Pepper & Potter, Inc. v. LOCAL 977, UNITED AUTO WKRS., CIO

• Citation: 103 F. Supp. 684
• Parties: PEPPER & POTTER, Inc. v. LOCAL 977, UNITED AUTO WORKERS, C.I.O. et al.
• Decision Date: 17 March 1952
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

103 F. Supp. 684

PEPPER & POTTER, Inc. v. LOCAL 977, UNITED AUTO WORKERS, C.I.O. et al.

United States District Court S. D. New York.

March 17, 1952.

Hyman I. Fischbach, New York City, for plaintiff.

Boudin, Cohn & Glickstein, New York City, for defendant Local 977, United Auto Workers, C.I.O.

Daniel W. Meyer, New York City, (Jerome B. Lurie, Daniel W. Meyer, Ruth W. Levitan, all of New York City, of counsel), for defendant Local 259, United Auto Workers, C.I.O.

Bandler, Haas & Kass, New York City, (Julius Kass, Richard L. Halpern, New York City, of counsel), for United Auto Workers, C.I.O., International Union.

WEINFELD, District Judge.

This is an action by an employer, engaged in a business affecting commerce, against two local unions of the United Auto Workers and the International with which they are affiliated under Sections 301 and 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 185, 187. There is no allegation of diversity of citizenship or amount in controversy, plaintiff relying upon said sections of the Act for jurisdiction. The defendants move to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction of the subject matter and for failure to state claims upon which relief may be granted. Two claims are asserted in the complaint.

I

The first claim is asserted only against Local 977. The complaint alleges that upon certification by the National Labor Relations Board of the defendant Local 977 as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of plaintiff's employees, a collective bargaining agreement binding upon both plaintiff and the said union, became effective on September 20th, 1950, which was to continue for one year¹ with an automatic renewal clause.

Plaintiff charges that in the month of February, 1951, and continuing thereafter, Locals 977 and 259 and the International conspired to destroy and repudiate the agreement by inducing plaintiff's employees to refuse performance as required thereunder and to make various demands contrary to its provisions, notwithstanding due performance on plaintiff's part.

Specific acts are ascribed to the three unions to further their purposes, including a disavowal by Local 977 of its representation of plaintiff's employees, despite the certification; renunciation by the employees of their membership in Local 977; their affiliation with and designation of Local 259 as their new bargaining representative; refusal by Local 977 and the employees to perform pursuant to the agreement; demands by Local 259 that plaintiff recognize it instead of Local 977 and negotiate a new contract containing different terms and conditions from those contained in the outstanding agreement with Local 977. The events continued from February to April 1951, and finally culminated on April 25th, 1951, when plaintiff alleges the defendants, including Local 977, picketed and demonstrated, and continued to do so, at plaintiff's place of business and otherwise interfered with its operations.

The various acts are charged as a breach of the agreement, all intended for the purpose of compelling the plaintiff, to acquiesce in the repudiation of the agreement by Local 977, to release said local from its obligations thereunder and to force plaintiff to recognize Local 259 as the new representative and to enter into contractual relations with it.

Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185(a), provides in part: "(a) Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this Act, 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."

This section confers new substantive rights between employers and employees engaged in interstate commerce, and makes collective bargaining contracts equally enforceable on both and provides a forum for their enforcement. Shirley-Herman Co. v. International Hod Carriers, etc., 2 Cir., 182 F.2d 806, 17 A.L.R.2d 609; Textile Workers Union of America v. Arista Mills Co., 4 Cir., 193 F.2d 529; Wilson & Co. v. United Packinghouse Workers, D. C., 83 F.Supp. 162; Colonial Hardwood Flooring Co. v. International Union, etc., D. C., 76 F.Supp. 493, affirmed 4 Cir., 168 F. 2d 33; Schatte v. International Alliance, etc., D.C., 84 F.Supp. 669.

Local 977 urges that only "suits for violation of contracts" may be brought under Section 301 and since the claim alleged in the complaint is one for tortious conspiracy, the claim is not maintainable thereunder and the Court is without jurisdiction in the absence of diversity of citizenship.

It may be acknowledged that the complaint fails to contain the "short and plain statement" required under Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. and that the claim is obscured by references to conspiracy and tortious conduct on the part of Local 977 acting in concert with the other two defendants who are not named with it in this first claim. Nevertheless, it contains the elements of a claim for violation by Local 977 of its collective bargaining agreement with plaintiff. The allegations sufficiently set forth the contract, due performance by plaintiff, breach of Local 977's obligations thereunder, and, finally, damages. The references to evidentiary matter, while unnecessary for the purposes of setting forth the claim, do not detract from the gist of the claim for breach of contract against Local 977, the sole defendant. The claim is within Section 301 of the Act and diversity of citizenship is not necessary thereunder.

The motion to dismiss the first claim against Local 977 is denied but without prejudice to any motion which the defendant may deem appropriate to require plaintiff to state, as required by the rules, a claim based upon the contract, its breach and damages.

II

The second claim seeks recovery against all three defendants. In addition to the allegations of the first claim, the complaint charges that Local 259 and the International had knowledge of the agreement between plaintiff and Local 977 and the latter's status as exclusive bargaining representative under the certification by the National Labor Relations Board.

The claim is based upon Section 303 of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 187, which provides:

"(a) It shall be unlawful, for the purposes of this section only, in an industry or activity affecting commerce, for any labor organization to engage in, or to induce or encourage the employees of any employer to engage in, a strike or a concerted refusal in the course of their employment to use, manufacture, process, transport, or otherwise handle or work on any goods, articles, materials, or commodities or to perform any services, where an object thereof is —

* * * * * *

"(3) forcing or requiring any employer to recognize or bargain with a particular labor organization as the representative of his employees if another labor organization has been certified as the representative of such employees under the provisions of section 159 of this title; * * *."

This section parallels Section 8(b)(4) (C), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(b)(4)(C), of the Act, which denounces, as unfair labor practices, strikes and boycotts designed to force an employer to disregard his obligation to recognize and bargain with a certified union and in lieu thereof to bargain with or recognize another union.²

Two different and independent remedies are contemplated by these parallel provisions.³ Section 8(b) (4) (C) is intended to achieve and lead to administrative sanctions, whereas its counterpart, Section 303 (a) (3), provides private redress to an employer by way of damages from labor organizations responsible for those unfair labor practices condemned in Section 8(b) (4)(C) and subject to administrative process. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union v. Juneau Spruce Corp., 342 U.S. 237, 72 S.Ct. 235.

The defendants emphasize that the union activities condemned in both sections "are all specifically limited to a strike `where an object of such strike or such acts or conduct is to force or require the employer to recognize or bargain with respondent,' so long as the Board's certification of another labor union remains in effect." (Underscoring supplied.)⁴ Accordingly, they contend that since the complaint alleges that Local 977, the certified union, disavowed its representation of plaintiff's employees and that the employees themselves stated that they no longer desired to be represented by Local 977 but by Local 259, the prior certification of Local 977 by the National Labor Relations Board was rendered ineffective and the employer was under no legal obligation to recognize it and so an essential element of a claim under Section 303(a)(3) is lacking.

The contention must fail. It disregards several important factors — that the National Labor Relations Board certification of Local 977 was outstanding and unrevoked, that plaintiff, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, was obligated to continue to recognize Local 977, and, further, that the renunciation by the employees was allegedly the result of inducements by the defendant-unions.

The premise that the mere disclaimer of the Board's certification by Local 977, supported by the renunciation of the employees, accomplished decertification and thus relieved the plaintiff of its legal obligation to recognize Local 977, ignores the decertification provisions of the Act. Section 9, 29 U.S.C.A. § 159, provides "a procedure by which they employees can assert that the Union is no longer their representative." Superior Engraving Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 7 Cir., 183 F.2d 783, 794. No other method for decertification is contained in the Act.

The National Labor Relations Board has long invoked what it terms a one-year rule with respect to certification...