Babrocky v. Jewel Food Co.

• Decision Date: 14 October 1986
• Docket Number: No. H 81-380.,H 81-380.
• Citation: 645 F. Supp. 1396
• Parties: Patricia BABROCKY, Juanita Coffman, Eva Davis, Wilma Keene and Agnes Ross, Plaintiffs, v. JEWEL FOOD COMPANY and Retail Meat Cutters Union, Local 320, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

645 F. Supp. 1396

Patricia BABROCKY, Juanita Coffman, Eva Davis, Wilma Keene and Agnes Ross, Plaintiffs, v. JEWEL FOOD COMPANY and Retail Meat Cutters Union, Local 320, Defendants.

No. H 81-380.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, Hammond Division.

October 14, 1986.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Anthony DeBonis, Jr, Terrance L. Smith, East Chicago, Ind., for plaintiffs.

Stephen Feinberg, Chicago, Ill., Ronald T. Mendes, Melrose Park, Ill., Susan Margaret Vance, Chicago, Ill., Joseph Van Bokkelen, Highland, Ind., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs in this case alleged that the defendants, Jewel Food Company (Jewel) and Retail Meat Cutters Union Local 320 (the Union) had discriminated against them on the basis of their sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (Title VII). The plaintiffs had also alleged claims against the Union for breach of its duty of fair representation under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on all claims against both defendants. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling on all Title VII claims, affirmed the entry of summary judgment in favor of the Union on plaintiffs' Section 301 claims and remanded the case for further proceedings. Babrocky v. Jewel Food Co. & Retail Meat Cutters Union, Local 320, 773 F.2d 857 (7th Cir.1985). The plaintiffs' Title VII claims were tried by the court without a jury in Hammond, Indiana, on July 28, 29 and 30, 1986. The parties have filed briefs on the evidence and law in this case. This memorandum and order contains the findings of fact and conclusions of law thereon pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

I.

Jewel is a grocery store chain that has stores in the Northwest area of Indiana and Illinois as well as other States. Each store had a meat department that was referred to as the Meat Market. The employees in the Meat Market were members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-CIO. There were four Local unions affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union that represented employees in the retail meat industry in Northern Indiana and Northern Illinois. Local 350 represented employees in Retail Meat Markets in Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana and in Calumet City and Lansing, Illinois. In January 1979, Local 350 merged with Local 320 which represented employees in Retail Meat Markets in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. Local 320 was the surviving union when the two Locals merged. At the time of the merger between Locals 320 and 350, the Union indicated to its membership that it would try to narrow the gaps between the Collective Bargaining Agreements affecting the two Locals which contract differences included dates of expiration, dates for receiving cost of living increases, wrapper ratios and pricing off premises.

In 1981, Local 320 which then represented the South area of Chicago and Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana merged with Local 546 which represented the Greater Chicagoland area and northern suburbs and Local 612 which represented the Joliet area of Illinois. The purpose of the merger was to secure greater strength at the bargaining table and reduce administrative costs for the Union. Local 546 was the surviving Local union.

The Collective Bargaining Agreements between the Union and the various chain stores involved were printed in booklet form and distributed to the Union membership. These booklets contained the generic provisions for all chain stores although there were minor differences in the contracts between the individual chain stores that were not incorporated into the booklet. The business agents and other Union officials knew the difference in the contracts and explained those differences when the booklets were handed out to the Union membership. Ratification of the Collective Bargaining Agreements was by vote of the union membership, not just the Union officers or officials.

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 350 and various Retail Meat Markets, including the Jewel stores in Northern Indiana, in effect from November 5, 1972 through November 3, 1973, there were four job classifications for employees in the Meat Market—meat wrapper and three categories of meat cutters which included Head Meat Cutter, Journeyman Meat Cutter and Apprentice Meat Cutter.¹ To be an Apprentice Meat Cutter, an individual did not have to possess any special skills, the only requirement being that the individual had to be 16 years of age. After successfully completing a 3 year apprentice program, an Apprentice would become a Journeyman and receive Journeyman wages. The contract provided that Apprentices could be employed at a ratio not exceeding 3 Apprentices for each 7 Journeymen employed by the Employer. The Head Meat Cutter was a Journeyman who was responsible for the efficient management of the Meat Market. The duties of a meat wrapper was limited under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to "wrapping and sealing, scaling, pricing, labeling, displaying and stocking, boarding, boating and traying products provided they do not scrape or trim products, slicing luncheon meats, and slicing cheese if handled in the Meat Department." The contract further provided that there would be no part-time wrapper classification and did not contain any ratio provision of wrappers to meat cutters. Seniority was determined for employees covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement by length of continuous service with the employer and the contract specifically provided that the "in-service" date of Apprentice, Journeymen and Head Meat Cutters would not change when an individual progressed from Apprentice to Journeyman or was demoted from Head Meat Cutter to Journeyman. Layoff and recall after a layoff were determined by the seniority date of the employees within a classification. In the meat cutter classification, Apprentices had the lowest seniority. The contract also contained the various wage rates for the classifications. Finally, Section 9.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement provided that Local 350, if requested, would furnish men insofar as available to fill open positions.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 350 and the Retail Meat Markets within its jurisdiction as well as the specific Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 350 and Jewel for the period covering October 30, 1977 through October 25, 1980, contained basically the same provisions as the earlier Collective Bargaining Agreement described above. The contract again provided that there was no part-time wrapper classification and that Local 350 would, if requested, refer men or people for available work. The contract contained no wrapper to meat cutter ratio. The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 350 and Jewel also included a Service Delicatessan Supplement which covered 2 other classifications: full-time deli employees and part-time deli employees. That Supplement also provided that personnel hired in the Meat Markets shall not be assigned to do work in the deli department and that regular Meat Market employees engaged in deli work were to get wages as provided in the Master Collective Bargaining Agreement. Further, the Supplement provided that present Meat Market personnel would not be reclassified or laid off due to hiring deli employees.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 320 and the Retail Meat Markets within its jurisdiction covering the period from September 29, 1974 through September 24, 1977 contained the same basic provisions as the Collective Bargaining Agreements described above with one important additional provision. The Local 320 contract contained a ratio provision for wrappers to meat cutters and specifically provided that "wrappers may be employed at a ratio of one wrapper for every four meat cutters (journeymen and apprentices) ..."

After Locals 320 and 350 merged, Local 320 negotiated a Collective Bargaining Agreement governing the Retail Meat Markets in Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana as well as Calumet City and Lansing, Illinois covering the period from October 28, 1979 through April 24, 1982. This Collective Bargaining Agreement contained the same four job classifications as noted in the earlier contracts and also added a Part-time Wrapper classification although it limited that classification to no more than 1 part-time wrapper per store and imposed other limitations on the classification. This Collective Bargaining Agreement did not contain any wrapper to meat cutter ratio unlike the earlier contracts involving Local 320. The contract raised the minimum age for Apprentices to 18 years of age and also contained a new provision at Section 9.8 on hiring practices which provided as follows:

Section 9.8 Hiring Practice

When the Employer needs additional employees he shall give the Union equal opportunity with all other sources to provide suitable applicants. Therefore, when openings occur the Employer shall first notify the Union that a vacancy exists. The Union shall refer applicants to the Employer from their records of available and qualified members who are seeking employment. The Employer shall give such applicants equal consideration but shall not be required to hire those persons referred by this process.

Local 320 apparently renegotiated its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Retail Meat Markets within its jurisdiction in 1980 prior to the expiration of the contract described immediately above. The Union membership was notified of the changes by a Contract Proposal Settlement dated August 28, 1980. The members of Local 320 were also informed that their representatives had been successful in negotiating the same...