Laborers International Union Local 252 v. Town Concrete Pipe of Washington, Inc.

Laborers International Union Local 252 (Local 252) appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Town Concrete Pipe of Washington, Inc. (Town Concrete), in the Local’s section 301 suit to compel arbitration. 29 U.S.C. § 185 .

FACTS

Local 252 and Town Concrete are parties to a collective bargaining agreement containing a mandatory grievance-and-arbitration procedure covering questions of contract interpretation. The contract contains a provision for an automatic cost-of-living increase, the size of which was to be based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Cost of Living (COL) Index. In 1978, the BLS discontinued the COL, and began issuing revised versions of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Town Concrete took the position that the change from the COL Index to the CPI eliminated the cost-of-living clause from the contract, and that a new clause had to be negotiated. The parties negotiated, discussed arbitration, and the union filed a charge with the NLRB. Finally, the union filed the present suit to compel arbitration of the cost-of-living clause. We note jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and reverse.

ANALYSIS

The only issue in this case is whether the…