Alexander v. International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, AFL-CIO

• Decision Date: 25 August 1980
• Docket Number: No. 77-3356,AFL-CIO,77-3356
• Parties: 105 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2628, 89 Lab.Cas. P 12,260 Mack O'Neal ALEXANDER and William L. Caldwell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS,, etc. et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1235

624 F.2d 1235

105 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2628, 89 Lab.Cas. P 12,260

Mack O'Neal ALEXANDER and William L. Caldwell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL-CIO, etc. et

al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 77-3356.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 25, 1980.

Stephen J. Katz, Bastrop, La., George M. Strickler, Jr., New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Jerry L. Gardner, New Orleans, La., for Local 406.

Dennis M. Angelico, New Orleans, La., for International Union of Operating Engineers.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before CHARLES CLARK, RONEY and HENDERSON, Circuit Judges.

RONEY, Circuit Judge:

A local union's business agent, apparently on direction from the international union's president, signed a binding project agreement on behalf of the local, even though the local's membership had unanimously declined on two prior occasions to participate in the project, and despite the presence of a provision in the parent union's constitution that collective bargaining agreements must be approved by a majority of the affected local. The issue in this case is whether the respective unions' actions created causes of action on behalf of two individual local members against the local and international under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185; sections 101(a)(1) and 102 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 411(a)(1), 412, or the respective unions' duty of fair representation.

The district court denied all relief except as against the local under its duty of fair representation, but awarded only nominal damages in favor of the two complaining local members. We reverse the district court's denial of a fair representation claim against the parent union, remand the case for an award of nominal damages and costs under this cause of action, and affirm in all other respects.

Local 406 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO (the local), is the exclusive bargaining representative of persons who operate and maintain all equipment covered by the engineer's craft agreement between the Northeast Louisiana Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America and the Building and Construction Trades Council, of which the local was a member. The dispute here arose out of the signing of a project agreement between Redrock Construction Co. and the Trades Council for the expansion of a manufacturing facility. Redrock was not a party to the craft agreement between the Trades Council and the contractors association. Consequently, a separate agreement covering this particular job was necessary. The Redrock project agreement, however, contained special standards that were less favorable to the employees than the same standards contained in the engineers craft agreement. Although the two agreements contained the same wage rates and fringe benefit contributions, the Redrock agreement granted time and one-half rates for overtime, while the craft agreement contained double rates for overtime work. In addition, under the proposed Redrock agreement, operating engineers could be shifted among various pieces of equipment throughout the working day, while under the craft agreement, only one such move could be ordered during the course of a day. The local membership, on June 22, 1976, and again on July 6, 1976, unanimously rejected the proposed project agreement.

On July 14, 1976, the local's business manager received a telegram from the president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO (the international), ordering the business manager to sign the Redrock project agreement. The full text of the telegram was as follows:

This office has been informed that all crafts except operating engineers have signed the project agreement with Red Rock Construction Company at Olinkraft Paper Company, Monroe, Louisiana. You are hereby directed to sign the agreement and to supply men to this job.

On July 15, the business manager signed the agreement on behalf of the local.

The international's constitution, incorporated in pertinent part into Article V of the local's by-laws, provided that proposed collective bargaining agreements "shall not be executed until they have been presented at the next membership meeting following the negotiation of the proposed agreement and have been approved by the membership." There was an additional proviso permitting the local membership to delegate this authority, but the district court found that neither the local nor the international claimed that such delegation had been made. That finding is not challenged on appeal.

Two local members who never worked under the project agreement involved in this dispute seek an award of $50,000 compensatory and exemplary damages. Their request that the business manager's assent to the project agreement be voided was rendered moot upon completion of the Redrock job.

Section 301: Labor Management Relations Act

Plaintiff employees sought to invoke the district court's jurisdiction first based upon section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 185(a). That section provides,

Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, 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.

Plaintiffs contended that violation by the respective unions of the international's constitution amounted to a breach of contract under the purview of section 301(a). Section 301 "expressly requires a violation of a labor contract before it may be employed as a jurisdiction device." Mumford v. Glover, 503 F.2d 878, 882 (5th Cir. 1974). The issue of whether individual union members may use section 301 as a jurisdictional basis to sue their local or international unions is a matter of first impression in this Circuit.

As the language in section 301 makes clear, jurisdiction depends on whether there is a contract between an employer and a labor organization or between two labor organizations. While the suit need not necessarily be between an employer and a labor organization or between labor organizations, Smith v. Evening News Association, 371 U.S. 195, 200-201, 83 S.Ct. 267, 270, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962), the contract upon which the suit is based must be between such parties. See Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway & Motor Coach Employees v. Lockridge, 403 U.S. 274, 91 S.Ct. 1909, 29 L.Ed.2d 473 (1971).

In Retail Clerks International Association, Locals 128 & 633 v. Lion Dry Goods, Inc., 369 U.S. 17, 82 S.Ct. 541, 7 L.Ed.2d 503 (1962), it was contended that the contract necessary for section 301 jurisdiction must be a collective bargaining agreement. The Court rejected that approach, stating, "It is enough that this is clearly an agreement between employers and labor organizations significant to the maintenance of labor peace between them." Id., at 28, 82 S.Ct. at 548.

Other circuits confronted by the issue of whether violation of the union constitution provides a basis for section 301 jurisdiction have derived from the Lion Dry Goods language, and from their conclusion that the purpose of the LMRA is not to regulate strictly intraunion affairs, the requirement that for an agreement to be a "contract" within the meaning of section 301, it must have some effect on external labor-employer relationships. Thus, several cases have found that section 301 did not confer jurisdiction because the dispute was merely an intraunion matter and did not involve a threat to industrial peace. See, e. g., Stelling v. IBEW Local 1547, 587 F.2d 1379, 1382-84 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 944, 99 S.Ct. 2890, 61 L.Ed.2d 315 (1979); Trail v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 542 F.2d 961, 966-68 (6th Cir. 1976); 1199 DC, National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees v. National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees, 533 F.2d 1205, 1207-08 (D.C.Cir. 1976); Smith v. UMW, 493 F.2d 1241, 1242-44 (10th Cir. 1974); Hotel & Restaurant Employees Local 400 v. Svacek, 431 F.2d 705, 706 (9th Cir. 1970). Other cases have reached the apparently contradictory conclusion that there was section 301 jurisdiction, but in these cases the courts found that a genuine impact on industrial peace had been adequately alleged. See, e. g., Abrams v. Carrier Corp., 434 F.2d 1234, 1247-49 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 1009, 91 S.Ct. 1253, 28 L.Ed.2d 545 (1971); Parks v. IBEW, 314 F.2d 886, 914-17 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 372 U.S. 976, 83 S.Ct. 1111, 10 L.Ed.2d 142 (1963); cf. Local 657, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners v. Sidell, 552 F.2d 1250, 1252-56 (7th Cir.) (suit by local against parent union under section 301(a) alleging violation of parent union's constitution), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 862, 98 S.Ct. 190, 54 L.Ed.2d 135 (1977); Local 1219, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, 493 F.2d 93, 95-96 (1st Cir. 1974) (same).

So, while those other circuits have reached different results in cases involving jurisdiction based on parent union constitutions, the conflict is only one of result and not one of the method of analysis. We follow the decisions cited above and hold that for purposes of conferring jurisdiction under section 301, the alleged violation must create a threat to industrial peace or have a significant impact upon labor-employer relations. It is therefore necessary to determine whether the present controversy meets that requirement.

The complaining employees here argue the consequences of the respective unions' activities had a substantial impact on labor-management relations, since without a contract, no operating...