Graphic Communications Union, District Council No. 2, Afl-Cio, Cross-Appellee v. Gciu-Employer Retirement Benefit Plan, Cross-Appellant
Opinion
Opinion
O'Scannlain, J.
We again confront the tension created by the competing concerns of access to the courts and the enforcement of agreements to arbitrate employee benefit plan disputes. We must determine whether the congressional guarantee of ready access to the federal courts renders a mandatory arbitration agreement unenforceable.
I
Between 1979 and 1986, Owens-Illinois Forest Products Group (“Owens-Illinois”) operated a plant at Tracy, California for the purpose of manufacturing corrugated boxes. Since 1979, Graphics Communications Union, District Council No. 2 (“the Union”), or a predecessor union has been the exclusive bargaining representative of the production and maintenance employees at the Tracy plant. Under the collective bargaining agreements between Owens-Illinois and the Union, Owens-Illinois contributed to an employee benefit plan (“the GCIU-Employer Retirement Benefit Plan” or “the Plan”). The Plan was administered by a joint board of trustees comprised of multiple employer and union representatives and was regulated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). See generally 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 (1988).