Dillard v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 10 November 1952
• Docket Number: No. 6454.,6454.
• Citation: 199 F.2d 948
• Parties: DILLARD et al. v. CHESAPEAKE & O. RY. CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

199 F.2d 948 (1952)

DILLARD et al. v. CHESAPEAKE & O. RY. CO. et al.

No. 6454.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued October 13, 1952.

Decided November 10, 1952.

Joseph C. Waddy, Washington, D. C. (T. G. Nutter, Charleston, W. Va., and William C. Gardner, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellants.

Richard R. Lyman, Toledo, Ohio, and Strother Hynes, Richmond, Va. (W. G. Stathers, Clarksburg, W. Va., Clarence M. Mulholland, Toledo, Ohio, Stathers & Cantrall, Clarksburg, W. Va., Mulholland, Robie & Hickey, Toledo, Ohio, Amos A. Bolen, Fitzpatrick, Marshall, Huddleston & Bolen, Huntington, W. Va., John W. Hanifin, Richmond, Va., and Bert H. Early, Huntington, W. Va., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

PARKER, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from an order dismissing for lack of jurisdiction a class action instituted by Negro laborers employed by the C. & O. Railway Company against that company, certain labor organizations representing its employees as bargaining representatives and System Federation No. 41, an unincorporated association of these organizations. Some of the plaintiffs are machinists' helpers who allege that the federation and its component labor organizations are using the power vested in them by law as bargaining representatives of the employees to cause the railway company to deny to Negro machinists' helpers, solely on the ground of race and color, the promotion to better paying positions to which they are entitled under the rules and practices of the company. The other plaintiffs are laborers who allege a like abuse of power by the federation and the labor organizations to deny to the Negro laborers of the company promotion into the crafts or classes represented by the organizations. Plaintiffs ask a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and damages. The heart of the grievance of which they complain is thus stated in paragraphs 8, 9 and 10 of the first count of their second amended complaint, viz.:

"8. Those plaintiffs herein who are machinist helpers allege that by virtue of their seniority, competence and worth, and in accordance with the policies and practices of the C & O and the uniform terms of their employment, they are, and for years have been qualified, eligible for and entitled to be upgraded to higher categories and better paying positions within the craft or class of machinists, but because of the protests, threats and opposition of the Federation, the Machinists and the other defendant members of the Federation, they have been and are being denied their rights solely because of their race or color while white members of the craft or class with less seniority and no more competence or worth have been upgraded to such higher categories and better paying positions. As a result of the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Federation and its defendant member organizations there appears on the Machinists\' seniority roster the names of 28 white machinist helpers having less seniority than plaintiff, Gillie Radford, and no more competent and worthy than he, who have been upgraded over said plaintiff to the position of machinist tentative; 24 white machinist helpers having less seniority than plaintiff Clayborne T. Dillard, and no more competent and worthy than he, who have been upgraded over said plaintiff to the position of machinist tentative; 21 white machinist helpers having less seniority than plaintiff C. R. Hill, and no more competent and worthy than he, who have been upgraded over said plaintiff to the position of machinist tentative, and 14 white machinist helpers having less seniority than plaintiff Clarence Edward Sweeny, and no more competent and worthy than he, who have been upgraded over said plaintiff to the position of machinist tentative.

"9. Those plaintiffs who are identified herein as laborers allege that by virtue of their seniority, competence and worth, and in accordance with the policies and practices of the C. & O. and the uniform terms of their employment, and the collective bargaining agreements between the C. & O. and the representatives of the crafts, they are, and for years have been qualified, eligible for and entitled to be promoted from the class or craft of laborers into one or more of the several crafts or classes represented by the Federation and the defendant member organizations but because of the protests, threats and opposition of the Federation, they have been denied their rights solely because of their race or color, while white members of the craft or class with less seniority than they and no more competent and worthy have been promoted to such crafts or classes.

"10. During the year 1942 the C. & O. was in need of helpers in the several crafts represented by the Federation and its member defendants and, in accordance with its general practice and custom and the collective bargaining agreement between the C. & O. and the other defendants herein, and the uniform terms of employment in its Mechanical Department, the C. & O. began to promote employees from the craft or class of laborers into the said higher crafts. The laborer plaintiffs herein and other members of the class they represent were qualified, competent and worthy for promotion, and by virtue of their seniority, qualifications and the terms of their employment, were entitled to be promoted to said positions; but because of the opposition and activities of the Federation and its member defendants, said plaintiffs and other qualified Negro laborers were passed over and white laborers who were no more qualified, competent or worthy than said plaintiffs, and with less seniority than they, were promoted and assigned to said positions."

We think it was error to hold that, under these allegations, the District Court was without jurisdiction to afford any relief to plaintiffs. As to the machinists helpers, who were represented in collective bargaining by a union to which they were not admitted to membership and which discriminated against them on account of race and color, their right to relief and the jurisdiction of the court to grant it is squarely supported by the decisions of the Supreme Court in Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 323 U.S. 192, 65 S.Ct. 226, 89 L.Ed. 173; Tunstall v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, 323 U.S. 210, 65 S.Ct. 235, 89 L.Ed. 187, and Graham v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, 338 U.S. 232, 70 S.Ct. 14, 94 L.Ed. 22, and the decisions of this court in Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen v. Tunstall, 4 Cir., 163 F.2d 289, certiorari denied 332 U.S. 841, 68 S.Ct. 262, 92 L.Ed. 413, and Rolax v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 4 Cir., 186 F.2d 473. As to the laborers who were not represented by a bargaining representative, their right to relief and the jurisdiction of the court to grant it is supported by the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Howard, 343 U.S. 768, 72 S.Ct. 1022.

In the case of Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co. supra, the Supreme Court pointed out that a union chosen as a bargaining representative of employees under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., was clothed with power conferred upon it by the government, which it would not otherwise possess, that it might...