Sperry v. Denver Bldg. & Const. Trades Council

Decision Date30 March 1948
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 2407.
Citation77 F. Supp. 321
PartiesSPERRY, Regional Director of Seventeenth Region of National Labor Relations Board, v. DENVER BLDG. & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Colorado

William M. Kapell and Daniel Harrington, both of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

Philip Hornbein, Sr., Philip Hornbein, Jr., Wayne D. Williams, and Charles T. Mahoney, all of Denver, Colo., for respondents.

SYMES, District Judge.

This case is on petition of Mr. Sperry, Regional Director of the Seventeenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board, for and on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, against the Denver Building and Construction Trades Council; United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, A. F. L., Local 55; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America, A. F. L., Local 68; and United Association of Journeymen, Pipefitters, and apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, A. F. L., Local 3.

The petition is filed on behalf of the Board, pursuant to Section 10(l) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended June 23, 1947, Public Law 101, 80th Congress, Chapter 120, First Session, herein referred to as the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 160(l). The application is for appropriate injunctive relief pending the final adjudication of the Board with respect to the matters pending before the Board on charges alleging that respondents have engaged in and are engaging in conduct in violation of Section 8(b), subsection 4(A), of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b) (4) (A).

The petition alleges that Mr. Sperry is the Regional Director of the Seventeenth Region of the Board, an agency of the United States Government, and files this petition for and on behalf of the Board; and that these labor unions who are made respondents or defendants are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 152(5), and are engaged in promoting and protecting the interests of their employe members within this judicial district.

It is alleged in Paragraph 4 that on January 12, 1948, Earl C. Gould and John C. Preisner, pursuant to the provisions of the Act, filed a charge with the Board, and on March 3, 1948, filed an amended charge, alleging that the respondents had engaged in and are engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b), subsection 4(A), of the Act. A copy of the amended charge is attached hereto and is an exhibit in the case.

The charges were thereafter referred to the petitioner as Regional Director of the Seventeenth Region of the Board for investigation, and the petitioner has investigated the charges and alleges that after such investigation he has reasonable cause to believe that said charges are true, and a complaint of the Board based thereon should issue against respondents.

More specifically, upon information received during the said investigation, the petitioner alleges he has reasonable cause to believe that the respondents have engaged and are engaged in conduct in violation of Section 8(b), subsection 4(A), of the Act, and affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 2, subsections (6) and (7), of the Act, as follows: That Gould and Preisner are engaged in and about Denver, Colorado, in the business of electrical contracting and the manufacturing and retailing of electrical fittings and devices. In the operation of said business during 1947 they purchased raw materials valued in excess of $50,000, approximately 90 per cent of which materials originated at points outside the State of Colorado. During the same period the value of their finished products and services exceeded $100,000, approximately seven per cent of which represented sales and/or services outside the State of Colorado.

It is alleged that William L. Doose and Luis F. Lintner, doing business as Doose and Lintner Construction Company, are engaged in Denver, Colorado, in the general building contracting business; that one Tony Losasso, an individual doing business as Tony Losasso, contractor, is engaged in and around Denver, Colorado, as a builder and general contractor of residential structures.

Next, that on September 25, 1947, Gould and Preisner entered into arrangements with Doose and Lintner to perform certain electrical work, including the furnishing of materials, upon a certain commercial structure being erected at 1068 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado. Pursuant to said arrangements Gould and Preisner began to perform said work on or about October 21st, 1947. In the course of their building operations at the said site, Doose and Lintner have also entered into arrangements with various other independent subcontractors to perform certain work.

That on January 8, 1948, and thereafter, the respondent Building Trades Council, through its agents, advised Doose and Lintner that if they continued to use the services of Gould and Preisner on the above-described job under construction, they would be picketed by the Building Trades Council on behalf of its constituent unions, some of whose members were engaged on that job.

Further, that on the 9th day of January, 1948, the respondent, Building Trades Council, picketed the Bannock construction site with a placard reading substantially as follows: "This job unfair to Denver Building and Construction Trades Council," because Doose and Lintner continued to use the services of Gould and Preisner and refused to submit to respondent Building Trades Council's demand that Doose and Lintner cease doing business with Gould and Preisner.

On or about January 8, 1948, respondent Building Trades Council placed Doose and Lintner, and Gould and Preisner on an "unfair list" located on the blackboard at its offices at 832 West Sixth Avenue, Denver, Colorado, and advised its constituent unions of that fact.

It is further alleged that Doose and Lintner and Gould and Preisner were placed on said unfair list because Doose and Lintner continued to use the services of Gould and Preisner and refused to submit to respondent Building Trades Council's demand that Doose and Lintner cease doing business with Gould and Preisner.

On October 23, 1947, Gould and Preisner entered into arrangements with Losasso to perform certain electrical work, including the furnishing of materials, upon residential structures on West Forty-fifth Avenue, Denver, Colorado. Pursuant to said arrangements Gould and Preisner began to perform said work on or about November 1, 1947. In the course of his building operations at said job, Losasso entered into arrangements with the various other independent sub-contractors to perform certain work.

Further, that on November 1, 1947, and again on November 7, 1947, the respondents Building Trades Council and United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, American Federation of Labor, Local No. 55, through their agents, induced and encouraged employe John Moller, a member of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and other employes, by orders, threats and/or promises of benefits, to leave the employ of Losasso, an object thereof being to compel Losasso to cease doing business with Gould and Preisner.

It is further alleged that on November 1, 1947, respondents Building Trades Council and United Association of Journeymen, Pipefitters and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, through their agents, induced and encouraged Michael Capra, a member of the United Association of Journeymen, Pipefitters and Apprentices, and an employe of Louis Cook Plumbing Company, an independent sub-contractor, to leave his employment at the Forty-fifth Avenue construction site because Losasso continued to use the services of Gould and Preisner and refused to submit to respondents' demand that Losasso cease to do business with Gould and Preisner.

It is then alleged that the petitioner has reasonable cause to believe and believes that the respondents, by the foregoing conduct, have in effect called, engaged in, and, by orders, threats and/or promises of benefits, have induced and encouraged employes of Doose and Lintner, Losasso and employes of the various independent sub-contractors working on the Bannock Street and the Forty-fifth Avenue construction sites to engage in a strike or a concerted refusal in the course of their employment to perform services, an object thereof being to force or require Doose and Lintner, and Losasso to cease doing business with other persons, namely, Gould and Preisner, and thereby respondents have engaged in, and are engaging in unfair labor practices in violation of Section 8(b), subsection 4(A), of the Act affecting commerce, within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.

That it may be fairly anticipated that respondents will continue, or repeat, their conduct hereinabove set forth, and engage in, and, by orders, threats and/or promises of benefits, induce and encourage employes to engage in strikes or concerted refusals in the course of their employment to perform services, objects thereof being to force or require Doose and Lintner, Losasso and other employers or persons to cease doing business with Gould and Preisner.

It is therefore essential and appropriate, just and proper, for the purpose of effectuating the policies of the Act, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 10(l) of the...

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4 cases
  • Binder v. Construction and General Laborers Local Union No. 685
    • United States
    • Kansas Supreme Court
    • October 5, 1957
    ...of the Federal Government to regulate the economy of the country in the most far-reaching details. See, Sperry v. Denver Bldg. & Const. Trades Council, C.C.Colo.1948, 77 F.Supp. 321. The judgment of the trial court is ...
  • National Labor Relations Board v. Denver Bldg Const Trades Council
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • June 4, 1951
    ...dismissed on the jurisdictional ground that the activities complained of did not affect interstate commerce. Sperry v. Denver Building & Const. Trades Council, D.C., 77 F.Supp. 321. Such action will be discussed later under the heading of res judicata. Hearings were held by the Board's tria......
  • United States v. American Surety Co. of New York
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
    • April 23, 1948
  • Slater v. DENVER BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUN.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Colorado
    • September 28, 1948
    ...Labor Relations Board, v. Denver Building and Construction Trades Council, decided March 30, 1948, by this Court, and reported in 77 F.Supp. at page 321. That case is still the law. It has not been appealed and no contrary decision on a similar state of facts has been decided by any appella......

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