Brock v. International Union, United Auto., Aerospace & Agr. Implement Workers of America, (UAW)
| Decision Date | 21 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 88-1416,88-1539,88-1803,s. 88-1416 |
| Citation | 889 F.2d 685 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
| Parties | 132 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2857, 113 Lab.Cas. P 11,718 William E. BROCK, Secretary of Labor, Plaintiff-Appellant (88-1932), Plaintiff-Appellee (88-1416), Jerry Tucker, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellant, (88-1803/1539), Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellee, (88-1416), v. INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, (UAW), Defendant-Appellee, (88-1539/1803/1932), Defendant-Appellant, (88-1416). & 88-1932. |
Helene Boetticher, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee in Case No. 88-1416.
Barbara Harvey, Detroit, Mich., Joseph A. Yablonski (argued), Yablonski, Both & Edelman, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-intervenor in Case No. 88-1416.
James K. Robinson, Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn, M. Jay Whitman (argued), United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellant in Case No. 88-1416.
Peter A. Caplan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Office of the U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff in Case No. 88-1539.
Peter A. Caplan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., Helene Boetticher, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Frederick Bowen (argued), U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of the Sol., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee in Case No. 88-1539.
Barbara Harvey, Detroit, Mich., Charles R. Both, Daniel B. Edelman, John F. Colwell, Joseph A. Yablonski (argued), Yablonski, Both & Edelman, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellant in case No. 88-1539.
James K. Robinson, Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn, Detroit, Mich., Helene Boetticher, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C., M. Jay Whitman (argued), United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellee in case No. 88-1539.
Jeffrey A. Hennemuth (argued), Charles I. Hadden, Allen H. Feldman, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of the Sol., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff in case No. 88-1803.
Barbara Harvey, Detroit, Mich., John F. Colwell, Joseph A. Yablonski (argued), Yablonski, Both & Edelman, Washington, D.C., for intervenor-appellant in Case No. 88-1803.
James K. Robinson, Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn, Barbara Harvey, M. Jay Whitman (argued), United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellee in Case No. 88-1803.
Peter A. Caplan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Office of the U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., Helene Boetticher, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Frederick Bowen, Jeffrey A. Hennemuth (argued), Charles I. Hadden, Allen H. Feldman, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of the Sol., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellant in Case No. 88-1932.
Barbara Harvey, Detroit, Mich., John F. Colwell, Joseph A. Yablonski (argued), Yablonski, Both & Edelman, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-intervenor in Case No. 88-1932.
M. Jay Whitman (argued), United Auto Workers, Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellee in Case No. 88-1932.
William Mazey, Rothe, Mazey, Mazey & Hamburger, Southfield, Mich., for defendant-intervenor in Case No. 88-1932.
Before KENNEDY and KRUPANSKY, Circuit Judges; and MILES, Senior District Judge. *
Initially, the controversies joined in this consolidated series of appeals, challenging the propriety of a 1986 election for Regional Director of Region 5 of the International Union of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Workers of America (International UAW), invite consideration and resolution of the threshold jurisdictional issue of mootness. 1
The record developed the following underlying facts. The delegates from the local unions representing Region 5 of the UAW were scheduled to convene in convention on June 4, 1986 in Anaheim, California to, inter alia, elect a Director for Region 5 who would also serve as a member of the UAW's governing board, the International Executive Board (IEB). Jerry Tucker (Tucker), the Assistant Regional Director for Region 5 had announced his candidacy for the Director's position on May 8, 1986, challenging incumbent Regional Director, Kenneth Worley (Worley). By declaring his candidacy less than one month prior to the scheduled election, Tucker violated an internal UAW rule which provided that any UAW staff member desirous of challenging an incumbent elected UAW official was required to announce his candidacy at least ninety days before the election, and contemporaneously assume an unpaid leave of absence until after the election ("90 day rule").
On May 12, 1986, Tucker was discharged from his appointed position as Assistant Regional Director, ostensibly because of his failure to have complied with the "90 day rule." Although his eligibility to seek the position of Regional Director was not questioned, his termination from his official union position denied him access to the convention floor and deprived him of the opportunity to campaign in that area of concentrated delegate activity. Moreover, during the pre-election campaign period, Worley had diverted union resources to prepare and circulate a campaign letter, reproduced on union stationery, to advance his campaign.
Worley defeated Tucker by a margin of less than one vote, the final vote tabulated as 324.577 to 324.415 votes. 2 Tucker filed a letter of protest with UAW President Owen Bieber (Bieber), dated June 5, 1986, charging irregularities in the selection of a number of the local delegates to the Region 5 convention. The convention delegates voted on June 6, 1986 to reconvene the credentials committee to consider Tucker's complaint. The credentials committee rejected this challenge to the seating of a number of the local delegates, and Worley's reelection was duly certified.
On June 13, 1986, Tucker, by letter to William E. Brock, the Secretary of Labor (Secretary), protested the results of the Region 5 Director's election, reasserting his claim that the delegates from local unions 119, 218, 514, and 1049 had been elected in violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 481(a), (e) and (g). Subsequent to an investigation, the Secretary concluded that Tucker's assertions were probably meritorious and, accordingly, initiated an action against the UAW on September 12, 1986 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Civil Action No. 86-3859), charging that the election of a number of local delegates to the June 4, 1986 convention had violated the statutory standards of the LMRDA, and requested an injunction invalidating the June 4, 1986 election, and mandating a new election for all Region 5 local delegates as well as its Director.
Within approximately the same time period, Tucker had filed a protest with the UAW alleging that he had been terminated from his appointive position as the Assistant Regional Director of UAW Region 5 in retaliation for having challenged incumbent Director Worley in the forthcoming election. After receiving no definitive response from the UAW concerning his inquiries, Tucker filed a second complaint with the Secretary on September 19, 1986, charging that the retaliatory action of the UAW constituted a violation of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 481(e). Subsequent to an investigation, the Secretary, on November 18, 1986, commenced a second lawsuit (Civil Action No. 86-4827) against the UAW in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging that Tucker had been terminated in retaliation for having declared for elective union office as an opponent of Worley and that the UAW's "90 day rule" constituted an impermissible election restriction under the LMRDA. The Secretary petitioned the district court to invalidate the original 1986 election for the UAW Region 5's Regional Director, and to order a new election to be conducted under the supervision of the Secretary.
Additionally, on October 2, 1986, Tucker filed a third complaint with the Secretary, alleging that the UAW had violated the standards imposed upon the conduct of union election campaigns by having permitted an incumbent UAW officer, Worley, to impermissibly divert union resources to further his personal campaign for the position of Director of UAW Region 5. As a result of these charges, the Secretary initiated a third lawsuit against the UAW on December 1, 1986 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Civil Action No. 86-5007), charging that the practices complained of were in violation of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 481(g), seeking to void the 1986 Regional Director's election and to mandate a new election to be conducted under the supervision of the Secretary.
Tucker also initiated an individual civil action against the UAW in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Civil Action No. 86-4164), alleging private causes of action for his termination by the UAW from his appointive position pursuant to Title I of the LMRDA and the UAW Constitution, as well as state law claims sounding in breach of contract and tortious interference with contractual rights. Tucker sought monetary and injunctive relief from the UAW for these charged causes of action.
On March 27, 1987, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan consolidated the four civil actions pending before it, all of which concerned the 1986 election campaign for the position of Director for UAW Region 5, and granted Tucker's motions to intervene in three of the above described civil actions commenced by the Secretary against the UAW. 3
On March 30, 1988, the district court, in response to pending motions and cross-motions for summary judgment, entered a memorandum opinion and order, disposing of three of the consolidated civil actions filed by the Secretary in which Tucker was an intervening party and severed Tucker's private cause of action initiated under Title I of the LMRDA for separate resolution. 4
In its disposition, the district court concluded that the undisputed facts...
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