John Carr v. Pacific Maritime Ass'n, Greg Brooks, Judy Checkers v. Pacific Maritime Ass'n

The federal courts have long followed a policy of giving great deference to private dispute resolution in labor relations. That policy is generally a sound one, but private resolution has its limits. As the United State Supreme Court noted in Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., 424 U.S. 554, 571, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 1059, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976), “Congress has put its blessing on private dispute settlement arrangements provided in collective agreements, but it was anticipated, we are sure, that the contractual machinery would operate within some minimum levels of integrity.” In the factual…