Stelling v. International Broth. of Elec. Workers Local Union No. 1547

• Decision Date: 21 December 1978
• Docket Number: AFL-CIO,No. 77-3517,77-3517
• Citation: 587 F.2d 1379
• Parties: 100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2366, 85 Lab.Cas. P 11,063 John STELLING, Forrest Darby, Robert McDaniel, and Terry C. Hix, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL UNION NUMBER 1547, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, I. M. Waldrop, Jr., W. L. Vinson, Charles H. Pillard, and Wesley I. Taylor, Defendants-Appellees. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS,(I.B.E.W.) Third Party Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALASKA CHAPTERS, NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION, Third Party Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1379

587 F.2d 1379

100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2366, 85 Lab.Cas. P 11,063

John STELLING, Forrest Darby, Robert McDaniel, and Terry C.

Hix, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL UNION

NUMBER 1547, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers, I. M. Waldrop, Jr., W. L. Vinson, Charles H.

Pillard, and Wesley I. Taylor, Defendants-Appellees.

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL-CIO

(I.B.E.W.) Third Party Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALASKA CHAPTERS, NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS

ASSOCIATION, Third Party Defendant.

No. 77-3517.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Dec. 21, 1978.

Edmond J. Rice and Irene F. Jackson, Anchorage, Alaska, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Hugh Hafer, Seattle, Wash., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.

Before WRIGHT, KENNEDY and TANG, Circuit Judges.

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

Appellants, individual members of Alaskan Local 1547 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW or International) appeal from the district court's order ¹ dismissing their claims for injunctive and declaratory relief under § 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA) and §§ 101, 102, 105, 501 and 609 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The district court found jurisdiction for the appellants' claim for declaratory relief under § 501 of the LMRDA, and granted summary judgment as a matter of law to the appellees. ²

Appellants' primary assertion is that the appellees violated the IBEW constitution in failing to submit the International Construction Agreement (ICA), a bargaining agreement, to the union membership for a ratification vote. The ICA was entered into with the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), a nationwide organization of employers. It increased pension contributions from employers to the National Electrical Benefits Fund, a nationwide pension plan for the benefit of union members, from 1% To 3%. It also contained provisions affecting management rights, shift work, and apprentice ratios.

Appellants sought a declaratory judgment determining the respective rights and duties of the parties under the IBEW constitution and declaring that the appellees had violated the constitution by failing properly to secure the membership's consent to the ICA. They sought to enjoin the appellees or their agents from taking any action to implement the ICA until local union consent had been obtained, together with an order directing the Department of Labor to conduct referenda among the affected members of the IBEW to determine whether they wished to be subject to the provisions of the ICA dealing with nonpension matters. ³

Finally, they sought a stay in the enforcement of the disciplinary actions against appellants Darby and McDaniels and an order directing the appellees to inform the union members of their rights under the LMRDA.

FACTS:

In 1946, the IBEW and NECA entered into a national pension plan agreement for the benefit of union members. Starting in 1962 and continuing until 1974, resolutions passed at international IBEW conventions directed the international officers to negotiate a new pension plan with increased benefits. Following the 1974 convention, Pillard, president of the IBEW, negotiated with NECA and reached the agreement memorialized in the ICA.

Local unions were notified of the new agreement by letter in December 1976. The business managers of each were directed to incorporate the ICA terms into local At a series of meetings at the end of 1976 and beginning of 1977, Local 1547 members voted on the agreement. The membership rejected it, and individual members, including appellant Stelling, wrote to the international president requesting rescission of the instructions to local business managers on the ground that the IBEW constitution required a vote before the ICA could be executed. Appellant Waldrop also informed the international of the members' disapproval. Nevertheless, under direction from the international president, Waldrop signed an agreement with the Alaska Chapter of NECA, incorporating the provisions of the ICA.

collective bargaining agreements. The effective date of the ICA was July 1, 1977, and it is apparently still in effect. All but one of the 374 affected IBEW construction locals approved the ICA, but it has never been submitted to the membership for a vote.

Darby and Hix asked unsuccessfully that the officers of Local 1547 sue the international to require a ratification vote by the membership. Darby and McDaniel continued to oppose the ICA at local union meetings and on and off the job. Disciplinary proceedings were filed against them by the local union's officers. McDaniel was convicted after a hearing, and Darby's record was remanded to the apprenticeship committee for review. Both men appealed and in August 1977, officers of the international dismissed charges against both.

Appellants filed suit on March 28, 1977. Their request for preliminary injunction was denied and they then moved for summary judgment. The district court found (1) no jurisdiction over the appellants' claims under § 301 of the LMRA because the section did not permit suits by individual union members against their union; (2) no jurisdiction under § 101 of the LMRDA because no discrimination in voting rights had been alleged; and (3) no jurisdiction over the claims for injunctive relief under § 501 of the LMRDA because the appellants had failed to and could not join an indispensable party.

The court further determined that the disciplinary claims were moot because the international president had dismissed them and the claim brought under § 105 of the LMRDA was dismissible for failure to exhaust intra-union remedies. The court found jurisdiction under § 501 for appellants' claims for declaratory relief, but granted summary judgment for appellees because the union's interpretation of the constitution was reasonable.

I. SECTION 301

Section 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. § 185 provides:

(a) Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce . . . or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.

Appellants assert that jurisdiction exists under this section because the IBEW constitution is a contract for the purposes of section 301, and the alleged breach of the "contract" affected collective bargaining and labor-management relations. The district court concluded there was no jurisdiction under the section because it does not confer jurisdiction in suits by members against their local or international union for breaches of the union constitution. While we agree with the result, the district court's reasoning appears faulty in light of recent decisions in this circuit and the Supreme Court.

The right of individual employees to sue under § 301 to vindicate their "uniquely personal" rights under a collective bargaining agreement has specifically been recognized in a series of cases. Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., 424 U.S. 554, 562, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976); Lerwill v. Inflight Motion Pictures, Inc., 582 F.2d 507, 511 (9th Cir. 1978); Beriault v. Local 40 Our next inquiry is whether the courts have found actions based on union constitutions cognizable under § 301. In Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 200, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962), the Supreme Court rejected the contention that the "between" in this section refers to "suits" rather than "contracts" and held that an individual union member could sue his employer for breach of a collective bargaining agreement. In Retail Clerks International Association v. Lion Dry Goods, Inc., 369 U.S. 17, 28, 82 S.Ct. 541, 548, 7 L.Ed.2d 503 (1962), the Court held that § 301 is not restricted in application to suits involving collective bargaining agreements, but applies also to suits based on other types of contracts " significant to the maintenance of labor peace."

SuperCargoes and Checkers of the ILWU, 501 F.2d 258, 261 (9th Cir. 1974). See also Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 299, 91 S.Ct. 1909, 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971). As we recognized in Rehmar v. Smith, 555 F.2d 1362, 1366 (9th Cir. 1976), jurisdiction depends on the nature of the action rather than the status of the parties. The mere fact that the action here is brought by individual union members does not preclude jurisdiction.

Several courts have permitted actions under § 301 based on asserted violations of a union constitution. However, in each case where a constitution has provided the basis for jurisdiction, the court has specifically found that the controversy had either "traumatic industrial and economic repercussions," Parks v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 314 F.2d 886, 916 (4th Cir.), Cert. denied, 372 U.S. 976, 83 S.Ct. 1111, 10 L.Ed.2d 142 (1963) (action by local against international for rescission of local's charter), or significantly affected labor-management relations, as where the dispute affected the representation of workers in collective bargaining. Local Union 1219, United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, 493 F.2d 93, 96 (1st Cir. 1974); Local Union No. 657 of United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. Sidell, 552 F.2d 1250, 1256 (7th Cir.), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 862, 98 S.Ct. 190, 54 L.Ed.2d 135 (1977). See Keck v. Employees Independent Association, 387 F.Supp. 241 (E.D.Pa.1974).

Other courts have ruled that union constitutions do not provide a jurisdictional basis where the underlying controversy was strictly intra-union and unrelated to external labor-management relations. In 1199 DC, National Union of Hospital and Health Care...