The United Steelworkers union is urging a federal court to order US copper producer Asarco to honor a December 5, 2014, arbitration ruling and pay more than $9 million in unpaid copper bonuses to 750 of the company's employees in the US southwest.
Asarco, a Grupo Mexico subsidiary, filed a suit in the US District Court for the District of Arizona earlier this year to overturn arbitrator Michael Rappaport's decision that the company must pay the bonus tied to the price of aluminum on the London Metal Exchange, under a labor agreement with the union.
In a request Tuesday, the USW noted that Asarco recently acknowledged the arbitrator's "findings of fact" and "conclusions of law" are not subject to challenge. Nevertheless, the company argues that the arbitrator exceeded his jurisdiction.
However, Asarco "waived this argument by conceding at the outset of the arbitration hearing and in its post-hearing brief that the arbitrator had authority and jurisdiction to decide the case," the USW asserted.
"Under well-settled principles, the court must defer to the arbitrator's decision and confirm his award," the union added.
It is unclear when the court will issue a ruling. Asarco officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rappaport had said Asarco must pay the quarterly bonus to hundreds of union workers hired after July 1, 2011. In some cases, individual bonuses could amount to as much as $8,000 a year.
The USW, which leads contract negotiations on behalf of several other unions and about 2,000 hourly Asarco employees, has been trying for about two-and-a-half years to reach a new agreement with the company, to replace the old pact that originally expired in June 2013 but was extended until the parties terminated it in June 2015.
In early November, the National Labor Relations Board issued a formal complaint against Asarco alleging the Tucson, Arizona-based company committed multiple unfair labor practices in its ongoing contractual dispute with the USW.
Asarco's Ray, Mission and Silver Bell mines in Arizona produce about 400 million lb/year of copper and a smelter in Hayden, Arizona, produces 720,000 mt/year. The company's Amarillo refinery in Texas is capable of producing 279.5 million lb/year.
