School Committee of City of Pawtucket v. Pawtucket Teachers Alliance, Local No. 930, AFT, AFL

• Decision Date: 25 July 1966
• Docket Number: No. 3276,3276
• Citation: 221 A.2d 806,101 R.I. 243
• Parties: The SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF the CITY OF PAWTUCKET v. PAWTUCKET TEACHERS ALLIANCE, LOCAL NO. 930, AFT, AFL, et al. Eq.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 806

221 A.2d 806

101 R.I. 243

The SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF the CITY OF PAWTUCKET v. PAWTUCKET TEACHERS ALLIANCE, LOCAL NO. 930, AFT, AFL, et al.

Eq. No. 3276.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 25, 1966.

Higgins, Cavanagh & Cooney, Joseph V. Cavanagh, Providence, for complainant

Abedon, Michaelson, Stanzler & Biener, Milton Stanzler, Richard A. Skolink, Providence, for respondents.

OPINION

PAOLINO, Justice.

This bill in equity was brought in the name of the school committee of the city of Pawtucket for injunctive relief. On March 12, 1965, an ex parte restraining order was entered by a justice of the superior court restraining the respondents in accordance with the prayers of the bill. Thereafter, on March 26, 1965, the complainant filed a petition to adjudge the respondents in contempt for allegedly violating said restraining order. On June 14, 1965, after a hearing in the superior court, a decree was entered by a justice of that court finding the respondent alliance and the six members of its negotiating committee guilty of civil contempt and imposing suspended fines on each of the respondents. The cause is before this court on the respondents' appeal from such decree.

The bill of complaint, which is signed under oath by four members of the committee, was filed on March 12, 1965. The trial justice issued the restraining order principally on the basis of complainant's allegations that respondents went on strike in 1957, as well as in 1964, and were threatening to strike again. It restrained the alliance and the members of the negotiating committee from:

'* * * proposing, adopting, or approving any vote or resolution declaring a strike of the teachers, members of the Teachers Alliance; agreeing to any concerted action to remain away from their classes so as to disrupt or interfere with the normal school program or curriculum; from entering into, making or carrying out any agreement under whatever name or by whatever manner or means arrived at, openly or secretly, the effect of which is to collectively remain away from their classes and responsibilities as teachers; from disrupting in any manner the school program or curriculum; from taking any steps to interfere with the normal activities of the teachers and students in the public schools of the City of Pawtucket, and from carrying out, adhering to or following any so-called strike, vote or order, if any such vote or order has been taken or given.'

The issues raised in this proceeding result from the failure of the parties to negotiate a mutually satisfactory contract affecting compensation and working conditions. It appears that because of such failure the members of the alliance voted on March 2, 1965 to return to school 'on a day-to-day basis' and authorized their president to call an 'emergency meeting' within two weeks, which he did. However, because of the great public interest involved, His Excellency, Governor John H. Chafee, intervened and arranged a meeting between the parties for March 12, 1965 in his office. The alliance postponed their emergency meeting to March 14, 1965.

The meeting in the Governor's office was attended by several interested persons, including representation of respondents and five members of the school committee. Two members of the committee were not present. It appears that the committee had been acting as a six-member committee for many months because of the absence of one member whose whereabouts was unknown. During the course of this meeting, after it appeared that the parties could not reach an agreement, the chairman and three other members of the committee decided to seek a court injunction. They signed the instant bill of complaint at that time. The fifth member of the committee disapproved such action and refused to sign the bill.

The cause was set down for hearing on the prayer for preliminary injunction on March 22, 1965. However, by agreement, no hearing was held on that day and the restraining order remained in effect. The alliance met on March 14, 1965 and the members voted approval of the negotiating committee's recommendations that the teachers would remain in their classrooms, that they would resume negotiations with the school committee, that they would forego a 1964-1965 contract, and that they would report to the alliance membership on their progress.

The parties held further negotiating meetings on March 16 and March 23, 1965. A disagreement arose as to the order in which the items on the agenda should be considered. The complainant insisted that matters involving monetary items be taken up first so that it could prepare and file its budget with the city council before the March 31, 1965 deadline. The respondents, on the contrary, insisted that certain other nonbudgetary items in their 30-point proposal be taken up first. As a result of this disagreement the March 23 meeting ended in an impasse.

The respondents met that evening and discussed the calling of a special meeting of the alliance for the following night, March 24, 1965. The president of the alliance accordingly called a special meeting for March 24, 1965 at 8:15 p.m. It appears that the negotiating committee met again on March 24 together with the national representative of the American Federation of Teachers; that at this conference they discussed the restraining order and what their report to the alliance membership should be; and that they composed a written statement ¹ which was to be read to the members of the alliance at the special meeting and which we shall refer to as 'the statement.'

Between 300 and 350 teachers attended the March 24 meeting. The negotiating committee reported on the status of negotiations and after some discussion each of the members of the negotiating committee and the president of the State Federation of Teachers read the statement, each inserting his own name as the declarant, and the assembly acknowledged each reading with a standing ovation. On March 25, 1965 approximately 370 of the 481 teachers in the Pawtucket school system failed to report to their duties. This situation continued for nine successive school days and during this period classes for 11,350 pupils were suspended.

On March 26, 1965, complainant filed the instant petition to adjudge respondents in contempt. This petition was heard on various days between April 1 and May 25, 1965. On April 6, 1965, the trial justice proposed that respondents use their best efforts to get the teachers back to school as the first step towards reopening negotiations. It appears that respondents complied with such proposal and that on the following day the schools were fully staffed and in substantially normal operation. Thereafter the parties continued their negotiations under the supervision of the trial justice. On May 25, 1965 he rendered his decision and on June 14, 1965, he entered a decree based thereon.

After stating that the cause was heard on complainant's petition to adjudge respondents in contempt and on the latters' motion to dismiss, ² the decree contains specific findings of fact that (1) both the filing of the bill of complaint and the filing and prosecution of the petition to adjudge in contempt were legal actions duly taken by the school committee; (2) that the members of the negotiating committee and the alliance violated the March 12, 1965 restraining order by effecting a work stoppage of more than 300 public school teachers commencing March 25, 1965; and (3) that there was no deliberate intent on the part of respondents to flout the dignity of the court.

On the basis of such findings the decree concludes that respondents are not guilty of criminal contempt, but that each of the individual respondents and the alliance is guilty of civil contempt. The decree contains an order denying respondents' motion to dismiss and imposes a fine in the sum of $5,000 on the alliance and $500 upon each of the members of the negotiating committee, but suspends the execution thereof in each instance so long as the respective respondents remain in compliance with the March 12, 1965 restraining order and with any other orders which might thereafter be issued against such respondents in said cause, until such order or orders are terminated or modified by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The respondents have briefed and argued their reasons of appeal under seven main points. For convenience we shall treat them in like manner. Their first point relates to their motion to vacate the restraining order and to dismiss the bill of complaint and the petition to aedjudge in contempt.

The rules and regulations of the school committee are in evidence. We need only refer to chap. II, sec. 3, which provides in part that: 'The Chairman may take emergency action, if such action is required before a special meeting of the Committee can be called. He must, however, get the Committee's approval of his emergency action not later than the next special or regular meeting.' (italics ours)

The respondents contend that the school committee had not brought these actions in accordance with school committee rules. They argue, therefore, that the school committee had no lawful authority to bring the bill and the petition to adjudge in contempt and that the superior court lacked jurisdiction to issue the restraining order. More specifically, they claim that the decision to bring such actions was never voted upon by the members of the school committee at any regular or special meeting of the committee. In fact, the parties stipulated that except for what happened at the meeting in the Governor's office on March 12, the matter of filing the bill of complaint seeking the restraining order and of filing the petition to adjudge in contempt was never taken up at any regular or special meeting of the school committee. They also stipulated that there had been at least one regular or special meeting subsequent to the time each of those actions was filed.

Assuming arguendo...