Nelson v. International Broth. of Elec. Workers, Local Union No. 46, AFL-CIO
| Decision Date | 02 April 1990 |
| Docket Number | R,88-4459,Nos. 88-4455,AFL-CI,s. 88-4455 |
| Parties | 134 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2118, 114 Lab.Cas. P 12,057 John D. NELSON, Regional Director of the Nineteenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board for and on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner-Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 46,espondent-Appellant. John D. NELSON, Regional Director of the Nineteenth Region of the National Labor Relations Board for and on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board; National Electrical Contractors Association, Puget Sound Chapter, Petitioners-Appellees, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 46,espondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Hugh Hafer of Hafer, Price, Rinehart & Schwerin, Seattle, Wash., for respondent-appellant.
Ellen A. Farrell, Washington, D.C., for petitioner-appellee, John D. Nelson.
Mark E. Thierman, San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner-appellee, National Elect. Contractors Ass'n, Puget Sound Chapter.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Before CANBY, WIGGINS and FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judges.
We have before us two appeals that have been consolidated. The first is an appeal by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 46, AFL-CIO ("the Union") from an order of the district court granting a temporary injunction against the Union pursuant to section 10(l ) of the National Labor Relations Act ("the Act"), as amended, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160(l ). The second is an appeal by the Union from a stay of its suit to enforce an arbitration award under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185. We affirm both orders with slight modifications to the injunction.
The facts are not in dispute. The appellant is a labor union representing electricians in the Seattle-Tacoma area. The appellee, the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association ("the Chapter") is an association of electrical contractors in the same region. The Chapter's members include both union and nonunion contractors. As part of its services, the Chapter negotiates a multi-employer collective bargaining agreement with the Union. The Chapter itself, however, does not engage in any electrical contracting, nor does it employ electricians to perform electrical craft work.
In 1986, the Union and the Chapter negotiated a collective bargaining agreement ("Agreement") covering "all inside electrical construction work and workers within the territorial jurisdiction" of the Union. The Chapter signed the Agreement and made it applicable to all individual electrical contractors who signed a letter of assent to be bound thereby. The 1986 Agreement ran through May 31, 1988. The parties negotiated a successor agreement covering the period from June 1, 1988 through May 31, 1991.
The Agreement provided that the "Union shall be the sole and exclusive source of referral of applicants for employment." It also provided that the Union would administer a joint labor-management apprenticeship and training program and a hiring hall from which applicants would be referred. Any disputes under the Agreement were to be resolved by the Council for Industrial Relations ("CIR"), a joint union-management arbitration board. 1
The Chapter had been operating a referral system to provide its nonunion members with qualified electricians since 1985. It also offered an apprenticeship training program for its nonunion members. Nearly two years after signing the Agreement, the Union filed a grievance against the Chapter, alleging that the Chapter violated the Agreement by continuing to refer applicants for employment to its nonunion members and by establishing and operating a nonunion apprenticeship program.
The Chapter responded by filing six charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming that the Union's use of the grievance procedure to ensure the exclusivity of its referral program violated sections 8(b) and 8(e) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(b) and (e). The Chapter also filed for injunctive relief in the district court under section 301, seeking to stay arbitration of the Union's grievance until the NLRB ruled on the Chapter's claims. The district court denied the injunction.
The CIR issued its arbitration award in favor of the Union, ruling that the Chapter's referral program violated its agreement to support and participate in the Union's apprenticeship and referral programs. Thereafter, the Chapter's Executive Board decided to comply with the arbitration ruling, pending judicial review, and the Chapter ceased referring electricians to its nonunion members. As a result, some nonunion contractors left the Chapter.
The Chapter then filed an amended complaint in its section 301 suit before the district court, adding a claim under section 303, seeking to vacate the arbitration award and asking for damages resulting from any harm caused by the CIR award. In its answer to the amended complaint, the Union sought enforcement of the arbitration award under section 301.
The Regional Director for the NLRB then filed a petition seeking a preliminary injunction under section 10(l ) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160(l ), to prevent the Union from enforcing the CIR award. The district court found reasonable cause to believe that the Union's interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement, as upheld by the CIR, violated section 8(e) of the Act. The court also determined that the preliminary injunctive relief requested by the NLRB was just and proper. Accordingly, the district court ordered the Union to cease and desist, pending a final resolution of the unfair labor practice proceedings before the NLRB, from: (1) attempting to enforce the Agreement in a manner that would preclude the Chapter from providing referral services to nonunion members; (2) attempting to force the Chapter or its nonunion members to make payments into the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee based on employee work hours; or (3) attempting to coerce, restrain or threaten the Chapter, its nonunion members, or any other person in commerce with the object of forcing compliance with the CIR award. The district court then consolidated the 10(l ) action with the section 301/303 action and stayed both proceedings pending a final NLRB ruling.
Section 10(l ) requires the Regional Director to seek injunctive relief in the federal courts when he has reason to believe that certain unfair labor practices, including those proscribed by section 8(e) of the Act, have occurred. 2 Retail Clerks Local 137 v. Food Employers Council, Inc., 351 F.2d 525, 531 (9th Cir.1965). In evaluating a petition for section 10(l ) relief, the district court must determine whether there is "reasonable cause to believe" that the violation charged has been committed, and whether the issuance of an injunction is "just and proper." Aguayo v. Tomco Carburetor Co., 853 F.2d 744, 747 (9th Cir.1988).
The district court may find "reasonable cause" where "the factual allegations and propositions of law underlying the Regional Director's petition are not insubstantial and frivolous." San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild v. Kennedy, 412 F.2d 541, 544 (9th Cir.1969); see also Aguayo, 853 F.2d at 748. The evidence presented need not establish a violation of the Act. "It is sufficient to sustain the District Court's finding and conclusion if there be any evidence which together with all of the reasonable inferences that might be drawn therefrom supports a conclusion that there is reasonable cause to believe that a violation had occurred." Local 83. Construction, Building Materials and Miscellaneous Drivers v. Jenkins, 308 F.2d 516, 517-18 (9th Cir.1962), quoting Madden v. International Hod Carriers', Local 41, 277 F.2d 688, 692 (7th Cir.1960).
The issuance of an injunction is "just and proper" where it is "necessary to prevent a frustration of the remedial purposes of the Act." Scott v. El Farra Enterprises, Inc. 863 F.2d 670, 674 (9th Cir.1988). Thus, the district court must evaluate the injunction for "consistency with the statutory purposes." Aguayo, 853 F.2d at 748.
The appropriate standard for reviewing the district court's finding of "reasonable cause" in this case is somewhat unclear. We determine whether the district court's findings of fact are "clearly erroneous," see San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild, 412 F.2d 541 at 544-45, but we have not addressed the proper standard of review when the case, as this one, involves only matters of law. In San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild, however, we applied the "clearly erroneous" standard only after distinguishing that case from McLeod v. Business Machine and Office Appliance Mechanics Conference Board Local 459, 300 F.2d 237 (2d Cir.1962), which we described as a case involving "only a question of law." 412 F.2d at 545 n. 2. In McLeod, the Second Circuit reviewed the legal component of the reasonable cause standard to determine whether the district court judge "was wrong, not whether he was 'clearly' so." McLeod, 300 F.2d 237, 239 (quoting Empresa Hondurena de Vapores, S.A. v. McLeod, 300 F.2d 222 (2d Cir.1962)). We agree that this is the proper standard of review when the reasonable cause inquiry raises only legal issues. Thus, we review de novo the district court's ruling that the Regional Director's legal theory is "not insubstantial and frivolous."
We review the district court's determination that the issuance of the injunction was "just and proper" for abuse of discretion. Aguayo, 853 F.2d...
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