Opinion ID: 698694
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Preemption under the NLRA

Text: 41 BF also argues that under the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 151-169, the jurisdiction of the NLRB preempts the jurisdiction of the district court to address the claims in this case. BF asserts that under the preemption doctrine of San Diego Bldg. Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 245-47, 79 S.Ct. 773, 779-81, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), federal courts must defer to the exclusive competence of the National Labor Relations Board whenever an activity is arguably subject to the Board's jurisdiction, id. at 245, 79 S.Ct. at 779-80. BF contends that Local 884's claim in this case is essentially a duplicate of the unfair labor practices claim before the NLRB, and thus the district court's jurisdiction is preempted under Garmon. We disagree. 42 The gravamen of Local 884's complaint to the NLRB is that BF engaged in an unfair labor practice, a violation of section 8 of the Labor Management Relations Act, by implementing new contractual terms before BF and Local 884 had reached a bargaining impasse. The main question for the NLRB to decide is whether there was a bargaining impasse at the time BF implemented the new terms. The complaint before the NLRB also asserts that BF committed an unfair labor practice by implementing new terms in violation of section (g) of the 1993 Memorandum of Agreement. 43 In this court case, Local 884 is making its claim under section 301 of the Act (codified at 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185), which gives the federal district court jurisdiction in disputes over violations of collective bargaining agreements. Local 884 argues that section (g) of the 1993 Memorandum of Agreement prevents BF from imposing new contractual terms to replace those in the expired 1991 Master Agreement prior to reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. Local 884 argues that section (g) requires the terms of the 1991 Master Agreement to remain in effect until the parties sign a new collective bargaining agreement. 44 We conclude that the district court's jurisdiction is not preempted under the Garmon doctrine because the dispute here involves a claimed violation of a collective bargaining agreement. We have previously observed, as a well entrenched general rule that: 45 the fact that a particular activity may constitute an unfair labor practice under section 8 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158, does not necessarily preclude the district court's jurisdiction under section 301 of the Act if that activity also constitutes a breach of the collective bargaining agreement. 46 Local Union 204 of the Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. Iowa Elec. Light and Power Co., 668 F.2d 413, 416 (8th Cir.1982) (citing William E. Arnold Co. v. Carpenters Dist. Council, 417 U.S. 12, 15-16, 94 S.Ct. 2069, 2071-72, 40 L.Ed.2d 620 (1974)) (other citations omitted). The Garmon preemption doctrine is simply  'not relevant'  where there is a claim under section 301 asserting a breach of the collective bargaining agreement. William E. Arnold Co., 417 U.S. at 16, 94 S.Ct. at 2072. Thus, in cases like this where a party's conduct gives rise to both a charge of an unfair labor practice and a claimed breach of a collective bargaining agreement, the NLRB and the district court share concurrent jurisdiction. Id. at 18, 94 S.Ct. at 2073. 47 BF acknowledges that the district court has jurisdiction over section 301 claims, but argues that Local 884's claim is not a section 301 claim and is really a subterfuge to allow Local 884 to get the issue of bargaining impasse before an arbitrator, instead of before the NLRB where it belongs. BF contends that we should treat Local 884's claim entirely as an unfair labor practices claim and apply Garmon preemption. BF misapprehends the reach of Local 884's argument. Local 884 has asked the district court to declare that the dispute over the meaning of section (g) is arbitrable and to grant an injunction to aid that arbitration. Under the arbitration clause, the issue of impasse is not subject to arbitration. The arbitration clause applies only to matters concerning interpretation or application of the Master and Supplementary Agreements, and the issue of whether there was a bargaining impasse at the time BF imposed the new terms is not, in our view, a matter concerning interpretation or application of the bargaining agreements. Accordingly, we reject BF's argument because Local 884's claim does not allow the impasse issue to be raised before the arbitrator. 48 BF next argues that as a matter of sound judicial policy we should direct this entire matter, the unfair labor practice charge and the contract interpretation dispute, to proceed solely before the NLRB where similar issues are already pending. BF reasons that allowing the claims to continue to proceed before two different decisionmaking bodies will waste resources and present the risk of conflicting decisions from the NLRB and the arbitrator. Local 884 argues that we should direct the district court explicitly to order this matter to proceed to arbitration. 49 We are not persuaded that this entire matter should proceed before the NLRB. The pendency of similar issues before the NLRB and the court (or arbitrator) does not require dismissal or stay of the section 301 contract action. See Jason Mfg., 900 F.2d at 1400; Emery Air Freight Corp. v. Local Union 295, 786 F.2d 93, 100 (2d Cir.1986); see also Local 807, Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters v. Brink's Inc., 744 F.2d 283, 286 (2d Cir.1984) (That the issues are before the NLRB does not preclude plaintiff from raising them concurrently in an arbitration proceeding). Likewise, a possibility for conflicting decisions, which is all BF has argued, is not enough to stay arbitration. See Sheet Metal Workers, Local 162 v. Jason Mfg., 900 F.2d 1392, 1400 (9th Cir.1990); International Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. Brink Constr., 825 F.2d 207, 213 (9th Cir.1987); see also Chicago Typographical Union No. 16 v. Chicago Sun-Times, Inc., 860 F.2d 1420, 1427 (7th Cir.1988) (The NLRB will determine what weight, if any, to give to the eventual arbitral award; the court need not concern itself with the potential for 'interference' between the arbitration and the Board proceeding). In this case we see little potential for conflicting decisions or for the unnecessary waste of resources. The only question before both the NLRB and the arbitrator is the interpretation of section (g). The NLRB generally refrains from exercising jurisdiction in cases where the disputed conduct is arguably both an unfair labor practice and a contract violation when ... the parties have voluntarily established by contract a binding settlement procedure. William E. Arnold Co., 417 U.S. at 16, 94 S.Ct. at 2072; see also Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 20 v. Baylor Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., 877 F.2d 547, 551 (7th Cir.1989) (when the underlying controversy is primarily contractual, the Board should defer to the courts); Emery Air Freight, 786 F.2d at 100 (in cases of overlapping jurisdiction NLRB will either defer to arbitrator's award or disregard it if it is inconsistent with the established law). 3 Here, the parties have agreed to arbitrate the meaning of section (g) and the NLRB likely will defer to the arbitration proceeding. Accordingly, we find no reason to stay or curtail in any way the arbitration proceeding. 50 Likewise, we conclude that the district court's decision in no way prevents or hinders the dispute from proceeding to arbitration. As we read the record, the district court's latest ruling appeared to contemplate that this matter could proceed directly to arbitration concurrent with the NLRB proceeding. (See Local's Adden. at 3A.) (district court stating that it envisioned that should the NLRB mandate private arbitration of its own, or decide to wait until private arbitration is completed before making its [NLRB's] final determination, the court's injunction would remain in effect until that time (emphasis added)). Accordingly, we decline Local 884's request to further instruct the district court to specifically order arbitration as that is not necessary in this case.