Opinion ID: 526766
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The 1983 Poor Production Citations

Text: 43 Landry also contends that Local 854 breached its duty of fair representation in failing to reschedule the arbitration over the poor production citations issued to 25 union members, including Landry, in 1983. In support of his claim, Landry notes that union officials did not respond to repeated requests by the members to take this matter to arbitration. Landry testified that when Tyrone Webster was running for union president in 1983, he promised the workers that he would restart the arbitration. Webster did not do so when elected. The testimony also indicated that union officials did not inform the members of the reasons for their decision to abandon the arbitration over the poor production citations. Finally, the evidence established that the collective bargaining agreement provided for hourly wages for freight handlers. Landry and other union members testified that they interpreted this provision as precluding production quotas set by the employer. 44 The union president, Tyrone Webster, conceded that he did not adequately explain to union members why the arbitration was not rescheduled. Webster testified, however, that Local 854 had decided that continued arbitration over the poor production issue would not be in the best interest of all of its members. At the time of this dispute, production in the Port of New Orleans was declining to the extent that New Orleans-based companies and workers were losing business to other, more productive, ports. Union officials decided that an arbitration over poor production would exacerbate this problem by bringing negative publicity to the port and the union. The union feared that the ultimate result of arbitration would be less work for its members. 45 The testimony of a NOSSA official, Win Niemand, confirmed that the New Orleans port had production problems which led to declining stevedoring business. Niemand testified that NOSSA discussed this problem with union officials, seeking their cooperation to increase production in order to avert a further loss of work. On the question of whether the attempt to introduce production quotas violated the collective bargaining agreement, Neimand stated that NOSSA took the firm position that the employers had the right to demand a certain level of production pursuant to the management rights clause of the Agreement. 6 46 Under these circumstances, Local 854 was well within its discretionary right in deciding not to arbitrate the poor production citations. Courts have long recognized that a union must, at times, subordinate the interests of individual employees to the collective interest of all union members. Vaca, 386 U.S. at 182, 87 S.Ct. at 912; Tedford v. Peabody Coal Co., 533 F.2d 952, 957 (5th Cir.1976). In addition, a union may act according to its own reasonable interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement. Local 854 could recognize an interpretation allowing the employer to set acceptable production quotas under the management rights clause. A union is not required to advocate a different interpretation preferred by some individual union members. Bache, 840 F.2d at 290. 47 The evidence offered by Landry does not refute that there was a production problem in the Port of New Orleans which adversely affected the stevedoring companies and the freight handlers. Instead, Landry contends that the fact that Tyrone Webster broke his promise to restart arbitration and did not explain to union members why the union had abandoned the poor production issue is sufficient to establish a breach of the duty of fair representation. This conduct by union officials may fall short of the best in contract administration, but the duty of fair representation does not reach all less than perfect behavior. Connally, 583 F.2d at 203. See also Freeman v. O'Neal Steel, Inc., 609 F.2d 1123, 1126-27 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 833, 101 S.Ct. 104, 66 L.Ed.2d 39 (1980) (A union did not breach its duty of fair representation by informing an employee that his grievance had been rejected by an arbitrator, when in fact it had been withdrawn). Instead, the duty is breached only by conduct that is arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith. 48 Under this standard, a union may refuse to process a grievance or handle the grievance in a particular manner for a multitude of reasons, so long as a union acts in good faith and there is some nonarbitrary basis for its decision. Griffin v. Int'l Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers, 469 F.2d 181, 183 (4th Cir.1972). The overwhelming evidence established that Local 854 did not resume the arbitration over the poor production citations because it thought such a step would not enhance the greater good of all union members. This decision cannot be considered arbitrary, and there is no evidence that it was motivated by ill will toward Landry or discriminatory motives. The evidence is therefore insufficient to establish that the union breached its duty of fair representation in refusing to arbitrate Landry's earlier poor production citations.