Aguilera

The questions before us are whether the appellants’ state law fraud and breach of contract claims against their former employer are preempted by section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185 , and whether them statutory claim was properly dismissed. The district court granted summary judgment to the appellants’ former employer on the appellants’ claims brought under California law, ruling that section 301 preempted them. The court also held that the appellants’ state statutory and public policy claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations or, in the alternative, were without merit. We affirm the district court’s judgment in all respects.

I BACKGROUND

Rodolfo Abella and other workers (collectively “appellants” or “replacements”), were hired as strike replacements during a United Rubber Workers’ strike at Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corporation’s (“Pirelli”) tire manufacturing plant in Hanford, California. The United Rubber Workers Union Local 703 (“union”) represented the production and maintenance employees at Pirelli for the purposes of collective bargaining. In May 1994, Pirelli and the union began .negotiations to replace an expiring…