Opinion ID: 3160872
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Collective-Bargaining Agreement

Text: This appeal and cross-appeal represent the latest chapter3 in the contentious aftermath of a November 2007 collective-bargaining agreement between the Union and the Company. The Company operates an aluminum rolling mill in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the Union represents many of the Company’s production workers. In 2007, the Company and the Union entered into a collective-bargaining agreement (“CBA”) for the period of November 1, 2007, to November 1, 2012. The CBA sets forth a schedule of increasing health-care premiums over the fiveyear duration of the agreement but also contains a cost-of-living-adjustment provision that is designed to offset the amount workers pay in health-care premiums. More specifically, the weekly health-care premium rates that the adjustment sought to mitigate were set at $20 for the first year, $25 for the second, $30 for the third, $35 for the fourth, and $45 for the fifth. As relevant, the CBA provides, Section 2. Cost of Living Adjustment: Effective on each adjustment date, a cost-of-living adjustment will be made to the current cost of living allowance. The cost of living allowance will be equal to 1¢ per hour for each full 0.3 of 3 We previously considered this same collective-bargaining agreement and cost-of-living provision in USW v. Wise Alloys, LLC, 642 F.3d 1344 (11th Cir. 2011). 3 Case: 14-15744 Date Filed: 12/08/2015 Page: 4 of 37 a point change in the Consumer Price Index calculation. . . . Section 3. Effective on each adjustment date, the cost-ofliving allowance as determined above shall be applied exclusively to help offset health insurance costs for hourly-rated employees. The cost-of-living adjustments under the paragraph shall not be applied to employees’ hourly wage rates. See USW v. Wise Alloys, LLC, No. CV–10–S–2830–NW, 2012 WL 2357738, at -3 (N.D. Ala. June 15, 2012). The cost-of-living adjustment is calculated quarterly, and the employee’s weekly health-care premium is reduced by the appropriate cost-of-living allowance figure. The CBA also includes a comprehensive, four-step grievance procedure for resolving “[a]ll grievances concerning the interpretation or application of this Agreement.” Under the grievance procedure, all grievances must be “presented within ten (10) working days of the occurrence out of which the grievance arose.” The CBA further requires that “[g]rievances which are not presented within the specified time limit cannot be presented or considered at a later date.” Step one of the process involves presenting the grievance orally to the employee’s immediate supervisor and receiving an answer within two days. Step two requires the Union to put the grievance in writing and present it to the shop superintendent for discussion. Under step three, the Union may elect to elevate the grievance to the Company’s Labor Relations Department if it remains unresolved. 4 Case: 14-15744 Date Filed: 12/08/2015 Page: 5 of 37 If the grievance is not resolved at step three, the Union may refer it to the Company’s Vice President of Human Resources and involve a USW International Staff Representative at step four. Step four requires that the parties meet to discuss the grievance and that the Vice President issue a written response within thirty days of the meeting. The CBA provides that the time limits of the grievance process may be extended by mutual agreement and that, by mutual agreement, “specific grievances may be initially presented at Step 3 or Step 4.” If the dispute is not resolved through this four-step process, the grievance procedure gives the Union forty-five days from the receipt of the Vice President’s answer to move the grievance to binding arbitration by notifying the Company in writing of its wish to do so. Although the arbitration clause declares that “[t]he arbitrator shall have no authority to change, amend, add to, or delete from the provisions of this Agreement,” it provides no other constraint on the arbitrator’s authority. The “General Purposes of this Agreement” section of the CBA also contains the following “zipper clause”: It is the intent of the parties that this Agreement, including the side letter agreements that are dated as of the date of this Agreement and attached to this Agreement, constitute the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement of the parties. Further, the parties agree that the terms of this Agreement should be enforced as written in all cases, regardless of any conflicting practices. 5 Case: 14-15744 Date Filed: 12/08/2015 Page: 6 of 37