American Postal Workers Union v. United States Postal Service

MEMORANDUM ***

The American Postal Workers Union, San Francisco Local, and the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (collectively, the “Union”), appeal the District Court’s denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction against the United States Postal Service (“Service”). The Union alleged that the Service’s plan to transfer priority mail operations for the San Francisco area to the San Francisco Processing and Distributing Center (“P&DC”) would jeopardize the health and safety of P&DC workers in violation of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”). The Union sought to enjoin the transfer of certain equipment to the P&DC pending mandatory arbitration of their workplace safety grievance. The facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties; they are not restated herein except as necessary.

The Norris-LaGuardia Act limits the jurisdiction of federal courts to issue injunctive relief in cases involving labor disputes. See 29 U.S.C. § 104 ; Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union, Local 770, 398 U.S. 235, 251 , 90 S.Ct. 1583 , 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970). The Norris-LaGuardia Act thus evidences congressional policy favoring “voluntary settlement of labor…