Opinion ID: 784988
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Arbitrator's Application of Article VIII's Merit and Skill Criteria

Text: 44 The MLUA next challenges the Arbitrator's determination concerning the standards that National League President Coleman was required to apply in making his staffing decisions following the rescission of the remaining resignations on July 27. Specifically, in accordance with the MLUA's position that the letters constituted notices of intent to resign rather than actual resignations, the MLUA contends that the combination of new hires and resignation rescissions resulted in a situation in which the National League was overstaffed and National League President Coleman, in determining whom to retain, should have compared the merit and skill of the rescinding umpires not only as between those umpires but also as to the merit and skill of the new hires and that of those umpires who had never resigned. The MLUA urges that the Arbitrator's countenance of Coleman's failure to do so results in a decision which fails to draw its essence from the CBA. 45 In support of this argument, the MLUA analogizes the present situation to the one that existed in 1979 when its members refused to execute their individual employment contracts at the beginning of the baseball season despite the existence of a no-strike clause. There, the striking umpires were permitted to return to work once the situation was resolved. This resulted in overstaffing, as replacement umpires had been hired in the meantime. The MLUA claims that the current merit and skill language was inserted into the CBA as a result of the 1979 incident for the express purpose of preventing the Leagues from trimming the umpire ranks by taking action against those who participate in work stoppages. 46 In light of the history of the merit and skill provision, and because National League President Coleman admitted during his testimony before the Arbitrator that he never applied the merit and skill criteria to either those umpires who never resigned or those newly hired, the MLUA argues that his actions violated the plain language of the CBA. Further, because American League President Budig never applied the merit and skill criteria in the first instance, the Association asserts that he too violated the CBA and that the Award, which the MLUA contends effectively allows each League to employ a different decision-making process, fails to draw its essence from the CBA. 47 We again reject the MLUA's arguments. As a preliminary matter, in view of the unequivocal no-strike clause contained in the CBA, we find troubling the assertion that the merit and skill criteria was inserted in order to protect striking umpires. Indeed, if we were to read Article XIX of the CBA as prohibiting strikes while Article VIII nevertheless protects striking umpires, we would have a very tortured interpretation of the contract. 48 Moreover, even if there were some arguable merit to the MLUA's attempt to analogize this situation to the job action taken by its members in 1979, the Arbitrator rejected its argument with respect to this issue. See Opinion and Award at 88-89. Instead, he found that, unlike the situation that existed in 1979, the 1999 work stoppage at issue here involved: (1) the actual severing of the employment relationship through resignation; (2) the hiring of permanent replacements; and (3) no decision by the League presidents to increase the size of their respective umpire staffs. Id. This conclusion does not constitute a manifest disregard for either the CBA or the applicable law. See Newark Morning Ledger, Co., 797 F.2d at 165. Thus, we see no basis for disturbing the District Court's confirmation of this aspect of the Award. 49