Division 587, Amalgamated Transit Union, Afl-Cio, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, Defendant-Petitioner

The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (“Metro”) appeals from a preliminary injunction ordering it to submit to interest arbitration of a new collective bargaining agreement pursuant to the terms of a contract required by § 13(c) of the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, 49 U.S.C. §§ 1601 et seq.. Four other circuits have considered union applications to enforce parallel provisions of similar contracts; in all instances the union’s position was sustained. Local Division 1285, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO v. Jackson Transit Auth., 650 F.2d 1379 (6th Cir.) cert. granted, -U.S.-, 102 S.Ct. 1271 , 71 L.Ed.2d 457 (1981); Division 1235, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO v. Metropolitan Transit Auth., 650 F.2d 1389 (6th Cir. 1981); Local Division 714, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO v. Greater Portland Transit Dist., 589 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1978); Local Division 519, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO v. LaCrosse Municipal Transit Util., 585 F.2d 1340 (7th Cir. 1978); Division 1287, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO v. Kansas City Area Transp. Auth., 582 F.2d 444 (8th Cir. 1978). We do not depart from that pattern. Nor do we find that the district court abused its…