Opinion ID: 3025092
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effect of the Irrevocable Elections

Text: 6 The arbitrator determined that the 2003 CBA did not mention the previous irrevocable elections and that the agreement specifically stated that Accuride would provide “eligible employees” with medical benefits. He reasoned that the parties could have easily incorporated the elections from the previous agreement into the 2003 CBA but did not do so. Furthermore, he found that there was no language in the 2003 CBA to support an argument that the prior elections made the Kaiser retiree’s “ineligible.” We reiterate that our review of the arbitrator’s decision is very narrow and deferential. The critical question is whether the decision drew its essence from the CBA, not whether we would have reached the same conclusion if we reviewed the case in the first instance. We believe that the arbitrator’s conclusion that the previous elections did not survive the 2003 CBA was a rational interpretation of the agreement. The absence of any mention of the previous elections in the 2003 CBA, the ease with which such a mention could have been placed, and the zipper clause in the Memorandum of Settlement which explicitly negates all past agreements, all weigh in favor of concluding that the elections did not survive the 2003 CBA. Therefore, we will affirm the district court’s decision on this issue.