Opinion ID: 3013624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: 2d 881, 886 & nn.5-6, 9 (Pa. 2002).

Text: 3 alia, to “enter into a post-construction certified labor agreement with a bonified [sic] labor organization recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.” (App. 60 (emphasis omitted).) Approximately five months later, on July 27, 1999, the City passed Ordinance 22 to supplement Chapter 161 under Title One, Article VII of the Pittsburgh Code.3 The Ordinance added section 161.30, “Requiring Contractors and Employers of employees hired to staff hospitality operations to be signatory to collective bargaining agreements where the City of Pittsburgh has a financial or proprietary interest.” (App. 47 (emphasis omitted).) This section provides, in pertinent part: Each and every Contractor and Employer of employees hired to staff hospitality operations shall be or become signatory to valid collective bargaining agreements or other contracts under 29 U.S.C. Section 185 with any labor organization seeking to represent Hospitality Workers employed in the Contractor’s and/or Employer’s Hospitality Operations in a Capital Project as a condition precedent to its contract with the City of Pittsburgh. Each collective bargaining agreement or contract must contain a provision prohibiting the labor organization and its members, and in the case of a collective bargaining agreement, all employees covered by the agreement, from engaging from any picketing, work stoppages, boycotts or any other economic interference with the Hospitality Operations of Contractor or any persons under contract to it for the duration of the time required for the repayment of public indebtedness incurred to finance the acquisition or development of such Capital Project, or for the duration of Contractor’s contract or contracts with the City for the operation of such Capital Project, whichever period of time is more extensive (the 3 Title One, Administrative, Article VII, Procedures, Chapter 161, Contracts. 4 “No-Strike Pledge”). Each agreement must provide that during this time period, all disputes relating to employment conditions or the negotiation thereof shall be submitted to final and binding arbitration. Each and every Contractor and Employer of employees hired to staff Hospitality Operations shall require that any work under its contract or contracts with the City to be done by the Contractor’s or Employer’s contractors, subcontractors, tenants or subtenants shall be done under collective bargaining agreements or other contracts under 29 U.S.C. Section 185 containing the same provisions as specified above. (App. 48.) By February 2001, construction of the hotel had been completed, but Sage had not yet entered into a labor agreement with any labor union. On February 13, 2001, the City passed a resolution dissolving the Fulton Building TIF District and withdrawing the issuance of the $3.56 million TIF funds because Sage had not entered into a labor agreement under Resolution 45 and Ordinance 22. One week after the passage of the resolution, Sage signed a Labor and Neutrality Agreement (the “Neutrality Agreement” or the “Agreement”) with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 57, AFL-CIO (“HERE”). The Neutrality Agreement contained, inter alia, a no-picketing promise and a provision that union representation would be determined using a card-check procedure. The Agreement provided that disputes arising under it would be settled by arbitration. Following the Agreement, the Mayor vetoed the City Council’s February 13 repeal of the Fulton Building TIF District, and Sage received funding. Following the opening of the hotel on March 16, 2001, HERE asked that Sage hold a “card count” to obtain recognition of its union pursuant to the terms of the Neutrality Agreement. On June 19, 2001, the City concluded “that a majority of employees [at the hotel] . . . has not designated the Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees Union, Local 57 as their [sic] exclusive 5 collective bargaining representative.” (App. 67.) Citing the Neutrality Agreement, HERE sought to arbitrate the outcome of the card count and requested a second card count in June of 2002, but Sage refused to comply with the request, claiming that the Neutrality Agreement was void. On September 20, 2002, HERE filed a complaint in the District Court seeking to compel Sage to arbitrate issues arising pursuant to the Neutrality Agreement. Sage defended by arguing that the Neutrality Agreement was illegal and void ab initio. In May 2003, both parties filed motions for summary judgment. In a memorandum issued on September 30, 2003, the District Court rendered a decision in favor of HERE and directed the parties to submit their dispute to arbitration pursuant to the Neutrality Agreement. The District Court held that (1) both parties were within their rights to reach a private agreement to provide an alternative method of deciding union representation and that such chosen method, i.e., card check procedures, was not illegal under federal law; (2) the Agreement’s provisions for card check procedures did not constitute payment of “things of value” prohibited by section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 186; and (3) economic duress could not be used as a reason to invalidate the Agreement. The District Court ordered the parties to submit their dispute to arbitration pursuant to the Agreement. We are presented with a final order of a District Court to review. Accordingly, we have appellate jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Our review of a District Court’s grant of summary judgment is plenary. See Fed. Home Loan Mortgage Corp. v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 316 F.3d 431, 443 (3d Cir. 2003). We assess the record using the same summary judgment standard that guides district courts. See Farrell v. Planters Lifesavers Co., 206 F.3d 271, 278 (3d Cir. 2000). To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate “that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56©).