Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/386/171/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-08-19 18:13:49
Document Index: 272244706

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 8', '§ 1', '§ 151', '§ 301', '§ 301', '§ 10', '§ 160', '§ 301', '§ 301']

VACA V. SIPES, 386 U. S. 171 - Volume 386 - 1967 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 386 > VACA V. SIPES, 386 U. S. 171 (1967) > Full Text
Petitioners challenge the jurisdiction of the Missouri courts on the ground that the alleged conduct of the Union was arguably an unfair labor practice, and within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB. Petitioners rely on Miranda Fuel Co., 140 N.L.R.B. 181 (1962), enforcement denied, 326 F.2d 172 (C.A.2d Cir.1963), where a sharply divided Board held for the first time that a union's breach of its statutory duty of fair representation violates N.L.R.A. § 8(b), as amended. With the NLRB's adoption of Miranda Fuel, petitioners argue, the broad preemption doctrine defined in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236, becomes
have a profound effect, in our opinion, on the applicability of the preemption rule to this class of cases. The federal labor laws seek to promote industrial peace and the improvement of wages and working conditions by fostering a system of employee organization and collective bargaining. See N.L.R.A. § 1, as amended, 61 Stat. 136, 29 U.S.C. § 151. The collective bargaining system, as encouraged by Congress and administered by the NLRB, of necessity subordinates the interests of an individual employee to the collective interests of all employees in a bargaining unit. See, e.g., J. I. Case Co. v. Labor Board, 321 U. S. 332. This Court recognized in Steele that the congressional grant of power to a union to act as exclusive collective bargaining representative, with its corresponding reduction in the individual rights of the employees so represented, would raise grave constitutional problems if unions were free to exercise this power to further racial discrimination. 323 U.S. at 323 U. S. 198-199. Since that landmark decision, the duty of fair representation has stood as a bulwark to prevent arbitrary union conduct against individuals stripped of traditional forms of redress by the provisions of federal labor law. Were we to hold, as petitioners and the Government urge, that the courts are foreclosed by the NLRB's Miranda Fuel decision from this traditional supervisory jurisdiction, the individual employee injured by arbitrary or discriminatory union conduct could no longer be assured of impartial review of his complaint, since the Board's General Counsel has unreviewable discretion to refuse to institute an unfair labor practice complaint. See United Electrical Contractors Assn. v. Ordman, 366 F.2d 776, cert. denied, 385 U.S. 1026. [Footnote 8] The existence of even a small group
For these reasons, we think the wrongfully discharged employee may bring an action against his employer in the face of a defense based upon the failure to exhaust contractual remedies, provided the employee can prove that the union as bargaining agent breached its duty of fair representation in its handling of the employee's grievance. [Footnote 11] We may assume for present purposes that such a breach of duty by the union is an unfair labor practice, as the NLRB and the Fifth Circuit have held. The employee's suit against the employer, however, remains a § 301 suit, and the jurisdiction of the courts is no more destroyed by the fact that the employee, as part and parcel of his § 301 action, finds it necessary to prove an unfair labor practice by the union than it is by the fact that the suit may involve an unfair labor practice by the employer himself. The court is free to determine
A breach of the statutory duty of fair representation occurs only when a union's conduct toward a member of the collective bargaining unit is arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith. See Humphrey v. Moore, supra; Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman, supra. There has been considerable debate over the extent of this duty in the context of a union's enforcement of the grievance and arbitration procedures in a collective bargaining agreement. See generally Blumrosen, The Worker and Three Phases of Unionism: Administrative and Judicial Control of the Worker-Union Relationship, 61 Mich.L.Rev. 1435, 1481501 (1963); Comment, Federal Protection of Individual Rights under Labor Contracts, 73 Yale L.J. 1215 (1964). Some have suggested that every individual employee should have the right to have his grievance taken to arbitration. [Footnote 13] Others have urged that the union be given substantial discretion (if the collective bargaining agreement so provides) to decide whether a grievance should be taken to arbitration, subject only to the duty to refrain from patently wrongful conduct such as racial discrimination or personal hostility. [Footnote 14]
In administering the grievance and arbitration machinery as statutory agent of the employees, a union must, in good faith and in a nonarbitrary manner, make decisions as to the merits of particular grievances. See Humphrey v. Moore, 375 U. S. 335, 375 U. S. 349-350; Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman, 345 U. S. 330, 345 U. S. 337-339. In a case such as this, when Owens supplied the Union with medical evidence supporting his position, the Union might well have breached its duty had it ignored Owens' complaint or had it processed the grievance in a perfunctory manner. See Cox, Rights under a Labor Agreement, 69 Harv.L.Rev. at 632-634. But here, the Union processed the grievance into the fourth step, attempted to gather sufficient evidence to prove Owens' case, attempted to secure for Owens less vigorous work at the plant, and joined in the employer's efforts to have Owens rehabilitated. Only when these efforts all proved unsuccessful did the Union conclude both that arbitration would be fruitless and that the grievance should be dismissed. There was no evidence that any Union officer was personally hostile to Owens or that the Union acted at any time other than in good faith. [Footnote 16] Having concluded that
The public interest in effectuating the policies of the federal labor laws, not the wrong done the individual employee, is always the Board's principal concern in fashioning unfair labor practice remedies. See N.L.R.A. § 10(c), as amended, 61 Stat. 147, 29 U.S.C. § 160(c); Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, 313 U. S. 177. Thus, the General Counsel will refuse to bring complaints on behalf of injured employees where the injury complained of is "insubstantial." See Administrative Decision of the General Counsel, Case No. K-610, Aug. 13, 1956, in CCH N.L.R.B. Decisions, 1956 1957, Transfer Binder, � 54,059.
1. In my view, a complaint by an employee that the union has breached its duty of fair representation is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB. It is a charge of unfair labor practice. See Miranda Fuel Co., 140 N.L.R.B. 181 (1962); [Footnote 2/1] Local 12, United Rubber Workers, 150 N.L.R.B. 312, enforced, 368 F.2d 12 (C.A. 5th Cir.1966). [Footnote 2/2] As is the case with most other
discussion of the requisites of such an action is, in my judgment, unnecessary. The Court argues that the employee could sue the employer under L.M.R.A. § 301, and that to maintain such an action the employee would have to show that he has exhausted his remedies under the collective bargaining agreement, or, alternatively, that he was prevented from doing so because the union breached its duty to him by failure completely to process his claim. That may be, or maybe all he would have to show to maintain an action against the employer for wrongful discharge is that he demanded that the union process his claim to exhaustion of available remedies, and that it refused to do so. [Footnote 2/3] I see no need for the Court to pass upon that question, which is not presented here and which, with all respect, lends no support to the Court's argument. The Court seems to use its discussion of the employee-employer litigation as somehow analogous to or supportive of its conclusion that the employee may maintain a court action against the union. But I do not believe that this follows. I agree that the NLRB's unfair labor practice jurisdiction does not preclude an action under § 301 against the employer for wrongful discharge
3. If we look beyond logic and precedent to the policy of the labor relations design which Congress has provided, court jurisdiction of this type of action seems anomalous and ill-advised. We are not dealing here with the interpretation of a contract or with an alleged breach of an employment agreement. As the Court in effect acknowledges, we are concerned with the subtleties of a union's statutory duty faithfully to represent employees in the unit, including those who may not be members of the union. The Court -- regrettably, in my opinion -- ventures to state judgments as to the metes and bounds of the reciprocal duties involved in the relationship between the union and the employee. In my opinion, this is precisely and especially the kind of judgment that Congress intended to entrust to the Board, and which is well within the preemption doctrine that this Court has prudently stated. [Footnote 2/5] See cases cited supra, especially
379 U.S. at 379 U. S. 666. I also observed that the Court's decision in Maddox "raised the overruling axe so high [over those cases] that its falling is just about as certain as the changing of the seasons." Id. at 379 U. S. 667. In the latter observation I was mistaken. The Court has this Term, in Walker v. Southern R. Co., 385 U. S. 196, refused to overrule in light of Maddox such cases as Moore and Koppal. Noting the long delays attendant upon exhausting administrative remedies under the Railway Labor Act, the Court based this refusal on "[t]he contrast between the administrative remedy" available to Maddox and that available to Walker. If, as the Court suggested, the availability of an administrative remedy determines whether an employee can sue without first
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