Court Opinion

ID: 9468336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:12:21.780844+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:49.404485
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
With all respect, in its effort to consign Ruzicka v. General Motors Corp., 523 F.2d 306 (6th Cir. 1975) (Ruzicka 7) to an early grave, the majority inadequately examines or overlooks several highly pertinent decisions of this and other circuits as well as the recent teachings of the Supreme Court. The analysis of the majority purports to rely heavily on Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 91 S.Ct. 1909, 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971), to suggest what seem to me to be extreme standards of union default in establishing breaches of the duty of fair representation. Reliance on Lockridge to require substantial evidence of “fraud, deceitful action or dishonest conduct” in showing a breach of duty of fair representation is misplaced. Nor do I believe the dicta in Lockridge about “deliberate and severely hostile and irrational treatment” are controlling in an action against an employer for breach of the collective bargaining agreement such as the case before us. Lockridge, insofar as it contains or suggests this heady language, is of dubious relevance since it deals with the preemption of state intra-union common law contract claims by the National Labor Relations Act. But we are concerned here with the quite different matter of breach of the duty of fair representation as a prerequisite to an action by an employee under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 for breach of a collective bargaining agreement.
Lockridge was followed five years later by Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, 424 U.S. 554, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976), a Section 301 case which neither cites nor discusses Lockridge. Hines reaffirms the proposition that merely “arbitrary” conduct by a union is a clear basis of liability:
[i]n Vaca ‘we accepted] the proposition that a union may not arbitrarily ignore a meritorious grievance or process it in a perfunctory fashion,’ 386 U.S. at 191 [87 S.Ct. at 917] ... Although ‘the Union might well have breached its duty had it ignored [the employee’s] complaint or had it processed the grievance in a perfunctory manner, [it was not guilty of such malfeasance in Faca].’ [Faca] at 194, [87 S.Ct. at 919].
424 U.S. at 568-69, 96 S.Ct. at 1058.
When faced with the challenge of measuring the effect of Lockridge on the Vaca standards, this court held in Baldini v. Local Union No. 1095, 581 F.2d 145 (7th Cir. 1978), that
[occasional sentences lifted from their context might make it seem that invidious hostility or some sort of malice is always required, see, e. g., Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 300, 301, 91 S.Ct. 1909 [1924, 1925], 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971); Williams v. General Foods Corp., 492 F.2d 399, 405 (7th Cir. 1974), but the treatment of the issue in Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., supra, leaves little doubt that such has not become the law. Nor do we think a fair reading of Lockridge or Williams or other cases cited by the Company to this effect really supports its argument.
*524Baldini, 581 F.2d at 150-51 n.5.1 Baldini emphasized that it is possible for a union to act arbitrarily vis-a-vis a member’s grievance without a showing of discrimination or bad faith. Id. at 150-51. The standard advocated by the majority in the instant case would not (so far as I can discern) permit this lesser showing.
A still more recent decision of this court employed Baldini to hold that
[although evidence of intentionally hostile or invidious action by a union is clearly relevant to determining whether the duty of fair representation has been breached, the duty may be breached without scienter on the part of the union .... A union also breaches its duty when it arbitrarily ignores or perfunctorily processes a grievance.
Miller v. Gateway Transportation Co., 616 F.2d 272, 277 n.11 (7th Cir. 1980) (emphasis supplied). The Gateway holding expressly rejected the broad application of Lockridge asserted by the majority here.2
This circuit is not alone in recognizing the limited impact of Lockridge. In Beriauit v. Local 40 Super Cargoes & Checkers, 501 F.2d 258 (9th Cir. 1974), the Ninth Circuit noted the Lockridge dicta quoted by the majority in the instant case but rejected the notion that Lockridge requires the equivalent of bad faith for all fair representation claims. “[U]nion conduct breaches the duty of fair representation when it is ‘arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith.’ [Vaca, 386 U.S. at 190, 87 S.Ct. at 916], [Emphasis added].” Beriauit, 501 F.2d at 263.3 A subsequent Ninth Circuit decision emphasized that
“Arbitrary” conduct is not limited to intentional conduct. For example, to “ignore a meritorious grievance or process it in a perfunctory fashion” may be arbitrary. Vaca v. Sipes .... See also Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight ....
Robesky v. Quantas Empire Airways, Ltd., 573 F.2d 1082, 1089 (9th Cir. 1978).
Cases such as Hines, Gateway, Baldini, Beriauit and Robesky do not bear out the apparent thesis of the majority that fraud, deceitful action, dishonest conduct or deliberate and severely hostile and irrational treatment are requisite to establishing a breach of the duty of fair representation in an action based on a breach of the collective bargaining agreement. The more appropriate standard, as set out by this court in Baldini, is whether the union has been “guilty of malfeasance and [whether] its conduct was within the range of acceptable performance by a collective-bargaining agent.” Baldini, 581 F.2d at 151 (quoting Hines, 424 U.S. at 568, 96 S.Ct. at 1058). Simple negligence is not enough to meet that standard although something less than scienter (or intentionality) seems to be sufficient given this court’s decision in Gateway. “Egregious” behavior (not necessarily intentional), Robesky, 573 F.2d at 1089-91, apparently constitutes the triggering level of conduct for a union’s breach of its duty of fair representation without doing violence to the decisions of this court and other federal courts.4
*525When dealing with unintentional conduct at least, a standard of “egregiousness,” which suggests the existence of exceptional circumstances, is necessary to protect the employer’s interest in being able to rely on the finality of the grievance procedure. Employers might have little incentive to negotiate a grievance procedure if they could be exposed to employee suits by simple negligence on the part of the. union. I do not believe it is necessary, however, to shift to a test of “invidious discrimination” to guard against the inroads upon the grievance procedure which would follow if § 301 suits could be brought too easily. Indeed, such a standard renders meaningless the “arbitrary” portion of Vaca’s “arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith” representation standard.
Here, the union has failed to exercise its discretion with respect to plaintiff’s grievanee. In that sense, the union’s conduct, even though not intentional, has been “arbitrary.” Deference to union decisionmaking is essential to the purposes of the Vaca standard. But deference to a union’s failure to make a decision serves no valid union interest. Nonetheless, although the question is close, I do not believe the union’s default is sufficiently egregious here to outweigh the employer’s interest in the finality of the grievance procedure.5 Hence, I concur in the result.6

. I cannot agree with the majority’s statement that the language in Baldini was merely dicta. This court ruled against the Union in Baldini based upon a less stringent standard than that advocated by the majority in the instant case.

. Earlier decisions of this court that uncritically accepted the language of Lockridge, see, e. g., Cannon v. Consolidated Freightways Corp., 524 F.2d 290, 293 (7th Cir. 1975), were written before Hines and do not represent this circuit’s authoritative assessment of the impact of Hines. Baldini and Gateway provide much more relevant authority.

. Beriauit cited the following decisions of other circuits as consistent with its view of Lock-ridge :
Sanderson v. Ford Motor Co., 483 F.2d 102, 110 (5th Cir. 1973); Woods v. North American Rockwell Corp., 480 F.2d 644, 648 (10th Cir. 1973); Griffin v. UAW, 469 F.2d 181, 183 (4th Cir. 1972).
Beriauit, 501 F.2d at 264.

. As a personal matter (writing on a clean slate), I should think that the most appropriate *525principles are cogently rationalized by Judge Kennedy in his concurrence in Robesky. Judge Kennedy rejects the effort to define the term “arbitrary” by using tort law concepts of culpability. On a tort law basis, use of the “arbitrary” standard would apparently proscribe conduct not involving bad faith but which is more blameworthy than ordinary negligence. But, according to Judge Kennedy, neither the law of torts nor precedents in the federal common law of labor relations provide adequate guidance to define the term “arbitrary.”
Instead, the issue should be one of whether the procedures followed in the handling of the grievance were adequate. "The Supreme Court has required that in exercising [its] discretion a union should adjust grievances in a manner that is neither arbitrary nor perfunctory.... The standard of review, imposed by • this rule seems ... to require the kind of scrutiny [courts] use whenever [they] review a determination of an individual or body entrusted with discretionary power. [Courts] inquire whether the discretion granted has been abused by a failure to make a reasoned decision .... [Courts] should inquire whether the union decisions lacked a rational basis, or whether by perfunctorily processing a grievance so that a reasoned decision was not made, the union foredoomed the grievance.” Robe-sky, supra, at 1092 (Kennedy, J., concurring).

. My balancing of the interests may be slightly different from that undertaken by the Sixth Circuit in Ruzicka I. The majority appears to intimate, however, that the Sixth Circuit’s second opinion in Ruzicka, Ruzicka v. General Motors Corp., 649 F.2d 1207 (6th Cir. 1981) (Ruzicka II) somehow modified Ruzicka I. Quite to the contrary, Ruzicka II reaffirmed Ruzicka I’s holding that failing to process a grievance without a sound reason constitutes arbitrary conduct under the Vaca standards. Ruzicka II, slip opinion at 11. The language in Ruzicka II concerning a need to show that the union “intended to harm” the employee only related to the appropriate standard when the union had a reason for its actions, i. e., union conduct that was not arbitrary under the definition employed in Ruzicka II. Ruzicka II, at 1211 n.3. Under Ruzicka II, the deference to union decisionmaking cited by the majority would only apply where the union was relying on past employer practices when it failed to file a statement required for arbitration within the time limit. If there was no reliance, i. e., mere forgetfulness, Ruzicka II would still find a breach of the duty of fair representation.

. It has never been suggested that in fair representation suits, the union might be liable even though its fault was not sufficient to permit suits against the employer. The present case is one where the union has been guilty of a failure to act on a grievance — a serious default yet not one I think merits allowance of a suit against the employer on these facts.