Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc. v. Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers International Union Local 4-487

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS July 10, 2003

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk

02-11081

PIONEER NATURAL RESOURCES USA, INC.,

Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee,

VERSUS

PAPER, ALLIED INDUSTRIAL, CHEMICAL AND ENERGY WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 4-487,

Defendant-Counter Claimant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING

Before JONES, DUHÉ, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

IT IS ORDERED that the petition for rehearing is denied. Our

opinion dated May 7, 2003, 328 F.3d 818 is modified in part, by

replacing part III of that opinion with the following part III:

III.

The Union first disputes the district court’s limitation of

the arbitration awards to the period before the Union was

decertified. When the NLRB decertified the Union on September 18,

2000, the CBA automatically terminated by operation of law. See
Sheet Metal Workers’ Int'l Ass'n. Local 206 v. West Coast Sheet

Metal Co., 954 F.2d 1506 (9th Cir. 1992) (holding that CBA became

void prospectively as of the decertification of the Union). Courts

should find an arbitrator’s award legitimate if “it draws its

essence from the collective bargaining agreement.” United

Steelworkers v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80

S.Ct. 1358, 1361, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). The three arbitrators in

this case handed down their decisions before the Union was

decertified and thus they could not have considered the effect of

the award after termination of the CBA. Compare id. 363 U.S. at

597-98 (discussing arbitrator’s opinion which considered the effect

of CBA’s expiration) with Int’l Chem. Workers Union v. BASF

Wyandotte Corp., 774 F.2d 43, 45 (2nd Cir. 1985) (in which

arbitrator had handed down decision before new CBA and did not

consider effect of award under the new agreement).

Reinstatement put the three employees in the same position as

other employees formerly covered by the CBA. When the Union was

decertified, such employees lost all job protection under the CBA.

With no promise of continued employment, they could be discharged

as at-will employees. See Hospital Employees, Local 1273 v. Deaton

Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 671 F. Supp. 1049, 1051 (D. Md. 1986). In such

a case, the payment of back pay wages through the date the CBA

expires has the practical effect of “reinstating" then re-

terminating the employees. Int’l Chem. Workers, 774 F.2d at 46.

The court correctly amended the judgment to enforce the awards only

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through September 17, 2000.

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