United States Sixth Circuit

In a union's action against a steel company, pursuant to section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, seeking an order to compel the company to arbitrate the substantive arbitrability of ninety-three grievances, district court's grant of summary judgment to the union ordering the parties to submit the question of the substantive arbitrability to an arbitrator is reversed and remanded where: 1) the Transition Agreement governs grievances which arise during the Transition period and are based on violations of the Transition Agreement; 2) the Transition Agreement did not include a "clear and unmistakable" provision that the substantive arbitrability of the union's grievances would be determined by an arbitrator, but rather, it explicitly exempted the Transition Agreement from the 2007 Agreement; and 3) the issue of substantive arbitrability of grievances arising under the Transition Agreement, as well as the antecedent question of whether a grievance arises under the Transition Agreement must be determined by a court.

Appellate Information

• Argued 01/12/2010
• Decided 08/12/2010
• Published 08/12/2010

Judges

• MARTIN

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• George E. Yund, Robert H. Mitchell