John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston

District 65, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (the union) (plaintiff) entered into a collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) with publishing firm Interscience Publishers, Inc. (Interscience). The CBA did not expressly state that it would bind Interscience’s successors. In October 1961, while the CBA was in effect, Interscience merged with publishing firm John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Wiley) (plaintiff). Interscience’s employees became Wiley employees, but there was a continuity of operations following the merger. In premerger and postmerger discussions, the union disagreed with Interscience and Wiley about the merger’s effect on the CBA and the rights of Interscience’s union employees who became Wiley employees after the merger. The union asserted that the Interscience employees were still represented by the union after the merger and that Wiley was obligated to recognize those employees’ vested rights to seniority status, severance pay, and pension payments under the CBA. Wiley asserted that the merger had terminated the CBA and refused to recognize the union as the Interscience employees’ bargaining representative. Before the CBA expired, the union brought an action against Wiley under the CBA’s arbitration provisions to compel arbitration of the dispute regarding the Interscience employees’ rights. The district court refused the union’s request for relief, but the appellate court reversed and ordered arbitration. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Wiley contended that it had no duty to arbitrate because the CBA’s arbitration provisions had not survived the merger. Wiley also asserted that the union’s grievances were not arbitrable and that the union had not satisfied the procedural prerequisites to arbitration specified in the CBA.