Opinion ID: 773563
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: arbitrability of the scope of the grievance

Text: 24 The second issue before us is whether the contracting-out grievance is substantively arbitrable. To reiterate, our role is confined to determining whether the CBA provides for arbitration of the subject matter of the grievance. Steelworkers II, 363 U.S. at 582-83. The subject matter of the grievance is AK Steel's power to contract work out to non-union employees. The limitation of AK Steel's power to contract out is set forth in Article XXIII of the CBA. Because the arbitration clause, CBA Art. VII §B(1), provides that disputes over alleged breaches of the CBA are properly submitted to arbitration, this matter is substantively arbitrable. 25 AK Steel argues that we should determine which issues the arbitrator should consider. We believe that we would be exceeding our limited authority under the Steelworkers Trilogy if we did so. Determining the specific issues that may be considered in arbitration is altogether different from determining the arbitrability of broad subject matter. Contracting-out is substantively arbitrable according to the CBA. Whether any particular issue is outside the scope of the grievance is a procedural matter to be determined in the arbitration. See Wiley, 376 U.S. at 556-58. 26 AK Steel argues that Champion International Corp. v. United Paperworkers International Union, 779 F.2d 328 (6th Cir. 1985), addressed the issue of the arbitrability of matters outside the scope of the grievance. This is plainly an incorrect reading of Champion. The Champion panel reviewed an arbitration award and found that the arbitrator overstepped his bounds and considered issues not before him. The issue in that case was not arbitrability at all, but rather the scope of the court's power to modify an arbitration award. That the arbitrator should decide which issues are properly before him is not disputed by Champion, which explicitly states that it is an arbitrator's threshold decision that the parties have indeed submitted a particular issue for arbitration. Id. at 335. Only after the arbitrator issues an award based on matters not properly before it does Champion become relevant. If AK Steel wants to dispute the arbitration award based on issues allegedly outside the scope of the grievance, then the federal courts have the power to review that decision. Champion, 779 F.2d at 334-35 (citing Steelworkers II, 363 U.S. at 582). We cannot resolve the matter until the arbitration has produced a decision for us to review. Therefore, we decline to address the merits of such a claim at the present time.