John Marshall

“ That is, a given member of a bargaining unit who is, for example, 12th in seniority when his collective-bargaining agreement expires may be 5th in seniority at a particular time thereafter, depending upon the number of more senior employees who have departed from the workforce. Or an employee could lose his seniority altogether where specified conditions for such loss have been met. ”

“ Consequently, the issue here, as it was in Nolde, is not whether a substantive provision of the expired collective-bargaining agreement (in this case the provision covering layoffs) remains enforceable but whether the expired agreement reflects the parties' intent to arbitrate the Union's contention that this provision remains enforceable. The majority itself acknowledges a general rule of contract construction by which arbitration or other dispute resolution provisions may survive the termination of a contract. Ante, at 208, and n. 3. That is all Nolde stands for. ”

“ As with an employee's seniority rank, a given worker's "aptitude and ability" relative to other employees may change over time, yet the right to have layoffs made according to the standard of qualified seniority could vest under the contract. Under this view, a laid off employee would have the opportunity to prove to the arbitrator that he should not have been laid off under the terms of the contract because other factors such as aptitude and ability were equal at the time he was laid off. ”

“ Notably, the layoff provisions do not contain any language suggesting an intent to preclude posttermination grievances over layoffs from arbitration. See App. 30-31.↑ Section 12 of the expired agreement, entitled "Notice of Layoutt" [sic ] , contains six subsections addressing, inter alia, issues of seniority, layoffs, and recalls. Subsection F, which addresses the recalling of laid off workers, enumerates the six ways in which " [a] n employee shall lose his seniority." ”