Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc. v. Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers International Union Local 4-487 , 338 F.3d 440 ( 2003 )

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS July 10, 2003
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
02-11081
PIONEER NATURAL RESOURCES USA, INC.,
Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee,
VERSUS
PAPER, ALLIED INDUSTRIAL, CHEMICAL AND ENERGY WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 4-487,
Defendant-Counter Claimant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
Before JONES, DUHÉ, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
IT IS ORDERED that the petition for rehearing is denied. Our
opinion dated May 7, 2003, 328 F.3d 818 is modified in part, by
replacing part III of that opinion with the following part III:
III.
The Union first disputes the district court’s limitation of
the arbitration awards to the period before the Union was
decertified. When the NLRB decertified the Union on September 18,
2000, the CBA automatically terminated by operation of law. See
Sheet Metal Workers’ Int'l Ass'n. Local 206 v. West Coast Sheet
Metal Co., 954 F.2d 1506 (9th Cir. 1992) (holding that CBA became
void prospectively as of the decertification of the Union). Courts
should find an arbitrator’s award legitimate if “it draws its
essence from the collective bargaining agreement.” United
Steelworkers v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80
S.Ct. 1358, 1361, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). The three arbitrators in
this case handed down their decisions before the Union was
decertified and thus they could not have considered the effect of
the award after termination of the CBA. Compare id. 363 U.S. at
597-98 (discussing arbitrator’s opinion which considered the effect
of CBA’s expiration) with Int’l Chem. Workers Union v. BASF
Wyandotte Corp., 774 F.2d 43, 45 (2nd Cir. 1985) (in which
arbitrator had handed down decision before new CBA and did not
consider effect of award under the new agreement).
Reinstatement put the three employees in the same position as
other employees formerly covered by the CBA. When the Union was
decertified, such employees lost all job protection under the CBA.
With no promise of continued employment, they could be discharged
as at-will employees. See Hospital Employees, Local 1273 v. Deaton
Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 671 F. Supp. 1049, 1051 (D. Md. 1986). In such
a case, the payment of back pay wages through the date the CBA
expires has the practical effect of “reinstating" then re-
terminating the employees. Int’l Chem. Workers, 774 F.2d at 46.
The court correctly amended the judgment to enforce the awards only
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through September 17, 2000.
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