San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild, and Unincorporated Association v. The Tribune Publishing Co., a Corporation

Appellant (Guild) sought in the district court to vacate the award of an arbitrator chosen under a collective bargaining agreement to settle a dispute arising under the agreement as to salaries of certain employees. This appeal is from an order of the district court granting appellee’s motion for a summary judgment.

The dispute involves the interaction of two separate schedules in the contract. The arbitrator analyzed the schedules and reached a result. The Guild concedes that the arbitrator relied “only on the language of the contract itself”, but urges that the award is based upon an interpretation of the contract which is not possible.

It is not the function of the courts to review the merits of arbitration awards. The interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement is a question for the arbitrator. It is the arbitrator’s construction that was bargained for; and so far as the arbitrator’s decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts have no business overruling him, because their interpretation of the contract is different than his. An award is legitimate if it draws its essence from the agreement and only when the arbitrator’s words manifest an infidelity to…