MEMORANDUM & ORDER Before the Court are respective applications to vacate and confirm the arbitration opinion and award (the “Award”) issued by arbitrator Stanley Aiges (the “Arbitrator”) in favor of respondent Transport Workers Union of America, Local 252, AFL-CIO (“Respondent”) pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). (ECF Nos. 26, 26-1.) Petitioner Baumann Bus Company, Inc. (“Petitioner”) initiated this action by filing a petition (the “Petition”) to vacate the Award, to which Respondent answered and asserted a counterclaim to confirm the Award. (ECF Nos. 1, 7.) For the following reasons, the Court DENIES Petitioner’s Petition to vacate the Award and GRANTS Respondent’s Counterclaim seeking to confirm the Award. I. BACKGROUND The following facts are taken from parties’ aforementioned filings, as well as the parties’ Joint Local Civil Rule 56(c)(1) Statement (the “Joint Stmt.”) and Joint Declaration of Stipulated Facts (the “Joint Decl.”). (ECF Nos. 18 and 19.) These facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted. A. The Collective Bargaining Agreement and Dispute Petitioner is a transportation company for school children and Respondent is a labor organization that acts as the exclusive bargaining agent for drivers and related personnel employed by Petitioner. (Joint Stmt.
3-4.) Petitioner and Respondent are parties to a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”), which covers full-time and part-time bus drivers, driver’s assistants, and others. The CBA covers the time period from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020. (Joint Decl. 20; ECF No. 1-3.) Petitioner and Respondent were previously parties to a CBA that was in effect from 2014 through June 30, 2017. (Joint Decl. 19.) Pursuant to the CBA, prior to the start of each school year, the drivers and driver’s assistants employed by Petitioner select the bus routes, or “runs,” constituting their “bid package” for that entire academic year. (Id.
