1762 Cooper et al. v. UAW-GM Department

Appellants had no contractual right to be offered a job at GM. The only thing the Guide plant closing agreement provided for employees without GM seniority rights was the right to be considered as a new hire and the possibility of a relocation allowance. Had appellants become aware that the Fort Wayne plant was hiring in 2008 and applied for one of those openings, their former employment at Guide Corporation might have given them an advantage for hiring consideration, but even that was not something the union could insist upon. The union would have no contractual basis for demanding that appellants be placed at the Fort Wayne plant ahead of anyone else management wished to hire. In any event, appellants’ argument that they ought to have been hired by General Motors in 2008 was never subject to resolution through the grievance procedure. The Memorandum of Understanding on Employee Placement included as Appendix A to the 2007 and the 2011 UAW-GM National Agreements refers unresolved issues regarding employee placement to GM Labor Relations and the International Union for resolution.