The labor agreement in effect between the Retail Clerks Union and Alpha Beta Company governing its grocery store employees contained a no-strike provision and a sympathy strike provision that allowed covered employees to refuse to cross a picket line sanctioned by the Central Labor Council of the San Francisco Bay area. The Teamsters struck several supermarkets, including Alpha Beta, and sporadically set up sanctioned picket lines at Alpha Beta stores. In support of the strike, 20 Alpha Beta employees refused to report for work, citing the sympathy strike provision of their labor agreement. Alpha Beta fired all 20 employees, claiming that they had breached the no-strike provision of the agreement because there were no picket lines at the stores where they were working. The union objected to the firings and invoked the grievance procedure of the labor agreement, which provided for an adjustment meeting and arbitration for "a dispute or difference of opinion arising out of the agreement." The adjustment meeting produced a "final and binding settlement agreement" that allowed the fired employees to return to work. Alpha Beta then informed the union that it wanted to have an arbitrator determine whether the sympathy strike provision of the agreement allowed these employees to strike in the absence of a picket line. The union refused to engage in arbitration, claiming that there was no longer any dispute, as the settlement agreement returned the employees to work. Alpha Beta petitioned the U.S. district court to compel arbitration.
May the courts compel parties to arbitrate under the facts of this case? Decide. [Alpha Beta Co. v. Retail Clerks, Local 428, 110 LRRM 2169 (9th Cir.)]