Opinion ID: 495488
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Essence of the Collective Bargaining Agreement

Text: 10 Manville does not allege fraud or partiality or contest the arbitrability of disputes over the broke hustler position. Manville does, however, argue vehemently that, because the 1983 contract makes no reference to a broke hustler for machine No. 1, the arbitrator could not have based his decision that such a position existed on the essence of the agreement. Instead, Manville claims that the arbitrator attempted to dispense his own brand of industrial justice, a practice condemned by the Supreme Court. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. at 597, 80 S.Ct. at 1361. Manville points particularly to passages in the arbitrator's opinion in which the arbitrator narrates the 1982 to 1983 negotiations, apparently praising the Union's forbearance and condemning Manville for representing that machines 1 to 4 would remain idle. 11 One of the rare cases in which this Court overturned an arbitration award for failure to draw its essence from the contract is HMC Management Corp. v. Carpenters District Council, 750 F.2d 1302 (5th Cir.1985). In that case, management had discharged two workers for the same cause and then rehired one. Id. at 1303. The arbitrator did not find fault with the discharge, but ordered reinstatement of the other worker, finding no justification for the disparate treatment. This Court found nothing in the agreement obliging management to treat workers the same way in such a situation. Concluding that the arbitrator had relied only on his sense of industrial justice, the Court approved vacating the award. Id. at 1304-05. 12 The arbitration award in the instant case, like the award in HMC Management, does contain passages apparently disapproving of management actions. However, unlike the arbitrator in HMC Management, the arbitrator here supported his decision with specific fact findings on past dealings between the parties and their intent as revealed by their negotiating history. Specifically, the arbitrator concluded that a broke hustler position for machine No. 1 was part of the 1983 agreement because: (1) under the parties' past practice, a position continued to exist until abolished by mutual agreement; (2) there was no mutual agreement to abolish the machine No. 1 broke hustler position; and therefore (3) that broke hustler position was still in existence and the company was obligated either to fill it or to negotiate for its abolition. Step number (2) in the arbitrator's reasoning depends, in turn, on the arbitrator's uncontested factual finding that failure to mention the machine No. 1 broke hustler position in the written contract was due to the misapprehension that machine No. 1 would remain out of service, not to mutual agreement concerning machine No. 1. 13 This Court must accept the factual findings of the arbitrator. See, e.g., Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. at 596-99, 80 S.Ct. at 1360-62. We cannot see, and Manville does not point to, any obvious flaws in the arbitrator's reasoning from these facts. The only remaining question is whether the arbitrator correctly considered past practices and negotiating history. 14 Beginning with the 1960 Steelworkers Trilogy, which forms the foundation of labor arbitration law, the Supreme Court emphasized that an arbitrator may look beyond the written contract when interpreting a collective bargaining agreement: 15 The collective bargaining agreement.... is more than a contract; it is a generalized code to govern a myriad of cases which the draftsmen cannot wholly anticipate. ... It calls into being a new common law--the common law of a particular industry or of a particular plant. ... Gaps may be left to be filled in by reference to the practices of the particular industry and of the various shops covered by the agreement. ... The labor arbitrator's source of law is not confined to the express provisions of the contract, as the industrial common law--the practices of the industry and the shop--is equally a part of the collective bargaining agreement although not expressed in it. 16 Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. at 578-82, 80 S.Ct. at 1351-52. Following the lead of the Supreme Court, this Circuit and others have refused to apply contract-law concepts, such as the parol evidence rule, to collective bargaining agreements. Local 1445, United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union v. Stop & Shop Cos., 776 F.2d 19, 22 (1st Cir.1985); Green Corp., 725 F.2d at 268. The arbitrator may determine that the written contract is ambiguous and then turn to extrinsic evidence. Boise Cascade v. United Steelworkers of America, 588 F.2d 127, 128 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 830, 100 S.Ct. 57, 62 L.Ed.2d 38 (1979). Further, the arbitrator may look outside the written contract to past practice when the contract is silent on a question. Brotherhood of R.R. Trainmen v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 415 F.2d 403, 416 (5th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1008, 90 S.Ct. 564, 24 L.Ed.2d 500 (1970); Lodge No. 12, Int'l Ass'n of Machinists v. Cameron Iron Works, Inc., 292 F.2d 112, 118 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 926, 82 S.Ct. 361, 7 L.Ed.2d 190 (1961). Going further than we must go to resolve the instant case, some courts have used past practice to confirm arbitration awards that contradict written contract provisions. Loveless v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 681 F.2d 1272 (11th Cir.1982) (certain employees are ineligible for supplemental retirement benefits despite meeting contract eligibility requirements; relying on past practice and Fifth Circuit precedent); Piggly Wiggly Operators' Warehouse, Inc. v. Piggly Wiggly Operators' Warehouse Independent Truck Drivers Union, 611 F.2d 580 (5th Cir.1980) (arbitrator used negotiating history to hold a contract provision invalid; dissent protests that no ambiguity was shown). In short, the precedents clearly support using past practice and negotiating history to resolve ambiguities and gaps in written collective bargaining agreements. 17 Manville argues, however, that the 1983 contract contained a no modification clause and did contain an integration or zipper clause that precluded the arbitrator from using extrinsic sources: 18 The arbitrator shall have no power to add to, subtract from, alter, amend or disregard any provision of this Agreement. 19 1983 Contract, Exhibit B, art. XIII(B) (no modification clause). 20 All modifications, amendments or supplemental agreements to this Agreement have been reduced to writing and are listed in the attached pamphlet. Any modification, amendment or supplement executed after the effective date of this Agreement shall be void and of no force and effect unless reduced to writing and approved by the parties signatory hereto. 21 Id., art. XXXIII(C) (integration or zipper clause). 22 In regard to the no modification clause, this Court has repeatedly held that such clauses do not prevent an arbitrator from looking to past practice. Piggly Wiggly, 611 F.2d at 585; Texas Steel, 583 F.2d at 1121; Cameron Iron Works, 292 F.2d at 118. As the Piggly Wiggly Court observed, [T]he mere fact that [an] arbitrator cannot modify the agreement does not mean he cannot determine what provisions are in fact part of the agreement. 611 F.2d at 585. Similarly, the zipper clause, on its face, requires only that modifications, amendments, or supplemental agreements, particularly those reached after the signing of the written contract, be put in writing. The clause does not require that all provisions of the agreement itself be written. The arbitrator found that the obligation to fill a broke hustler position for machine No. 1 was part of the 1983 agreement itself. Indeed, he found that the elimination of that position would have constituted a modification--a modification that did not take place because no agreement was reached on it. Hence, the integration or zipper clause does not bar the arbitration award. 23 To summarize: the arbitrator legitimately drew on the parties' past practices and negotiating history to fill a gap in the written contract. The award does draw its essence from the collective bargaining agreement, so elucidated.