Miners in General Group v. Hix

Decision Date04 November 1941
Docket Number9195.
Citation17 S.E.2d 810,123 W.Va. 637
PartiesMINERS IN GENERAL GROUP et al. v. HIX, Clerk of Board of Review, et al.
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
Dissenting Opinion Dec. 3, 1941.

Syllabus by the Court.

T C. Townsend and Hillis Townsend, both of Charleston, for appellants.

Charles L. Estep, of Logan, for appellees.

FOX, Judge.

This case comes to us on writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, and involves the right of the claimants to unemployment compensation benefits under the West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act, Chapter 1, Acts of the Legislature, Second Extraordinary Session, 1936, and particularly the question of whether subsection 4, Section 4 Article 6 of said act, disqualifies the claimants from receiving benefits thereunder, it being contended that their unemployment was due to a labor dispute. The pertinent parts of Section 4 are here quoted: "Upon the determination of the facts by the director or his deputy, an individual shall be disqualified for benefits: *** (4) For a week in which his total or partial unemployment is due to a stoppage of work which exists because of a labor dispute at the factory establishment, or other premises at which he was last employed, unless the director is satisfied that he was not (one) participating, financing, or interested in such dispute, and (two) did not belong to a grade or class of workers who were participating, financing, or directly interested in the labor dispute which resulted in the stoppage of work."

The question was first considered by the Director of Unemployment Compensation, next by the Trial Examiner, followed by an appeal to the Board of Review provided by statute, and finally upon appeal and certiorari by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County. In each instance benefits were denied to the claimants, and hence their application for a review by this Court.

The record shows that the claims here considered are some of many thousands filed by mine workers from all sections of the coal fields in this state, and our decision will, presumably, have the effect of determining the validity of all such claims, except in cases where they may differ substantially in character from those considered here. In the brief filed by counsel for claimants it is stated: "*** we assume that if the decision of this court should be favorable to the claimants on the broad question involving the interpretation of the Unemployment Compensation Law, the department would award benefits not only to those who prosecuted appeals, but to all those in the same class who originally filed claims for benefits." In oral argument counsel for claimants estimated the cost to the Unemployment Fund, in the event all such claims were paid, at seven to eight million dollars. Neither the assumption nor the estimate of cost has been questioned. The statute quoted above applies to the individual worker, and, generally speaking, a "labor dispute" can only exist between the individual workers and their employer. However, the record discloses beyond question that the negotiations and disagreements arising therefrom, hereinafter to be considered, were carried on by mine workers through their representatives, the United Mine Workers of America, operating through its committee created for that purpose, on the one side; and by the various individuals, partnerships, and corporations operating the mines, through their committee created for the purpose, on the other. They will be hereinafter referred to as "mine workers" and "operators". No question of the right of these committees to represent the parties to the controversy is raised on the record, and we assume that no such question exists. The claimants are not shown to be within the excepted groups mentioned in the statute quoted above. The controversy in which these committees functioned covered the Appalachian and other coal fields. The claims considered by us, as indicated above, are those arising within this State, and originated in what is known as the Appalachian coal field, which covers all of this State, as well as adjacent and neighboring states, east and south of the Ohio River, where coal is mined.

It is a matter of public knowledge, of which we take judicial notice, and it also appears from statements in the record, that mine workers perform their labors under a contract with the operators in the Appalachian field and elsewhere, which contracts are entered into through conferences and negotiations between duly constituted committees representing the mine workers and the operators. Such a contract was entered into early in 1935, and under its provisions terminated on the 31st day of March, 1937. At or about the date of the termination of this agreement, a new contract was entered into which, under its terms, ended on the 31st day of March, 1939. In this latter contract it was provided that a meeting of the committees of the mine workers and the operators should be held in the City of New York on the 14th day of March, 1939, the purpose of this meeting being to negotiate and enter into a new contract to take the place of that expiring at the end of March of that year. That meeting was duly held, and proposals were made as to the terms of the new contract. The mine workers submitted numerous proposals, at one place in the record stated to be seventeen, as to what they desired incorporated in the new agreement. Just what those proposals were is not definitely shown by the record and is not important. On the other hand, the operators proposed to renew the contract which was to expire on the 31st day of March, 1939, for a further term of two years on the same terms as the expiring contract, except as to wages, and, as to wages, the proposal was that those in effect under the 1935 contract, which expired on March 31, 1937, should be adopted, and this, we understand, involved some wage reduction. The mine workers refused to accept this proposal of the operators, and the operators refused to accept the proposals made by the mine workers. On the 16th day of March, 1939, the mine workers made the following proposal:

"In order to allay any public apprehension concerning the liability of a suspension of the mining operations in the bituminous coal industry due to the expiration of the existing wage agreement, this Joint Conference

"Resolves that in the event no agreement is reached by March 31, 1939, that work in the industry shall be continued under the existing wages, conditions and contracts pending continuance of negotiations and ultimate success or failure to agree on a new contract."

This proposal was made in the form of a resolution offered by the representatives of the mine workers, and received their support, but was rejected by the operators. In connection with this proposal, it should here be said that, in itself, it implied at least a probability that work in the mines would cease in the event no agreement was reached by March 31, 1939, and was the mine workers' effort to avoid any cessation of work, and, as we understand, carried with it the further implication that if an agreement was reached, it would be made effective as of April 1st.

The work of the committees, termed "a joint conference", seems to have continued without success. There were no important developments until about the 28th or 29th day of March, when the operators proposed to enter into a new contract for a term of two years, beginning April 1 1939, on the same terms as to wages and working conditions as those provided for in the contract which was to expire at the end of March. The mine workers refused to accept this proposition, and, it is claimed by the operators, made demand for the first time for a union shop, or a closed shop, or the abandonment of what is known as the penalty clause, which was incorporated in the contract then expiring. The evidence is somewhat confusing as to which of these propositions was particularly urged by the mine workers. As we understand it, what is known as a union shop is where the employer is permitted to employ a non-union worker, but such worker is required to join the union as a requisite to his continuing work; a closed shop is where the worker must be a member of the union as a condition precedent to his employment; and the penalty clause imposed a penalty upon either the mine workers or the operator, in case of an unauthorized strike or lockout during the continuation of the contract. From the standpoint of the mine workers, either of these propositions would have guarded their interests. Their principal purpose was to secure a contract under which only union men could work in the mines, and this would be accomplished either by the union shop agreement, or the closed shop agreement, and could be enforced, without penalty, by a strike or other process during the continuance of the contract, if they elected to pursue that remedy. It seems that all of these propositions were made and considered, but, finally, as we understand the record, the mine workers settled down to a demand for a union shop, and on this rock the conference split, and remained divided until about the 13th of May, 1939, when an agreement was finally reached on the basis of the 1937 contract, with an added provision for the union shop. At a press conference in New York on April 12, 1939, at which Charles O'Neal, spokesman for the operators, and John L. Lewis, spokesman for the mine workers, were present, O'Neal stated: "The operators have offered to contract with the United Mine Workers under the same contract that has prevailed for two years."; to which Lewis replied: "And the mine workers have declined to accept that offer unless they are given the union shop"; whereupon O'Neal said, "And on that issue the men...

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