Opinion ID: 458754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Lack of reasonable basis--the supremacy doctrine.

Text: 16
17 It is well-established that the supremacy doctrine bars an arbitrator from making an award inconsistent with a NLRB determination. See e.g., Local Joint Executive Board v. Royal Center, Inc., 754 F.2d 835 (9th Cir.1985); Carpenters' Local Union No. 1478 v. Stevens, 743 F.2d 1271, 1278 (9th Cir.1984); see also Howard Johnson Co. v. Detroit Local Joint Executive Board, 417 U.S. 249, 262, 94 S.Ct. 2236, 2243, 41 L.Ed.2d 46 (1974); Carey v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 375 U.S. 261, 272, 84 S.Ct. 401, 409, 11 L.Ed.2d 320 (1964). 18 In the precise context where a section 10(k) determination conflicts with an arbitrator's work assignment award, the Fifth and Sixth Circuits have held that the Board's section 10(k) determination must take precedence over a section 301 suit seeking to enforce an arbitrator's contrary award. See International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 714 v. Sullivan Transfer, Inc., 650 F.2d 669, 676-77 (5th Cir.1981); U.A.W. v. Rockwell International Corp., 619 F.2d 580, 582-83 (6th Cir.1980); New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 v. NLRB, 368 F.2d 755, 767 (5th Cir.1966); see also Pepper Construction Co., 749 F.2d at 1247; cf. Associated General Contractors, Inc. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 701, 529 F.2d 1395, 1397-98 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 822, 97 S.Ct. 72, 50 L.Ed.2d 84 (1976) (section 301 contract action not precluded by section 10(k) ruling where former not inconsistent with latter); Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, Inc. v. Boston District Council of Carpenters, 599 F.Supp. 1560, 1561-62 (D.Mass.1985) (same). 19 The circuit courts' interest in finality of the Board's determinations and their refusal to permit the rights and obligations of the parties to vary with the forum, Carpenters' Local Union No. 1846 v. Pratt-Farnsworth, Inc., 690 F.2d 489, 513 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 335, 78 L.Ed.2d 305 (1983), cited in Carpenters' Local Union No. 1478, 743 F.2d at 1279, have been echoed by the district courts that have considered situations analogous to the instant case and given precedence to the Board's section 10(k) decision. See International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers, 347 F.Supp. at 1381-83; Dock Loaders & Unloaders of Freight Cars & Barges, Local 854 v. W.L. Richeson & Sons, Inc., 280 F.Supp. 402, 404-05 (E.D.La.1968). 20
21 Local 32 argues, however, that the supremacy doctrine is inapplicable here because the arbitrator's award does not conflict with the NLRB's section 10(k) decision. Local 32 contends that the instant case is controlled by Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. v. I.U.O.E., Local 701, 529 F.2d 1395 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 822, 97 S.Ct. 72, 50 L.Ed.2d 84 (1976) (AGC ), in which an arbitrator's award was held not to conflict with an NLRB section 10(k) decision. 22 In AGC, Local 701 and AGC, an employer group, agreed that AGC members would only hire subcontractors who employed Local 701 workers to operate concrete pumps. A member of AGC hired Pump-Con, even though Pump-Con had already contracted to employ only Teamsters to operate the pumps. In the resulting work dispute between Local 701 and the Teamsters, an arbitrator awarded the work to Local 701 members. The NLRB subsequently awarded the same work to the Teamsters. Local 701 then sought a declaratory injunction to bar AGC members from subcontracting their concrete pump operations to companies which had already made exclusive employment agreements with the Teamsters. 23 We recognized that in many cases a judgment in favor of the union which lost before the NLRB could place the employer 'between the devil and the deep blue.'  See AGC, 529 F.2d at 1397 (citation omitted). But we found that the arbitrator's award to Local 701 did not necessarily conflict with the NLRB's work assignment, since AGC members could simply refuse to subcontract their pump operations to companies which had agreed to hire only Teamsters. By doing so, AGC members would fulfill their contractual obligations to Local 701 under the Collective Bargaining Agreement without at the same time violating the N.L.R.B. order. Id. at 1398. 24 This line of reasoning is unavailable in the instant case. The party who owed the contractual duty to the union in AGC was also the primary employer--wielding complete control over the decision whether to hire a Local 701 subcontractor. In contrast, neither Jones Washington nor Crescent City can compel Weyerhaeuser to assign all longshoring activities to themselves or to Local 32 members; it is Weyerhaeuser which holds the power to hire and fire, and Weyerhaeuser has no contractual obligations to Local 32. To allow Local 32 to pressure either Jones Washington or Crescent City to pressure Weyerhaeuser could be to allow the union to exert secondary pressure, potentially an unfair labor practice under section 8(b)(4)(ii) of the NLRA. 25 A second key difference between the instant case and AGC is that here the section 10(k) work assignment is unconditional. The Board's order states that Employees of Weyerhaeuser Company, who are represented by Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Local 10, are entitled to perform the work of handling of cargo from the warehouse or last point of rest to shipside and the tying up and casting off of lines. This unqualified assignment of work would conflict with any attempt by any of the parties involved to assign the stated work to members of Local 32. 26 In contrast, the NLRB order in AGC covered all situations in which members of the [subcontractors' association which had contracted with the Teamsters] performed concrete pumping work for AGC contractors. AGC, 529 F.2d at 1396, citing Joint Council of Teamsters No. 37, 205 N.L.R.B. 383, 386 (1973). The NLRB order thus did not prohibit work from being assigned to a non -member of the subcontractors' association--which was the very recourse that we recommended to avoid any potential conflict between the NLRB work assignment and the arbitrator's award. See 529 F.2d at 1397-98. 27 We therefore conclude that AGC is distinguishable and that the arbitrator's award here conflicts with the NLRB's section 10(k) assignment of work to the AWPPW. 1 28 Because the union is barred by the supremacy doctrine from enforcing the arbitrator's award, there is no reasonable basis in law for its grievance and section 301 claims. Bill Johnson's, 461 U.S. at 744, 103 S.Ct. at 2171. Because the union's suit also arose from an improper motivation--to circumvent the section 10(k) decision--under Bill Johnson's its suit amounts to an unfair labor practice. The Board's finding of an unfair labor practice is not arbitrary and capricious. 29