Task: songer_state

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals. Your task is to identify the state or territory in which the case was first heard. If the case began in the federal district court, consider the state of that district court. If it is a habeas corpus case, consider the state of the state court that first heard the case. If the case originated in a federal administrative agency, answer "not applicable". Answer with the name of the state, or one of the following territories: District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Panama Canal Zone, or "not applicable" or "not determined".

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.
This appeal concerns an action brought in the District Court for the District of Maine by Local Division 714, Amalgamated Transit Union (the Union) seeking a declaratory judgment and injunction against the Greater Portland Transit District (the District) for its refusal to submit the parties’ dispute regarding terms of a new collective bargaining agreement to binding arbitration. Arbitration of the terms of a new contract — known as “interest arbitration” — is alleged to be required by an agreement the parties entered into pursuant to § 13(c). of the Urban Mass Transportation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 1609(e) (UMTA). The court below, ruling from the bench, dismissed the Union’s suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and the Union has appealed. We are thus faced with the narrow but important question of whether the federal courts are vested with the authority to hear labor disputes of this type between the recipients of UMTA grants and their employees.
I.
Under the UMTA, state and local agencies may obtain federal financial assistance for the providing of mass transportation services in urban areas. 49 U.S.C. § 1602. Section 13(c) of the Act, 49 U.S.C. § 1609(c), establishes as “a condition of any assistance. that fair and equitable arrangements are made, as determined by the Secretary of Labor, to protect the interests of employees affected by such assistance.” The section then proceeds to specify what the labor protective arrangements are to accomplish, including the preservation of existing collective bargaining rights. Finally, § 13(c) directs that the “terms and conditions of the protective arrangements” shall be specified in the financial assistance contract itself — viz. the contract between the local authority and federal government. In practice, the statute seems to have been read as leaving to the applicant for federal assistance and its employees, or their bargaining representative, the negotiating of a written agreement (called a § 13(c) agreement) containing the precise terms of mutually satisfactory protective arrangements, followed by approval of that agreement by the Secretary of Labor.
The case before us arises out of several financial assistance contracts between the District and the federal government. The District, a Maine state agency, has as its purpose the providing of motor vehicle mass transportation in the greater Portland area. From 1970 until early 1973, the District owned the office and garage facilities where buses were parked and maintained, but leased the facilities to the Greater Portland Transit Company, a private corporation, which operated the transportation services. Before and during this period, the Transit Company’s employees were protected by the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 141-87, and the Union and the Transit Company were parties to successive collective bargaining agreements.
In late 1972, the District arranged to purchase the Transit Company. The District entered into a Capital Grant Contract (Grant No. 1) with the United States, pursuant to the UMTA, to receive federal funds for the project. The “project” was defined as the purchase of the Transit Company’s assets, 15 new buses, and 15 locked registering fare boxes. The grant contract obliged the District to complete the project under the labor protective provisions of a § 13(c) agreement between the District and the Union dated December 8, 1972 (“1972 § 13(c) Agreement”), which the Secretary of Labor had approved; these provisions were incorporated by reference into the grant contract. The § 13(c) agreement provided in part for binding arbitration of labor disputes, including interest arbitration of the terms of new collective bargaining agreements.
The District after receiving funding under the Act purchased the Transit Company’s assets on January 1,1973. Pursuant to the 1972 § 13(c) Agreement, the District succeeded to the Company’s obligations under the then-existing collective bargaining agreement, which was due to terminate on December 31, 1973. When the agreement terminated, the Union and the District arrived at a new collective bargaining agreement apparently by utilizing, after impasse had been reached, the dispute settlement procedures provided by the Maine Public Employees Relations Law, 26 M.R.S.A. §§ 961 et seq., rather than the binding interest arbitration provided by the 1972 § 13(c) Agreement. One procedure used was fact-finding in which both the District and the Union participated. The resulting 1974 collective bargaining agreement, as had the previous collective bargaining agreements, provided for non-interest arbitration but explicitly denied any requirement of interest arbitration. This collective bargaining agreement had an expiration date of December 31, 1976.
In February 1975, the District and the Union entered into a § 13(c) agreement (“1975 § 13(c) Agreement”), in relation to an application by the District for UMTA funding for the purchase of 35 new buses and fare boxes. This agreement again mandated binding interest arbitration. The agreement provided further that it would be “independently binding and enforceable by and upon the parties thereto....” The Secretary of Labor approved this 1975 § 13(c) Agreement, and its employee protections became part of a Capital Grant Contract (Grant No. 2) with the United States for funding for the purchase of 39 new buses and fare boxes, which was executed in November 1975. At the same time, the District and the United States entered into an Operating Assistance Grant Contract (Grant No. 3) covering the District’s operating expenses for calendar year 1975.
A year later, in November 1976, the District became a party to another § 13(c) agreement. This was the “National § 13(c) Agreement,” which had been executed by the American Public Transit Association and the Transit Employee Labor Organizations in July 1975. The District became a party thereto by notifying the appropriate parties of its desire to have that agreement apply to the District’s grants of operating assistance under the UMTA. The District requested specifically that “all applications submitted for Federal Operating Assistance under Section 5 and 3(h) of the Act for the period November 26, 1974 through September 30, 1977 not heretofore certified by the Department of Labor be certified on the basis of the [National § 13(c) Agreement].” The Secretary of Labor certified the National § 13(c) Agreement for the District and the Union in November 1976. As the District’s only previous application for operating assistance (Grant No. 3) already had been certified by the Secretary, however, the National § 13(c) Agreement apparently did not become part of a contract of assistance until April 1977. At that time the District and the United States entered into an Operating Assistance Contract (Grant No. 4) to cover the District’s operating expenses for calendar year 1976. The National § 13(c) Agreement provided for binding non-interest arbitration, but did not itself provide for interest arbitration. Arguably, however, it incorporated the interest arbitration requirements of the prior § 13(c) agreements.
After the National § 13(c) Agreement was executed but before it was incorporated into the Grant No. 4 contract, the 1974 collective bargaining agreement terminated and the instant litigation arose. During the two months prior to the December 31, 1976 termination date, the District and the Union negotiated toward a new collective bargaining agreement. Early in January 1977, the negotiations reached impasse, and the parties were unable to agree as to what was the appropriate dispute settlement procedure to follow. The Union requested binding interest arbitration pursuant to the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement. The District refused, and instead had a mediator appointed by the Maine Labor Relations Board.
In March of 1977, the Union filed this complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, asking for a declaration and injunction requiring the District to submit the disputed terms of the new collective bargaining agreement to binding interest arbitration pursuant to the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement. The complaint contains four counts: (1) that the District’s refusal to arbitrate was a breach of the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement and thereby did not comply with § 13(c) of the UMTA; (2) that the District’s refusal to arbitrate violated Maine law; (3) that the District’s refusal violated the National § 13(c) Agreement; and (4) that the District violated the 1974 collective bargaining agreement by refusing to bargain in good faith. The Union premised jurisdiction on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1337. The District’s answer denied that the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement was in “full force and effect,” denied that it was an industry affecting commerce (as required by § 1337), alleged as a defense that it was a quasi-municipal corporation and a political subdivision of the State of Maine, and asserted that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.
Since this appeal does not deal with the merits of the present dispute, we need not delve deeply into the parties’ substantive contentions. The Union, suffice to say, feels the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement, mandating interest arbitration, is controlling and was operable in late 1976 and early 1977 because the project covered by Grant No. 2, the purchase of 39 new buses and fare boxes, was not yet completed. This view arguably aligns with the apparent intention of Grant Contract No. 2 that the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement would be in effect until the project, the purchase, was finished. The Union argues that the incorporation of the National § 13(c) Agreement into the subsequent assistance contract was not meant to preempt the prior § 13(c) agreement. The District, on the other hand, argues that the parties never meant to require binding interest arbitration. It points to the provision of the 1974 collective bargaining agreement expressly precluding interest arbitration, as well as to the fact that the parties utilized Maine’s dispute settlement procedures in their 1974 collective bargaining. The District maintains that it was told and believed that the National § 13(c) Agreement superseded the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement. Further, it argues that because the employees have not been adversely affected by the federal grants, no contract rights ever arose under the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement. See 49 U.S.C. § 1609(c). Finally, the District challenges the enforceability of the 1975 § 13(c) Agreement’s interest arbitration requirement on the ground that it lacked authority ever to agree to any such requirement.
The district court’s order dismissing the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was in response to the District’s motion to dismiss both on that ground and for failure of the complaint to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. We address both grounds herein, both having been presented below. We turn first to the question of jurisdiction.
II.
The Union asserts the existence of federal jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1337. Both of these provisions require that the action “arise under” federal law, and it is well established that the “arising under” test is the same for either section. Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Local Unions, IBEW, 508 F.2d 687, 699 n.34 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 998, 96 S.Ct. 2215, 48 L.Ed.2d 823 (1976); see Peyton v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 316 U.S. 350, 353, 62 S.Ct. 1171, 86 L.Ed. 1525 (1942). In Gully v. First National Bank, 299 U.S. 109, 112-13, 57 S.Ct. 96, 97, 81 L.Ed. 70 (1936), the Supreme Court said,
“How and when a case arises ‘under the Constitution or laws of the United States’ has been much considered in the books. Some tests are well established. To bring a case within the statute, a right or immunity created by the Constitution or laws of the United States must be an element, and an essential one, of the plaintiff’s cause of action. Starin v. New York, 115 U.S. 248, 257 [6 S.Ct. 28, 29 L.Ed. 388]; First National Bank v. Williams, 252 U.S. 504, 512 [40 S.Ct. 372, 64 L.Ed. 690]. The right or immunity must be such that it will be supported if the Constitution or laws of the United States are given one construction or effect, and defeated if they receive another. Ibid; King County v. Seattle School District, 263 U.S. 361, 363, 364 [44 S.Ct. 127, 128, 68 L.Ed. 339], A genuine and present controversy, not merely a possible or conjectural one, must exist with reference thereto (New Orleans v. Benjamin, 153 U.S. 411, 424 [14 S.Ct. 905, 38 L.Ed. 764]; Defiance Water Co. v. Defiance, 191 U.S. 184,191 [24 S.Ct. 63, 48 L.Ed. 140]; Joy v. St. Louis, 201 U.S. 332 [26 S.Ct. 478, 50 L.Ed. 776]; Denver v. New York Trust Co., 229 U.S. 123, 133 [33 S.Ct. 657, 57 L.Ed. 1101]), and the controversy must be disclosed upon the face of the complaint, unaided by the answer or by the petition for removal. (Tennessee v. Union & Planters Bank, 152 U.S. 454 [14 S.Ct. 654, 38 L.Ed. 511]; Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 [29 S.Ct. 42, 53 L.Ed. 126]; The Fair v. Kohler Die & Specialty Co., 228 U.S. 22, 25 [33 S.Ct. 410, 57 L.Ed. 716]; Taylor v. Anderson, 234 U.S. 74 [34 S.Ct. 724, 58 L.Ed. 1218].) Indeed, the complaint itself will not avail as a basis of jurisdiction in so far as it goes beyond a statement of the plaintiff’s cause of action and anticipates or replies to a probable defense. Devine v. Los Angeles, 202 U.S. 313, 334 [26 S.Ct. 652, 50 L.Ed. 1046]; The Fair v. Kohler Die & Specialty Co., supra.”
For a recent case reaffirming these principles, see Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Texaco Inc., 415 U.S. 125, 94 S.Ct. 1002, 39 L.Ed.2d 209 (1974). See generally 13 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3562 (1975). The essential inquiry is thus whether the complaint, on its face, alleges a cause of action based on a right created by federal law, and whether the construction given to the federal law will be pivotal in the particular case.
Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946), had more to say about “arising under” jurisdiction. Bell involved an action for damages brought by private parties against FBI agents for alleged violations of fourth and fifth amendment rights. The lower courts dismissed for want of federal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that because the complaint squarely sought recovery on the ground that the agents violated the Constitution, federal question jurisdiction existed regardless of whether or not there was a federal cause of action or whether the complaint also alleged a state law claim. The Court stated the jurisdictional rule as follows:
“[Wjhere the complaint, as here, is so drawn as to seek recovery directly under the Constitution or laws of the United States, the federal court, but for two possible exceptions..., must entertain the suit..
“... The... exceptions are that a suit may sometimes be dismissed for want of jurisdiction where the alleged claim... clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction or where such a claim is wholly insubstantial and frivolous.”
Id. at 681-83, 66 S.Ct. at 776. The Court added that if the complaint failed to state a proper cause of action, the correct disposition would not be dismissal for want of subject matter jurisdiction. Rather, a judgment on the merits in the form of a dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), would be appropriate. 327 U.S. at 682, 66 S.Ct. 773; Massachusetts Universalist Convention v. Hildreth & Rogers Co., 183 F.2d 497 (1st Cir. 1950).
To apply these principles here, we first have to determine the theory of recovery set out in the complaint. Three interpretations can be advanced. The narrowest would be that the complaint shows, at most, a violation of a private contractual agreement between the Union and the District. The broadest would be that the complaint shows a violation of § 13(c) on the theory that § 13(c) commands interest arbitration — a command the District ignored. A middle ground would be that the complaint shows a § 13(c) violation, not because § 13(c) requires interest arbitration, but because § 13(c), as a matter of clear inference, directs compliance with the mandated labor protective arrangements and implies a federal remedy for breach thereof in favor of those employees for whose benefit § 13(c) was enacted.
The district court read the complaint narrowly, as setting forth only a violation of private contract, rather than a violation of § 13(c). It reasoned that even though § 13(c) was “the principal factor leading the parties to enter into the agreement,” the suit was on the contract, not the federal statute. On this premise, the complaint would not be viewed to be “so drawn as to seek recovery directly under the. laws of the United States.” Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. at 681, 66 S.Ct. at 776.
The district court further reasoned that any right the Union had to interest arbitration stemmed from the § 13(c) agreement, not § 13(c) itself. It thus rejected what we have termed the “broadest” construction of the complaint, namely, that relief is justified because § 13(c) itself commands interest arbitration. This latter construction was accepted by the district court in Local Division 519, Amalgamated Transit Union v. LaCrosse Municipal Transit Utility, 445 F.Supp. 798 (W.D.Wis.1978), aff’d, 585 F.2d 1340 (7th Cir. 1978). The LaCrosse district court credited the allegation that § 13(c) itself commanded interest arbitration under the circumstances, and on that basis found federal question jurisdiction to be present. This interpretation seems to us somewhat questionable. The statute does not mention interest arbitration, and while an interest arbitration provision in a § 13(c) agreement may possibly be seen as carrying out one or more of the five substantive labor protections guaranteed in § 13(c), we are unable to translate any of these into a hard and fast command that interest arbitration be provided. In any event, we do not understand the present complaint to allege that the refusal to engage in interest arbitration constitutes, per se, a direct violation of the federal statute. Hence we agree with the district court that federal jurisdiction is not to be premised on this construction.
We think, however, that the district court erred in failing to deal with the third, middle-ground, construction of the complaint. In its complaint, the Union expressly alleged that breach of the § 13(c) agreement constituted noncompliance with § 13(c) of the UMTA. The Union thus advanced the theory that breach of the terms of a labor protective arrangement made pursuant to the command of § 13(c) contravened that statute. The Union contends that by making it a condition of financial assistance that the District enter into fair and equitable arrangements as determined by the Secretary of Labor, and by commanding that the terms and conditions of such arrangements become part of the grant contract, Congress implicitly mandated both compliance with those arrangements and a federal remedy for their breach.
We think this reading of the complaint is compelled by its language, and that it precludes a ruling of no 'federal jurisdiction. Accord, Local Division 519, Amalgamated Transit Union v. LaCrosse Municipal Transit Utility, 585 F.2d 1340, at 1346 (7th Cir. 1978); Division 1287, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, 582 F.2d 444, at 450 (8th Cir. 1978). Jurisdiction does not even require that the complaint necessarily state a valid claim upon which relief can be granted; all that is required is that the complaint is “so drawn as to seek recovery directly under the... laws of the United States....” Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. at 681, 66 S.Ct. at 776. As the present complaint was so drawn, it states a claim arising under • federal law unless the assertion that rights under § 13(c) were denied by the District’s refusal to arbitrate either “clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for the purpose of obtaining jurisdiction,” or “is wholly insubstantial and frivolous.” Id. at 682-83, 66 S.Ct. at 776.
Plainly the assertion of a § 13(c) violation is not “immaterial”: the agreement for whose breach the Union seeks relief came into being because of § 13(c). Nor is it patently frivolous to contend that breach of labor protective arrangements formed under § 13(c) violates § 13(c) itself, or gives rise to a federal remedy. It is true that three district courts have found subject matter jurisdiction lacking in similar settings on essentially this basis, although they did not couch their determination in Bell’s “wholly insubstantial and frivolous” phraseology. See Local Division 1285, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Jackson Transit Authority, 447 F.Supp. 88 (W.D.Tenn. 1977), appeal docketed, No. 78-1185 (6th Cir. May 16,1978); Division 580, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Central New York Regional Transportation Authority, No. 77-CV-45 (N.D.N.Y. Oct. 19, 1977), vacated as moot, 578 F.2d 29 (2d Cir. 1978); Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority v. Local Division 782, Amalgamated Transit Union, No. 18429 (N.D.Ga. July 11, 1973). Each of those courts acknowledged the complaint before it to claim that the alleged violation of the § 13(c) labor protective agreement constituted a violation of § 13(c) itself, but denied federal question jurisdiction because it saw no federal issue involved. But, two federal issues obviously were raised: first, whether breach of the terms of labor protective arrangements made under § 13(c) violates § 13(c), and second, whether there is a federal cause of action for such a breach. The Jackson, Atlanta, and Central New York courts evidently felt those issues to be so insubstantial as to require disposition on jurisdictional grounds. The district court’s decision below also can be viewed this way, rather than as having narrowly interpreted the complaint not to allege a violation of § 13(c). We cannot, however, accept the conclusion of frivolity. Two circuit courts, in the Kansas City and LaCrosse cases, supra, have recently found federal jurisdiction in circumstances very similar to this; and, as our later analysis indicates, we are ourselves persuaded to imply from § 13(c) a federal remedy.
The criteria stated in Gully and Bell.v. Hood are satisfied when the complaint is read in the foregoing manner. The claim presents the court with the two issues mentioned in the preceding paragraph, plus (assuming the first two are surmounted) the issue on the merits of whether there actually was a violation of the § 13(c) agreement here.
Our conclusion that federal question jurisdiction is appropriate is reinforced by International Association of Machinists v. Central Airlines, Inc., 372 U.S. 682, 83 S.Ct. 956, 10 L.Ed.2d 67 (1963). In that case an airline board of adjustment was set up by an agreement between Central Airlines and its employees’ union pursuant to section 204 of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 184, which required that the board be established by a private contract. It was the board’s function to resolve disputes growing out of application of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, and under the Act the board’s awards were final and binding, 45 U.S.C. § 153 Second. The litigation arose when the union sought enforcement of such an award in federal court upon the airline’s refusal to comply therewith. The Supreme Court held that the action to enforce the award arose under federal law, giving rise to federal question jurisdiction. The thrust of the Court’s analysis was as follows:
“The contracts and the adjustment boards for which they provide are creations of federal law and bound to the statute and its policy. If any provision contained in a § 204 contract is enforceable, it is because of congressional sanction: ‘[T]he federal statute is the source of the power and authority. The enactment of the federal statute. is the governmental action. though it takes a private agreement to invoke the federal sanction.... A union agreement made pursuant to the Railway Labor Act has, therefore, the imprimatur of the federal law upon it..’ Railway Dept. v. Hanson, 351 U.S. 225, 232 [76 S.Ct. 714, 100 L.Ed. 1112]. That is, the § 204 contract, like the Labor Management Relations Act § 301 contract, is a federal contract and is therefore governed and enforceable by federal law, in the federal courts.”
372 U.S. at 692, 83 S.Ct. at 962. Because the instant case likewise involves enforcement of a contract formed pursuant to federal law, Central Airlines supports our conclusion that federal question jurisdiction exists.
In addition to the presence of a substantial federal question, a prerequisite for jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 is that “the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or Value of $10,000, exclusive of interest and costs....” The Union’s amended complaint made the following allegation regarding the amount in controversy:
“Plaintiff has been damaged in an amount greater than $10,000.00 by virtue of Defendant’s refusal to pay cost-of-living escalator increments as under the expired working agreement, and because of, among other things, Defendant’s refusal to arbitrate, the members of the Plaintiff are without a pension plan, do not have unemployment benefits, and are in a state of limbo without assurance of employment, all of which is in excess of the $10,000.00 jurisdictional amount.”
The District argues that the Union has not shown by this allegation that the requisite amount is in controversy. We note at the outset that in the similar Kansas City and LaCrosse cases, the eighth and seventh circuits respectively found the $10,000 jurisdictional amount to be in controversy. Division 1287, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, 582 F.2d 444, at 450 (8th Cir. 1978); Local Division 519, Amalgamated Transit Union v. LaCrosse Municipal Transit Utility, 585 F.2d 1340, at 1348-1349 (7th Cir. 1978).
In Saint Paul Mercury Indemnity Co. v. Red Cab Co., 303 U.S. 283, 288-89, 58 S.Ct. 586, 590, 82 L.Ed. 845 (1938), the Supreme Court set out what remain the controlling principles guiding a determination of whether or not an action meets the jurisdictional amount:
“The rule governing dismissal for want of jurisdiction in cases brought in the federal court is that, unless the law gives a different rule, the sum claimed by the plaintiff controls if the claim is apparently made in good faith. It must appear to a legal certainty that the claim is really for less than the jurisdictional amount to justify dismissal.” [Citations omitted.]
See Jimenez Puig v. Avis Rent-A-Car System, 574 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1978). These principles apply equally to actions for declaratory and injunctive relief. See Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Commission, 432 U.S. 333, 346, 97 S.Ct. 2434, 53 L.Ed.2d 383 (1977). There is no indication that the Union’s jurisdictional amount assertion was not made in good faith. Accordingly, to warrant dismissal of the complaint on jurisdictional amount grounds it would have to appear “to a legal certainty” that the amount in controversy actually does not exceed $10,000. Such is not the case here.
The Union is suing in its representative capacity to vindicate the rights of employees to binding interest arbitration under the collective § 13(c) protective arrangements. It has standing to do so. See Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 200, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962); cf. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 511, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975) (an association may have standing solely as representative of its members). The Union therefore can rely upon the actual or threatened injury to individual employees in establishing the jurisdictional amount. Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Commission, 432 U.S. at 346, 97 S.Ct. 2434.
The Supreme Court held in Hunt that a representative plaintiff such as the Union can establish the requisite amount in controversy if the claims of at least some of the individuals represented exceed that amount. Thus, the jurisdictional amount in controversy is met in this case unless it is clear “to a legal certainty” that the rights to interest arbitration of not even some of the employees is worth $10,000. It is hard to say this is so. But we do not rest on that premise. We would also venture that the Union- is entitled to aggregate the value of its members’ claims to satisfy the jurisdictional amount requirement. To be sure, the Supreme Court in Hunt reserved the question of whether a representative plaintiff could aggregate individual claims in establishing the jurisdictional amount. But while the issue is thus as yet undecided, there are convincing reasons to aggregate in these circumstances.
It is the rule that “when several plaintiffs unite to enforce a single title or right, in which they have a common and undivided interest, it is enough if their interests collectively equal the jurisdictional amount.” Zahn v. International Paper Co., 414 U.S. 291, 294, 94 S.Ct. 505, 508, 38 L.Ed.2d 511 (1973), quoting Troy Bank v. G. A. Whitehead & Co., 222 U.S. 39, 40-41, 32 S.Ct. 9, 56 L.Ed. 81 (1911). On the other hand, when two or more plaintiffs having “separate and distinct” claims unite for “convenience and economy” in a single class action, each member of the class must satisfy the jurisdictional amount requirement. Id.; Snyder v. Harris, 394 U.S. 332, 89 S.Ct. 1053, 22 L.Ed.2d 319 (1969). The distinction between “a common and undivided interest” and “separate and distinct” claims is not entirely clear. C. Wright, Law of Federal Courts § 36, at 139 (3d ed. 1976). It can nonetheless be said that the individual employees in the present case are not united merely for litigation “convenience and economy” as in Zahn and Snyder. Their claims are united in this single action by the Union in conformance with the fundamental premise of collective bargaining that a union is to represent its members in all aspects of the labor-management relationship. This premise is part of national labor policy. NLRB v. Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., 388 U.S. 175, 180, 87 S.Ct. 2001, 18 L.Ed.2d 1123 (1967). Also, any right to interest arbitration under the § 13(c) agreement cannot be viewed practically as a right possessed by each employee individually, because it can only be exercised collectively. To be sure, each employee benefits from that right; it has economic value to each that should be included in determining the amount in controversy. But its collective nature would seem to make it a “single right,” within the meaning of Troy Bank.
Moreover, in actions seeking declaratory or injunctive relief the amount in controversy is measured by the value of the object of the litigation. Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Commission, 432 U.S. at 347, 97 S.Ct. 2434; McNutt v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 181, 56 S.Ct. 780, 80 L.Ed. 1135 (1936); Glenwood Light & Water Co. v. Mutual Light, Heat & Power Co., 239 U.S. 121,126, 36 S.Ct. 30, 60 L.Ed. 174 (1915); Hunt v. New York Cotton Exchange, 205 U.S. 322, 336, 27 S.Ct. 529, 51 L.Ed. 821 (1907); 1 J. Moore, Federal Practice ¶¶ 0.95, 0.96 (2d ed. 1975); C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, supra, § 3708. The Union’s object is binding arbitration of the disputed terms of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. The value of that arbitration would seem to be the difference between the expected value of the terms under the arbitration award and the value of the terms that would exist in the absence of arbitration. The value of the arbitration is impossible to determine precisely, because both the terms of the arbitration award and the terms of employment in the absence of arbitration are speculative. These valuation problems make it virtually impossible to conclude to a legal certainty on the current record that the amount in controversy is less than the required $10,000. This is especially so, because of the reasonableness of the claim that the aggregate interest of the 107 employees exceeds $10,000. The District presently is paying wages (presumably at the rate set by the former collective bargaining agreement), but has not made cost-of-living increases as called for by the former agreement. On this cost-of-living factor alone, the Union claims a $35,000 total loss. Further, it is not clear whether or not the District, in the absence of a new agreement, would abide by other provisions of the former agreement, such as those governing discipline and discharge procedures, grievances, vacations, medical insurance, or pensions. In light of these considerations, we conclude that the Union’s allegation that the amount in controversy exceeds $10,000 satisfies the jurisdictional amount requirement, of § 1331, and that subject matter jurisdiction over the Union’s action exists pursuant to that provision. In view of this, we need not consider the applicability of § 1337.
III.
While contrary to the district court we conclude that there is subject matter jurisdiction, that ruling- does not end matters. Notwithstanding federal jurisdiction over the subject matter of the Union’s § 13(c) claim, the summary dismissal by the district court must be affirmed if the Union has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See, e. g., Wheeldin v. Wheeler, 373 U.S. 647, 649, 83 S.Ct. 1441,10 L.Ed.2d 605 (1963); Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946); Massachusetts Universalist Convention v. Hildreth & Rogers Co., 183 F.2d 497 (1st Cir. 1950).
The Union

Question: In what state or territory was the case first heard?
年. not
数. Alabama
日. Alaska
的. Arizona
月. Arkansas
用. California
成. Colorado
名. Connecticut
时. Delaware
件. Florida
一. Georgia
请. Hawaii
中. Idaho
据. Illinois
码. Indiana
不. Iowa
新. Kansas
文. Kentucky
下. Louisiana
分. Maine
入. Maryland
人. Massachussets
功. Michigan
上. Minnesota
户. Mississippi
为. Missouri
间. Montana
号. Nebraska
取. Nevada
回. New
在. New
页. New
字. New
有. North
个. North
作. Ohio
示. Oklahoma
出. Oregon
是. Pennsylvania
失. Rhode
表. South
除. South
加. Tennessee
败. Texas
生. Utah
信. Vermont
类. Virginia
置. Washington
理. West
本. Wisconsin
息. Wyoming
行. Virgin
定. Puerto
改. District
市. Guam
期. not
以. Panama
Answer:

Answer: 分