Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Reis, 78-1053

• Citation: 614 F.2d 1110
• Decision Date: 08 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-1053,78-1053
• Parties: 103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2722, 88 Lab.Cas. P 11,847 COMPLETE AUTO TRANSIT, INC., F. J. Boutell Driveaway Company, Inc., Automobile Carriers, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Danny REIS, Larry Keller, Virgil Williams, John Sealey, John Lamb et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 1110

614 F.2d 1110

103 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2722, 88 Lab.Cas. P 11,847

COMPLETE AUTO TRANSIT, INC., F. J. Boutell Driveaway

Company, Inc., Automobile Carriers, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Danny REIS, Larry Keller, Virgil Williams, John Sealey, John

Lamb et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 78-1053.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1978.

Decided Feb. 8, 1980.

R. Ian Hunter, C. John Holmquist, Jr., Matheson, Bieneman, Parr, Schuler & Ewald, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Hiram S. Grossman, Draper, Daniel, Ruhala & Seymour, Flint, Mich., James P. Hoffa, Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellees.

Before WEICK, LIVELY and MERRITT, Circuit Judges.

LIVELY, Circuit Judge.

The first issue in this appeal requires the court to traverse the largely uncharted waters which lie between Boys Markets, Inc. v. Clerks Union, 398 U.S. 235, 90 S.Ct. 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 199 (1970), and Buffalo Forge Co. v. Steelworkers, 428 U.S. 397, 96 S.Ct. 3141, 49 L.Ed.2d 1022 (1976). The second issue relates to a question which the Supreme Court has never decided whether an employer may recover damages from individual union members for alleged breaches of the no-strike provision of a collective bargaining agreement where the employer does not seek damages from the union.

I.

Three employers brought nearly identical actions in the district court. The actions were consolidated for trial and a single judgment was entered. All employers appeal. The three plaintiffs are engaged in the transportation by truck of motor vehicles, two as common carriers and one as a contract carrier. All are signatories to an identical collective bargaining agreement which covers operations at their respective Flint, Michigan facilities. The defendants are drivers and other employees at the Flint facilities who are members of Teamsters Local Union No. 332. Teamsters 332 is signatory to the collective bargaining agreement with the three employers, and is the exclusive bargaining agent for all the defendants. The collective bargaining agreement contains a no-strike clause and a provision requiring that all disputes are subject to a grievance procedure which includes binding arbitration as its final step.

In June 1976 employees of the three plaintiffs went out on strike. The employers filed suit pursuant to § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1976), seeking injunctions against the wildcat strikes. After consolidation, the district court denied injunctive relief upon a finding that the strikes were not over an arbitrable issue. Boys Markets, supra; Plain Dealer v. Cleveland Typographical Union, 520 F.2d 1220 (6th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 909, 96 S.Ct. 3221, 49 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1976); United States Steel Corp. v. Mine Workers, 519 F.2d 1236 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 910, 96 S.Ct. 3221, 49 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1976). This holding was based on the court's finding that the differences which led to the work stoppage were between the union members and their union, rather than between employers and employees. Specifically, the court found that the members claimed the union was not properly representing them in current negotiations for amendments to the collective bargaining agreement. The court also found that the strikes had not been authorized by the union. This decision was delivered orally on June 14, 1976 and an order denying plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunctions was entered June 21, 1976. The findings of the district court and its denial of injunctive relief were affirmed by this court in an unpublished order entered February 28, 1978 (No. 76-2016).

Meanwhile, on June 16, 1976 the employers filed amended complaints in which they renewed their motion for injunctive relief. The amended complaints stated that Local 332 had offered to enter into an agreement with the employers by which the striking employees would return to work in exchange for assurances that no discipline, reprisals, penalties or fines would be imposed upon them. After a hearing at which the union agreed to forego disciplining the employees for the unauthorized strike if they would return to work immediately, the court concluded that the only unresolved issue was the workers' demand for amnesty from their employers. The court further found that this issue involved a dispute between the employers and employees over the terms of employment and was arbitrable. Concluding that the continuation of the work stoppage violated the no-strike clause of the collective bargaining agreement and that the traditional requirements for equitable relief were present, the district court enjoined the employees from engaging in the work stoppage and directed the employers to submit themselves to the grievance procedures of the agreement, including arbitration, should any discipline be imposed and grievances taken. The preliminary injunction was issued on June 21, 1976. The injunction was directed to the individual defendants "and other members and persons represented by Local Union No. 332 who are employed by the plaintiff(s) . . . ." No appeal was taken from this order.

On March 25, 1977 the defendants moved the court for dismissal of the consolidated actions. In their motion the defendants stated that all striking employees of the three plaintiffs had returned to work on June 21, 1976 and had continuously remained at work since that time. It was asserted that this fact rendered the case moot as to the issue of continuation of the strike. The motion stated that the only other issue in the case the demand for damages from individual employers did not present a valid claim for relief. The plaintiffs responded that the defendants had returned to work in obedience to the court order of June 21, 1976 and had continued to work, but denied that the issues in the case were moot or that they were precluded from recovering damages from individual employees for breach of the no-strike provision of the collective bargaining agreement.

The plaintiffs appeal from the final judgment of the district court dismissing all claims. In two memorandum opinions and orders the district court concluded that Buffalo Forge, supra, had substantially narrowed the Boys Markets exception to the prohibition against injunctions in labor disputes contained in § 4 of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 29 U.S.C. § 104 (1976). The court found that the work stoppage in the present case was "precipitated by an intra-union dispute," which was not arbitrable. Though this dispute was soon resolved, the work stoppage continued over a dispute which was arbitrable, the issue of amnesty for the strikers. The district court concluded that its June 21, 1976 injunction was proper when entered, but that Buffalo Forge permitted an injunction only if the issue over which the strike began was arbitrable and did not permit injunctive relief where an arbitrable issue was only the cause of continuation of the work stoppage. The court also determined that one of the congressional purposes behind enactment of § 301 of the Labor Act was to shield union members from liability and that this purpose would be undercut if monetary damages were recoverable by an employer from individual employees.

II.

Despite the anti-injunction provision of the Norris-LaGuardia Act the Supreme Court held in Boys Markets that a federal court may enjoin a strike when certain conditions are met. These conditions were set forth in a passage, 398 U.S. at 254, 90 S.Ct. at 1594, where the Court quoted from the dissenting opinion in its earlier decision in Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U.S. 195, 228, 82 S.Ct. 1328, 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 440 (1962):

A District Court entertaining an action under § 301 may not grant injunctive relief against concerted activity unless and until it decides that the case is one in which an injunction would be appropriate despite the Norris-LaGuardia Act. When a strike is sought to be enjoined because it is over a grievance which both parties are contractually bound to arbitrate, the District Court may issue no injunctive order until it first holds that the contract does have that effect; and the employer should be ordered to arbitrate, as a condition of his obtaining an injunction against the strike. Beyond this, the District Court must, of course, consider whether issuance of an injunction would be warranted under ordinary principles of equity whether breaches are occurring and will continue, or have been threatened and will be committed; whether they have caused or will cause irreparable injury to the employer; and whether the employer will suffer more from the denial of an injunction than will the union from its issuance. 370 U.S. at 228, 82 S.Ct. at 1346. (Emphasis in original.)

The Supreme Court concluded that the strong congressional policy favoring settlement of industrial disputes by arbitration would be frustrated if employers were not permitted to enjoin a strike over an arbitrable issue where the strike violates a no-strike agreement. Since a no-strike obligation, either express or implied, is the quid pro quo for an employer's agreement to submit labor disputes to arbitration, the incentive for such agreements would be lacking if the "most expeditious method by which the no-strike obligation can be enforced is eliminated." 398 U.S. at 248, 90 S.Ct. at 1591. The Court stated that Boys Markets marked a return to its pattern of upholding the national policy favoring arbitration as exemplified in Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (1957), and the Steelworkers Trilogy. ¹

We turn now to Buffalo Forge which involved a classic sympathy strike. Members of a union who had no dispute with their employer refused to cross the picket lines of a sister union which was engaged in a strike against the same employer following failure to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. The union of the sympathy strikers did...