Broadway Cab Cooperative, Inc. v. Teamsters & Chauffeurs Local Union No. 281, Ibt

Broadway Cab Cooperative, Inc. (Broadway) appeals from the district court’s enforcement of an arbitration award for $18,-195 in favor of Teamsters and Chauffeurs Local Union No. 281 (the union). Broadway contends that the arbitrator’s award was contrary to law and public policy, and, therefore, the district court erred in refusing to review the arbitrator’s decision to apply estoppel rather than common-law agency principles in determining the existence of an employer-employee relationship. We agree and reverse.

I

The facts are undisputed. Broadway is a cooperative corporation owned exclusively by taxicab owners, referred to in the labor contract as “owner-drivers.” Broadway and the union were parties to a series of multiemployer collective bargaining agreements. The contract in dispute was in effect from February 1, 1979 through February 1, 1982.

For several years prior to 1969, Broadway and the union negotiated labor agreements covering hired drivers and dispatchers, but not owner-drivers. In 1969, the owner-drivers were added to the contract concurrent with their initial inclusion in the Teamsters pension plan. This contract, like the contract in dispute, required…