United Electrical, R. & M. Workers v. Oliver Corp.

• Decision Date: 09 June 1953
• Docket Number: No. 14661.,14661.
• Citation: 205 F.2d 376
• Parties: UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA et al. v. OLIVER CORP.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

205 F.2d 376 (1953)

UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA et al. v. OLIVER CORP.

No. 14661.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

June 9, 1953.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Basil R. Pollitt, New York City (Kenneth J. Enkel, Minneapolis, Minn., David Scribner and Donner, Kinoy & Perlin, New York City, were with him on the brief), for appellants.

R. W. Zastrow and Boyd G. Hayes, Charles City, Iowa, for appellee.

Before SANBORN, JOHNSEN, and RIDDICK, Circuit Judges.

RIDDICK, Circuit Judge.

The Oliver Corporation, engaged in the manufacture of tractors and other farm and industrial equipment in Charles City, Iowa, brought this action under the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa against the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) and Local 115-F, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), labor organizations, charging the defendants with three separate breaches of a collective bargaining agreement to which the Company and the Unions were parties. The District Court directed a verdict in favor of the defendant Unions on the first count. Jury verdicts on the second and third counts were returned in favor of the plaintiff Company. Both Unions¹ appeal from the judgments entered on the jury verdicts.

The Pleadings²

In the complaint the Company charged in three counts that the Unions, the sole bargaining agency of the Company employees, except supervisory, office, and professional personnel, had caused three strikes of the Company's employees, members of the Local Union, in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. In Count II of the complaint the Company sought to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by it as the result of a strike from January 18 through January 24, 1951. In Count III it asked for the recovery of damages resulting from a strike beginning on January 26, 1951, and continuing in effect until the afternoon of February 11, 1951. The Company alleged that both strikes were caused by the Unions by or through their authorized agents, and were supported by the Company's employees who were members of the Local Union and within the bargaining unit for which defendants were collective bargaining agents; that each strike was in violation of Articles III and IV of the collective bargaining agreement in that prior to the strike none of the disputes between the Company and the Unions was presented to the Company or processed through the grievance procedure provided in the collective bargaining agreement, and because prior to the strikes no strike vote was taken pursuant to a bulletin placed on the plant bulletin boards to the effect that a strike vote would be taken; no strike vote was taken; and no bulletin was posted on the plant bulletin boards.

As to each strike the complaint alleged that "because of said unlawful strike in violation of said contract, and as a direct and natural result of such breach of contract, the plaintiff was required to pay its standby expense, overhead and fixed charges, costs and expenses of maintaining its plant properties, and that normal supervisory employees and other normal essential personnel were required to be maintained and paid by the plaintiff despite the lack of work occasioned by said strike; that all of such sums so paid by the plaintiff were a direct loss to the plaintiff and caused directly by said strike, and that by reason of the above plaintiff was damaged and sustained a direct loss as the result of said strike." Plaintiff in Count II claimed damages of $17,961.13 and in Count III damages of $48,761.40. The jury verdicts were for the amounts claimed.

Both defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground of failure to state a claim against defendants or either of them upon which relief could be granted. In support of the motion the defendants asserted that it appeared on the face of the complaint that the damages claimed were not the direct result of a breach of the bargaining agreement on the part of defendants; that the complaint failed to show that plaintiff did not cause or contribute to the alleged strikes, or to allege which of the defendants, if either, caused, directed, or participated in the strikes. The motion was denied and defendants filed separate identical answers.

In their answers defendants admitted that the plaintiff was an employer and that defendants' members working at plaintiff's plant were employees in an "industry affecting commerce." They admitted that they were the duly constituted bargaining agency of plaintiff's employees, except that they denied their representation of "any individual employees who acted on their own and not in conjunction with or authorized by" defendants. They denied that the strikes alleged in the complaint occurred or that they were caused by the defendants or caused or participated in by any of defendants' authorized representatives. They denied each charge of breach of the collective bargaining agreement on the part of either of defendants; and alleged that the strikes, if any, were caused by the plaintiff's refusal to comply with the grievance and arbitration procedures of the bargaining agreement, in that the plaintiff wrongfully declined to negotiate with defendants concerning grievances of employees or to submit the issues between the parties to arbitration. They denied that plaintiff suffered any damage by reason of either of the alleged strikes, and alleged that a written agreement between the parties of February 9, 1951, constituted an accord and satisfaction of all claims of plaintiff.

Defendants also applied to the court for an order requiring the plaintiff to produce for inspection by the defendants its books and records for the periods six months prior to and subsequent to the alleged strikes showing:

1. The production of tractors;

2. The number of tractors on hand at the beginning of the strikes and subsequent to the strikes;

3. All orders for tractors showing how and to whom the tractors were sold;

4. The schedule for the production of tractors 5. The profits and losses in plaintiff's operations;

6. The material on hand for production in December, 1949 and 1950, January and February, 1950, and January and February, 1951;

7. The number of employees in a bargaining unit represented by defendants during the months last mentioned, and the records of absenteeism during the strike periods;

8. All correspondence relating to absenteeism of employees during the strike periods;

9. All correspondence relating to grievances involved in the alleged strikes;

10. The number of supervisory personnel employed during the same period, the names of salaried supervisory employees, the length of their employment and salaries, and office duties during the strike periods;

11. The operations of plaintiff's storage plant.

The motion was based upon the claim that the requested records would or might disclose information important in the defense of plaintiff's claim of damages. The motion was resisted by plaintiff on the ground that the information available from the inspection of the requested records related to matters not in issue between the parties and inadmissible in the trial of the action in defense of any of the issues raised by the pleadings.

The court ordered plaintiff to produce for defendants' inspection the records in requests numbered 1 and 2; to make available to defendants the records showing absenteeism of employees during the periods referred to in request numbered 7, the dates of the beginning of the last continuous employment of supervisory personnel mentioned in request numbered 10, and also the bills of lading and freight bills as a part of the records referred to in request numbered 11. Otherwise, the motion was denied.

It is admitted that the collective bargaining agreement was in force at all times material to the action. Originally executed by the parties on July 20, 1949, it contains revisions agreed upon at various times after execution, the last revision being made on December 6, 1950. It remained in full force and effect until July 20, 1952, and thereafter from year to year unless sixty days proir to any anniversary either party gave written notice to the other of its desire to terminate the contract. It was signed by the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America-UE, by Charles W. Hobbie, District President; by Local 115-F, by its President and by Leo Newman and two others, official capacities not stated; and by the Oliver Corporation by its plant manager and personnel manager. The provisions of the contract material in this action are:

"This Agreement is made and entered into this 20th day of July, 1949, by and between the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America-UE, on behalf of and in conjunction with its Local 115-F, (revised November 1, 1950) hereinafter referred to as the Union, and The Oliver Corporation, Charles City, Iowa, Plant Management, referred to hereinafter as the Company.

* * * * * *

"Article III — No Strike — No Lockout

"Section 7. During the life of this agreement, the Company will not cause any lockout (not including layoffs), nor will the Union cause any strikes, or cessations of work of any kind, until all the bargaining procedures as outlined in this agreement have been exhausted, and in no case on which an arbitrator shall have ruled, and in other cases on which an arbitrator is not empowered to rule until after negotiations have continued for at least seven (7) days at the last step of the grievance procedure, and until a strike vote has been taken in accordance with the Union\'s constitution, pursuant to a bulletin posted on the plant bulletin boards to the effect that the vote will be taken.

"Article IV — Grievance Procedure

"Section 8. Grievances or complaints with respect to wages, hours of work, or employment conditions, must be

...