LODGE 743, INT. ASS'N OF MACHINISTS v. United Aircraft Corp., Civ. A. No. 9084

Citation299 F. Supp. 877
Decision Date27 May 1969
Docket Number9085.,Civ. A. No. 9084
CourtUnited States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Connecticut)
PartiesLODGE 743, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFLCIO, Plaintiff, v. UNITED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant. LODGE 1746, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFLCIO, Plaintiff, v. UNITED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Plato E. Papps, Mozart G. Ratner, Washington, D. C., William S. Zeman, Hartford, Conn., for plaintiffs; Stephen D. Gordon, Washington, D. C., of counsel.

Joseph C. Wells, Washington, D. C., S. Robert Jelley, Wiggin & Dana, New Haven, Conn., for defendants; Frank E. Callahan (Deceased), Wiggin & Dana, New Haven, Conn., Donald R. Holley, Miami, Fla., of counsel.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

CLARIE, District Judge.

The plaintiff unions commenced separate actions in this Court on December 11, 1961, pursuant to ? 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 61 Stat. 156, 29 U.S.C. ? 185; thereafter on July 22, 1963, by consent of the parties, these suits were consolidated for trial. The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division and the Hamilton Standard Division, both subsidiaries of the defendant parent corporation, breached the terms of the Strike Settlement Agreements made in August 1960. They seek an order for specific performance and a judgment for substantial monetary damages. The unions' claims include remedial damages to the individual union members affected, institutional damages to the plaintiff unions, and punitive damages to deter the defendant from future unlawful conduct; in addition thereto, the plaintiffs request an allowance sufficient to pay counsel fees and the expenses of this litigation.

The original complaints contained a single count and alleged a breach of the Strike Settlement Agreements. Subsequently a consolidated amended complaint, drawn in four separate counts, was filed on November 30, 1964. The first count alleges that the defendant failed to reinstate strikers in accordance with the terms of the Strike Settlement Agreements, and that its conduct was motivated by a desire to protect those employees who helped break the strike. The unions represent that the defendant's strike period hirings, promotions, and transfers were not permanent replacements of strikers and that since the execution of the agreements in August 1960, the unions' membership has been unlawfully deprived of its employment. The second count, in addition to reiterating the averments of the first count, claims that the strikers were entitled to reinstatement as a matter of law, because the strike was caused or prolonged by the defendant's unfair labor practices. The third count incorporated the material allegations of the first count and further asserted that the defendant contrived to curtail its employee complement immediately after the strike and during the effective period of the "preferred hiring list," in order to deprive those strikers who were awaiting recall from the full enjoyment of their employment and seniority rights. The fourth and final count, in addition to reasserting the allegations of the prior counts, represents that the defendant unlawfully deprived and prevented the plaintiffs from effectively policing and enforcing the defendant's compliance with the Strike Settlement Agreements. Upon defendant's motion, count two and paragraph 19(c) of count four (which alleged unfair labor practices on the part of the defendant in failing to furnish records dating back to 1953) were dismissed by order of the Court on June 16, 1965, because the subject matter alleged and the remedies sought were not within the jurisdiction of this Court.1

The plaintiff unions and the defendant employer have polarized their respective positions, so that the Court is asked to draw widely dissimilar conclusions from the facts presented in evidence. The plaintiffs have attempted to demonstrate that the defendant corporation deliberately designed and developed a "master plan" to minimize the number of registered strikers who would be rehired and to relegate to inferior jobs many strikers who were recalled, so that the union membership would be taught a lesson, thereby weakening the local unions and minimizing their organizational effectiveness.

Demonstrative of the existence of such a plan and the defendant's anti-union animus generally, they point to certain threats attributed to defendant's representatives on the occasion of the local union leaders' refusal to recommend the terms of a tentative settlement negotiated and recommended by the plaintiffs' general counsel on or about July 7, 1960. At that time the defendant's Vice-President Burke is reported to have said "We are going to get you. We are going on a full scale hiring program;" and in similar vein the defendant's counsel purportedly admonished his adversary with the warning, "We're going to see to it that there isn't another strike at United Aircraft for fifteen (15) years." (DX-74).2 While the statements standing alone express an attitude of measured hostility, when considered in the light of the circumstances in which they were said, they have the appearance of being the normal aftermath of heated and frustrated negotiations, which terminated in the aborting of an otherwise prospective peaceful labor relations settlement.

From the opposite end of the spectrum, the defendant-company points to the admissions by plaintiffs' general counsel, that these strikes at defendant's plants were ill-conceived by local union leadership at the outset and had already been lost, when he first arrived on the scene to negotiate. (Tr. 8920). He denied any recollection of a 1961 conversation, wherein defendant's counsel inquired of him why he had started this mammoth litigation, knowing there had been no violation and his giving a reply that the union was dead and he had to do something. (Tr. 9001). However, when asked if he told defendant's counsel, that he had hired plaintiffs' present trial counsel for the sole purpose of coming to Connecticut and litigating these suits, just as a means of keeping the union alive, he replied, "I could have said that." (Tr. 9006). If this were true, such a statement would strongly suggest a completely unjustifiable and unethical motive for the plaintiffs initiating this protracted litigation.

Mindful of the philosophic and descriptive warning of the essayist, that "all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye," the Court, aloof from the natural emotional involvement of the parties, will not attempt to filter the motives, the alleged animus, or subjective suspicions of either of the litigants through any amber or rose-colored prism; but rather it will attempt to bring the conduct of both parties into focus, in the light of every day human experience and the tests of objective reality. In so doing, the Court will ascertain the true legal measure of their conduct in faithfully carrying out their respective obligations under the Strike Settlement Agreements.

GENERAL FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Local Lodges #1746 and #743 are both labor unions within the meaning of ? 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. ? 185, and are affiliated with the International Association of Machinists. For many years Lodge #1746 had been the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees in the East Hartford and Manchester plants of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division and prior to the strike had approximately 6,500 members (Tr. 1547); and Lodge #743 had similarly been the lawful bargaining agent for the employees in the Windsor Locks and Broad Brook plants of the Hamilton Standard Division. (Tr. 3254).

Pratt & Whitney, the largest of the defendant's subsidiaries, is primarily engaged in the production of multiple types of jet engines for aircraft, utilities, ships industrial and transportation installations, as well as rocket engines for spacecraft. Its principal plants in Connecticut are located in East Hartford, Manchester, North Haven, Southington, Middletown and Meriden. At the time of this labor dispute in 1960, the East Hartford and Manchester plants, represented by Lodge #1746, employed between 15,000 and 16,000 hourly paid employees; however, it should be noted that the Manchester plant had only 140 employees, and each plant was treated by the parties as a separate entity for purposes of collective bargaining. The labor contracts in both units expired December 4, 1959.

Hamilton Standard's main plant at Windsor Locks employed approximately 5,000; the Broad Brook plant employed only 400. The larger factory manufactured airplane propellers, fuel controls for jet engines, aircraft air conditioning systems, electronic components, controls and related items. The smaller plant produced and assembled electronic devices exclusively. Separate labor contracts for these two plants existed with Lodge #743.

As a prelude to the strike, during the period 1959-1960, a Union Unity Program was initiated on a national level between the International Association of Machinists representing the employees at the defendant's East Hartford, Manchester, Southington, Meriden and Middletown plants with representatives of the United Automobile Workers' Union, which represented employees in the defendant's North Haven and Stratford (Sikorsky) plants. (Tr. 2953-4). The bargaining committees and membership in the Southington, Meriden, and Middletown plants subsequently negotiated and ratified a three (3) year agreement on December 4, 1959, but the membership of Lodge #1746 refused to approve it. The Hamilton contract expired April 21, 1960; the Sikorsky contract in February 1960; the North Haven plant, May 15, 1960. The latter unions announced uniform objections and advanced a common strike date. (Tr. 2963-68). The primary issues were: (1) a union shop; (2) plant-wide seniority; (3) automatic wage progression; (4) promotions on the basis of strict seniority; and (5)...

To continue reading

Request your trial
10 cases
  • Lodges 743 and 1746, Intern. Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. United Aircraft Corp., AFL-CI
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • September 9, 1975
    ......strike that commenced some fifteen years ago. Lodge 743, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace ... Smith v. Evening News Assn., 371 U.S. 195, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962). ......
  • Pilot Freight Carriers v. INTERN. BROTH., ETC., C-219-WS-72.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Middle District of North Carolina
    • July 23, 1980
    ....... No. C-219-WS-72. . United States District Court, M. D. North Carolina, ...Rule 50, Fed.R.Civ.P. The Court now enters this Memorandum Opinion ... Carey v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 375 U.S. 261, 84 S.Ct. 401, 11 L.Ed.2d 320 ...1978); Lodge 743, International Association of Machinists v. nited Aircraft Corp., 299 F.Supp. 877 (D.Conn. 1969). Implying ......
  • In re DeSoto, Bankruptcy No. 92-53552.
    • United States
    • United States Bankruptcy Courts. Second Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — District of Connecticut
    • May 15, 1995
    ...Maxwell Land-Grant Co. v. Dawson, 151 U.S. 586, 604, 14 S.Ct. 458, 463, 38 L.Ed. 279 (1894); Lodge 743, Int'l Ass'n of Mach., AFL-CIO v. United Aircraft Corp., 299 F.Supp. 877, 890 (D.Conn.1969), modified on other grounds, 534 F.2d 422 (2d Cir.1975); In re City of Bridgeport, 129 B.R. 332, ......
  • Communication Workers of America, Local 5900 v. Bridgett, AFL-CI
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Indiana
    • August 26, 1987
    ...asserts the affirmative of an issue and it remains there until the action is concluded." Lodge 743, International Ass'n of Machinists v. United Aircraft Corp. (D.C.Conn.1969), 299 F.Supp. 877, 890 affirmed in part and reversed and remanded on other grounds in 534 F.2d 422. Thus, the Union i......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT