholesalers, Inc. v. Local No. 46, International Union of United Brewery Workers, 330 F.2d 202 (8 Cir.1964). The same approach is evident in two other recent eases of this court where the issue was the proper extent of an arbitrator’s authority under the bargaining agreement. Kansas City Luggage & Novelty Workers Union Local No. 66, A.F.L.-C.I.O. v. Neevel Luggage Mfg. Co., 325 F.2d 992 (8 Cir.1964); Truck Drivers & Helpers Union Local 784 v. Ulry-Talbert Co., 330 F.2d 562 (8 Cir.1964).
We therefore hold that the contract unambiguously expresses the agreement of the parties that arbitration was to be resorted to for this dispute’s settlement, that the dispute was arbitrable, and that the contractor’s motion to dismiss the complaint should have been sustained. The trial court’s error lay in its failure to confine its consideration of the motion to the complaint as the only pleading pertinent for that purpose.
We should mention, perhaps, the union’s suggestion that the bargaining agreement does not compel arbitration but only provides that either party “may” request it; that it is thus permissive and optional; and that neither it nor the contractor elected to arbitrate. The result claimed to follow is that the arbitration here is not mandatory. We think the result is necessarily the other way. The obvious purpose of the “may” language is to give an aggrieved party the choice between arbitration or the abandonment of its claim. The presence of this or similar language has not prevented the conclusion that a claim, if pressed, is compulsorily subject to arbitration. See American Mfg. Co., supra, p. 565 of 363 U.S., 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403, where the contract provided that differences “may be submitted”, and Drake, supra, p. 257 of 370 U.S., p. 1349 of 82 S.Ct., 8 L.Ed.2d 474, footnote 2, where the contract read, “either party shall have the right to refer the matter to arbitration”. The Fifth Circuit has flatly rejected the union’s argument. Deaton Truck Line, Inc. v. Local 612 etc., International Bhd. of Teamsters, 314 F.2d 418, 422 (5 Cir.1962). We agree. If either Employees Labor Ass’n v. Proctor & Gamble Mfg. Co., 172 F.Supp. 210, 214 (D.Kans.1959), or Wisconsin Motor Corp. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Bd., 274 Wis. 85, 79 N.W.2d 119, 124 (1956), contains any implication to the contrary,
Reversed.