¶1John Walton Henderson, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiffs-appellants, cross-appellees.
¶2Randall A. Constantine, Charles E. Elrod, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellees, cross-appellants.
¶3*1499Before EONEY and ANDEESON, Circuit Judges, and MOEGAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
¶5As disabled retirees of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 613 (IBEW), the plaintiffs receive benefits from the IBEW Local 613 and Contributing Employers Health and Welfare Fund (the H & W Fund). Certain of the defendant trustees of the H & W Fund, contemporaneously with their tenure as trustees of that Fund, have also served as trustees of the IBEW Local 613 and Contributing Employers Pension Fund (the Pension Fund) and as officers of the union or the National Electrical Contractors’ Association (NECA), an employer, see 29 U.S.C.A. § 1002(5) (West 1975). In 1975 the trustees of the H & W Fund required all disabled retirees, early retirees and unemployed active members of the union to make monthly self-payment contributions to the H & W Fund. The amount of the required contributions has steadily increased. The plaintiffs allege that the impetus for the imposition of these fees was the agreement of the collective bargaining representatives to decrease the employers’ required contributions to the H & W Fund by one percent and to increase by one percent the employers’ payments to the Pension Fund. As officers of the union or the NECA, certain of the trustees were involved in the negotiation of the pertinent collective bargaining agreement.
¶6The plaintiffs alleged in the district court various breaches of fiduciary duty by the trustees. The court granted the trustees’ motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs argue on appeal that the trustees violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 1001-1381 (West 1975 & Supp.Pamph. 1976-84), by serving in conflicting official capacities and by acting adversely to the interests of the H & W Fund in the collective bargaining process.1 The trustees cross-appeal the district court’s refusal to entertain their request for attorney’s fees.
¶7ERISA imposes upon fiduciaries of employee benefit plans the duties of loyalty and prudence. Id.§ 1104(a)(1).2 It elaborates upon these duties by specifying that a fiduciary shall not “in his individual or in any other capacity act in any transaction involving the plan on behalf of a party (or represent a party) whose interests are adverse to the interests of the plan or the interests of its beneficiaries.” Id.§ 1106(b)(2). A fiduciary may, however, also serve as an officer, employee, agent, or other representative of a union or an employer. Id.§ 1108(c)(3); see id.§ 1002(4), (5), (14). Logic demands that if a fiduciary may hold such positions, then he may fulfill the concomitant responsibilities. See Curren v. Freitag, 432 F.Supp. 668, 672 (S.D.Ill.1977). Thus, a trustee of an employee benefit plan does not violate ERISA merely by also serving in a position with an employee organization or employer that requires him to represent such entity in the collective bargaining negotiations that determine the funding of the plan. See id. at 671. In those negotiations, the bargaining representative represents either the employer or the employees. See 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 157, 158(b)(1)(B), 186(c)(5)(B). To require him to consider only the best interests of the plan at the negotiation ta*1500ble would be to require him to breach the trust of his constituents. We decline to do so.
¶8Likewise, nothing in ERISA prohibits a fiduciary from serving as a trustee of two employee benefit plans so long as nothing in the arrangement causes him to violate the general fiduciary duties codified in ERISA. See 29 U.S.C.A. § 1104(a)(1).3 The plaintiffs failed to produce any evidence of such a violation. The district court therefore properly granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
¶9The district court entered judgment against the plaintiffs, dismissed the case on the merits and awarded costs to the trustees. The trustees filed a motion to alter and amend judgment, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e), and requested that the court retain jurisdiction to permit them to file a motion for award of attorney’s fees.4 The court denied the motion, noting only that the issue of an award of attorney’s fees to the defendants was close.
¶10A district court may in his discretion award a reasonable attorney’s fee and costs of the action to either party in an ERISA action. 29 U.S.C.A. § 1132(g)(1). The standard for review of such a decision is abuse of discretion. Iron Workers Local No. 272 v. Bowen, 624 F.2d 1255, 1266 (5th Cir.1980); see Bonner v. City of Prichard, Alabama, 661 F.2d 1206, 1207 (11th Cir.1981) (en banc) (decisions of the former Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down prior to the close of business on September 30, 1981, are binding precedent in the eleventh circuit). This review requires that the district court state the reasons for his disposition of a request for attorney’s fees. Gordon v. United States Steel Corp., 724 F.2d 106, 108 (10th Cir. 1983); Iron Workers, 624 F.2d at 1266. His analysis must include the criteria enunciated in Iron Workers, 624 F.2d at 1266.
¶11The district court’s denial of the trustees’ rule 59(e) motion was in effect a refusal to make the findings required by Iron Workers. This denial was an abuse of the district court’s discretion. See Thomas v. Farmville Manufacturing Co., 705 F.2d 1307, 1307 (11th Cir.1983) (standard of review for a denial of a rule 59(e) motion is abuse of discretion). We therefore reverse the denial of the trustees’ rule 59(e) motion and remand the claim for attorney’s fees to the district court.
¶12AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED.