Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

Under a labor agreement between Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (Goodyear) (defendant) and a union (plaintiff), second-shift employees (between 3:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.) and third-shift employees (between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) received slight pay increases. Goodyear also had the authority to change daily start times so long as it gave the union sufficient notice. The pay-premium provisions differed from a prior version of the agreement, which gave pay increases for all work performed between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. After Goodyear and the union negotiated these changes, layoffs resulted in the elimination of the second shift at Goodyear. Eventually, to operate more efficiently, Goodyear implemented a split shift by which some employees began work midway through the first shift (e.g., at 11:00 a.m.) and ended work during the second shift (e.g., 7:00 p.m.). But Goodyear failed to pay these split-shift workers pay increases for time worked past 3:00 p.m. The union filed a grievance challenging the failure to compensate the split-shift workers with pay increases for time worked past 3:00 p.m. Goodyear claimed that under the plain language of the agreement, only workers who began working at 3:00 p.m. were entitled to the pay increase. Goodyear also cited its authority to adjust working hours. The union responded that this undermined the rationale of the agreement—for example, it would allow Goodyear to shift the start time to 3:15 p.m. and avoid paying any additional wages.