Rockwell International Corporation, Rockwell Hanford Operations, a Delaware Corporation v. Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, Etc.

Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (“HAMTC”) appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Rockwell International Corporation (“Rockwell”). HAMTC argues that the district court erroneously raised the doctrine of judicial es-toppel, sua sponte, to bar HAMTC’s counterclaim for an order to compel arbitration of a grievance filed pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. We reverse and remand to the district court for consideration of whether the grievance is arbitrable.

I.

HAMTC is a labor organization composed of approximately fifteen different unions. Each of these individual union affiliates represents a distinct group of craft employees at Rockwell Hanford Operations. HAMTC is the exclusive bargaining agent for all union represented employees working at the Hanford site.

Since 1977, HAMTC and Rockwell have been parties to a collective bargaining agreement. In 1982, Rockwell and HAMTC officials began negotiating for the creation of a new classification of workers to undertake the decontamination and decommissioning (“D & D”) of certain installations. The impetus for the new work category came from a Department of Energy request for D & D at a cost lower than…