Cedar Coal Co. v. United Mine Workers of America
| Decision Date | 06 July 1977 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 76-1785,No. 1766,No. 17,No. 2,U,No. 1,No. 1759,76-1793 and 76-1846,No. 3,17,1766,2,1759,3,1,s. 76-1785 |
| Citation | 560 F.2d 1153 |
| Parties | 95 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3015, 82 Lab.Cas. P 10,027 CEDAR COAL COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Districtnited Mine Workers of America, Local Unionnited Mine Workers of America, Charles R. Bollinger, Individually, and as President of Local Unionnited Mine Workers of America, Julian R. Morris, Individually, and as Chairman of the Denny Division Mine Committee, Gilbert Hill, Individually, and as Chairman of the GraceMine Committee, Appellees, Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc., Amicus Curiae. CEDAR COAL COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Districtnited Mine Workers of America, Local Unionnited Mine Workers of America, Hayes Holstein, Individually, and as President of Local Unionnited Mine Workers of America, Okey J. Johnson, Harold Hamrick, Individually, and as members of the GraceMine Committee, David Forms, Individually, and as Chairman of the GraceMine Committee, Utah Clendenin, Jr., Ronald Roscoe Mullins, Individually, and as members of the Coal ForkMine Committee, Edward V. Massey, Individually, and as a member of the Coal ForkMine Committee, Emmett G. Adkins, Individually, and as Chairman of the Coal ForkMine Committee, and Thomas L. Gibson, Individually, and as a member of the Coal ForkMine Committee, Appellees, Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc., Amicus Curiae. SOUTHERN OHIO COAL COMPANY, a corporation, and Ohio Power Company, acorporation, Appellants, v. UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, an unincorporated association, District 31, United Mine Workers of America, an unincorporated labor association, Local 1949, United Mine Workers of America, an unincorporated labor association, Lawrence Floyd, as president of District 31, United Mine Workers of America, Ray Ashcraft, as president of Local 1949, United Mine Workers of America, John DeWitt, as vice-president of Local 1949, United Mine Workers of America, Sylvester Sartoris, as recording secretary of Local 1949, United Mine Workers |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
David D. Johnson, Charleston, W. Va. (Forrest H. Roles, Union, W. Va., Roger A. Wolfe, Jackson, Kelly, Holt & O'Farrell, Charleston, W. Va., on brief), for appellant in No. 76-1785 and No. 76-1793.
Herbert G. Underwood, Clarksburg, W. Va. (Robert M. Steptoe, Jr., Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellants in No. 76-1846.
Guy Farmer (Farmer, Shibley, McGuinn & Flood, Washington, D. C., on brief), as amicus curiae for Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc., in No. 76-1785 and No. 76-1793.
Harrison Combs, Washington, D. C. (Ross Maruka, Fairmont, W. Va., on brief), for appellees in No. 76-1846.
James M. Haviland, Washington, D. C. (Bruce Boyens, John Taylor, Charleston, W. Va., Richard M. Bank, Ellen P. Chapnick, Richard L. Trumka, Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellees in No. 76-1785 and No. 76-1793.
Before WIDENER, Circuit Judge, LIVELY, Circuit Judge, * and MacKENZIE, District Judge. **
This appeal is a consolidation of three related cases. In all three, plaintiff coal companies sought damages and injunctive relief in the federal district courts against striking union locals. Relief was denied for various reasons and by various procedures. In each case the appellant is the coal company.
The facts of each case will first be discussed separately.
Case No. 76-1793 involves Cedar Coal Company (Cedar) and the United Mine Workers of America, Local Union No. 1759 (Local 1759). Cedar is a West Virginia Corporation engaged in the production, preparation, and shipment of bituminous coal. Local 1759 is a local union which represents the employees who work at five mines owned by Cedar: Grace No. 3, Ridgeroad No. 5, Coal Fork Nos. 1 and 2, and Slaughter's Creek No. 1. Cedar and Local 1759 are signatories to the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1974 which contains specific arbitration procedures, and, in Article XXVII, the following clause:
ARTICLE XXVII MAINTAIN INTEGRITY OF CONTRACT AND RESORT TO COURTS
The United Mine Workers of America and the employers agree and affirm that, except as provided herein, they will maintain the integrity of this contract and that all disputes and claims which are not settled by agreement shall be settled by the machinery provided in the "Settlement of Disputes" Article of this Agreement unless national in character in which event the parties shall settle such disputes by free collective bargaining as heretofore practiced in the industry, it being the purpose of this provision to provide for the settlement of all such disputes and claims through the machinery in this contract and by collective bargaining without recourse to the courts.
Prior to June 1976, a dispute arose at Grace No. 3 mine over the meaning of Subparagraph III, (a)(7) of the 1974 Agreement:
"The Employer shall station a responsible employee on the surface to communicate at all times with the employees when they are at work underground."
The dispute was whether this provision required this job, the "responsible employee," be given to a member of the bargaining unit, and if so, whether the company was required to create a new bargaining unit job to be posted for job bidding under the collective bargaining agreement or whether the duty could be assigned as an additional duty to an employee holding an existing bargaining unit job. The parties submitted the dispute over the meaning of subparagraph (7) to arbitration. On June 3, 1976, the arbitrator decided the contract required Cedar to assign the job to a bargaining unit member, a decision vindicating the Union's position.
But perhaps because the arbitrator misunderstood the full scope of the dispute, he did not decide whether the provision required Cedar to create a new job and to post it for bidding by bargaining unit members. The dispute continued over this undecided issue and on June 22 employees at Grace No. 3 mine went on strike in support of their continuing demand that the company create and post a new job for bidding.
The District and Local Unions filed suit in the United States District Court on June 23, seeking injunctive relief to enforce the arbitrator's decision as they interpreted it, that is, as requiring a new job classification and posting. The hearing on the TRO-preliminary injunction against Cedar was scheduled for June 23, but because of a continuing jury trial, the district judge rescheduled the hearing for the following morning. The employees of Grace No. 3 returned to work on June 23, but apparently dissatisfied with the postponement of their case in the district court, the Union continued striking the following morning, June 24, when employees at all of Cedar's mines, whose employees were members of Local 1759, struck, and Local 1759 decided not to pursue further its request for injunctive relief in the courts although a hearing had been set. The record in that case discloses that it is still pending.
On June 24, Cedar suspended, subject to discharge, two employees of Grace No. 3 mine who allegedly instigated and encouraged the strike by picketing. The employees filed a grievance over the suspensions and the parties submitted the matter to arbitration. The arbitrator, on July 1, upheld the suspension of the two Grace No. 3 mine employees for two weeks without pay, but rejected their discharge as too severe. A protest over the suspension of these employees and a demand that the suspension be rescinded became additional reasons for the strike, which continued unabated.
Between June 26 and July 10, the strike was interrupted by the miners' regularly scheduled vacation. During this time, the arbitrator rendered a written decision on the posting issue which had been decided and delivered orally July 1. On July 9, he announced in writing that Cedar could assign the communications task to a bargaining unit member as an ancillary duty and did not have to post a new job for bidding by bargaining unit members.
On July 12, the first work day after vacation, Grace No. 3 and Coal Fork mines did not return to work, resuming the strike. The Coal Fork mines returned to work on July 13, but all Cedar employees (including those at the Coal Fork mines) represented by Local 1759 (and by Local 1766) resumed the strike on July 14 and remained continuously on strike to the time this appeal was heard.
On July 12, Cedar filed suit for injunctive relief and damages under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 185. Cedar alleged that the unions and employees followed a "pattern and practice of refusing to submit . . . disputes . . . to peaceful settlement through grievance and arbitration procedures," that this pattern would continue, and that the present strike was over the arbitrator's rulings both as to the discharged employees and as to the job posting of the communication job. At the same time, Cedar moved for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order. The TRO issued on July 13, to expire ten days later, and the hearing on the preliminary injunction was set for July 21. The employees protested the company's action in obtaining the restraining order and disputed the company's right to resort to the courts to enforce the arbitrator's decisions and the arbitration and implied no-strike provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. They indicated to Cedar's personnel manager that these actions were additional reasons for striking at all of the company's mines.
Although copies of the TRO were posted and served upon the...
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