Court Opinion

ID: 9449831
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:24:34.067955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:00.569044
License: Public Domain

MEDINA, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent. For centuries philosophers and others have been puzzled and sometimes even amused at the proclivities of lawyers and judges to weave a web of confusion around some perfectly simple proposition, and in the process come out with a result that defies common sense. This case is a perfect illustration.
The collective bargaining agreement contains a clause providing that in selecting employees for “promotion” seniority shall govern; and there is to be no arbitration of grievances or disputes arising out of this particular clause. Along comes the employer who says “promotion” means only “permanent promotion.” Had it been to the economic advantage of the employer to do so, I suppose it could have taken the directly contrary position, to the effect that “promotion” means only “temporary promotion.”
As the employees have no other way of procuring a decision by a court on the point, the dispute is processed as a grievance and the Union comes into a federal court asking for arbitration.
It is hornbook law that it is the function of the court in these arbitration cases first to construe the meaning of the agreement. All we have to do, and what in my judgment we should do, is to say that, as we construe the contract, “promotion” means “promotion,” and that includes a “temporary promotion” as well as a “permanent promotion.” Thus there is nothing to arbitrate and it turns out that the Union was right from the beginning.