Baltimore Union Trustees Denied Arbitration of Fund Expansion

Union-side trustees for a benefit fund covering longshoremen at the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday lost their Fourth Circuit appeal seeking to force management trustees to arbitrate over whether new employers can be added to the fund.

A Labor Management Relations Act provision instructing that “deadlock on the administration” of an employee benefit fund be decided by a neutral umpire doesn’t extend to a disagreement on whether to expand the number of employers contributing to a fund, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said. Expanding the definition of “employer” is a change in how the fund is ...