Alaska Employment Law

May retirees rely on the presumption of arbitrability?

Retirees and their union filed grievances against their former employer and its pension plan, challenging the denial of pension benefits.  The plan refused to arbitrate.  On the retirees/union’s motion to compel, the District Court applied the presumption of arbitrability and entered summary judgment against the plan. 

On appeal, the plan argued that the presumption of arbitrability is rooted, in part, in “a national labor policy of peaceful resolution of labor disputes.”  (Relying on the 1960 Steelworkers Trilogy)  Because retirees could not bring economic pressure on the employer,  the plan continued, the presumption should not apply when retirees seek to compel arbitration.  An 8th Circuit case has so held.

That may be a good theory, said the 9th Circuit, but this was not the case to propound it, because here the union joined in the retirees’ grievance.  The Court affirmed the District Court’s summary judgment.

United Steelworkers of America v. Retirement Income Plan for Hourly-Rated Employees of ASARCO, Inc., 2008 WL 62449 (9th Cir. Jan. 7, 2008).