Gateway Structures, Inc. v. Carpenters 46 Northern California Counties Conference Board of United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners

This is an appeal from the district court’s enforcement of a labor arbitration award. We affirm.

I.

FACTS

This case arises from the construction in 1981-82 of a shopping center in Fresno, California. Two general contractors worked on the project, North American Investments (NAI) and Gateway Structures, Inc. (Gateway). Both of these corporations are controlled, though not wholly owned, by John Langford. NAI has never signed a labor agreement with any union. Gateway signed an agreement with the Carpenters Union (the Union) in July 1981. John Langford also signed that agreement; it is not clear whether he signed it as an individual or as a representative of Gateway. His contractor license number appears on the agreement. That agreement incorporates by reference the 1980 Master Agreement between the Northern California Contractors Council, Inc., and the Carpenters 46 Northern California Counties Conference Board of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (the Master Agreement).

The pension trust funds operated by the Union financed construction of Von’s Market, one of the stores in the shopping center. The terms of that financing required that Union labor be used in the…