Arbitration

• Author: International Law Group
• Pages: 108-109

Page 108

His employer, Celebrity Cruises, Inc. (Defendant) required Inacio Eufemio Lobo (Plaintiff ), a stateroom attendant on a passenger ship, to share his gratuities with his assistant by paying the assistant $1.20 per passenger per day from his own earnings. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant imposed this requirement through duress as a result of the unequal bargaining position of the parties. This requirement breaches the collective bargaining agreement governing the terms of his employment, which include gratuities as part of a stateroom attendant's pay.

Plaintiff filed suit in federal district court. The Defendant moved to dismiss on the grounds that, pursuant to the same collective bargaining agreement, his wage claim must be sent to arbitration. Plaintiff responded that the arbitration clause in the collective bargaining agreement was invalid because it conflicted with both the Seaman's Wage Act which gives seamen the right to access federal courts to resolve wage disputes, 46 U.S.C. ß 10313, and the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. Bulk Carriers, Inc. v. Arguelles, 400 U.S. 351 (1971). The district court dismissed the complaint ruling that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the Convention) 9 U.S.C. ßß 202-208 the Seaman's Wage Act and Arguelles had been superseded by.

Plaintiff appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The Court affirms, holding that the Convention superseded the Seaman's Wage Act and that Arguelles did not apply here.

"In Arguelles, the Court considered whether the provisions of the Seaman's Wage Act were displaced by the subsequent enactment of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), which 'provides a federal remedy to enforce grievance and arbitration provisions of collective-bargaining agreements' in commercial industries. Supra, at 352. The Supreme Court held that the LMRA did...