O'Connor Co. v. Carpenters Local Union No. 1408 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners

Plaintiff, The O’Connor Company, (Company) brought an action in the Superior Court for the County of San Mateo, California, seeking a declaratory judgment that it was not required to submit a certain grievance to arbitration with defendant Carpenters Local Union No. 1408 (Union). The action was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in accordance with § 301 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 and 28 U.S.C. § 1441 .

The Company and the Union were parties to a collective bargaining agreement which expired on June 15,1980. The grievance in question, filed in April of 1981, concerned a complaint that the Company had maintained non-union employees at a job site on March 31, 1981.

The expired collective bargaining agreement contained a provision requiring the Company to arbitrate certain grievances. The Union contends that even though the collective bargaining agreement had terminated, the obligation to arbitrate continued, even as to matters occurring after termination of the agreement. Termination of a collective bargaining agreement does not necessarily extinguish a party’s duty to arbitrate grievances arising under the contract.…