Chasis v. Progress Manufacturing Company

• Citation: 382 F.2d 773
• Decision Date: 15 September 1967
• Docket Number: No. 16173.,16173.
• Parties: Ralph CHASIS et al., Appellants, v. PROGRESS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Inc. and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 1841, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 2005, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

382 F.2d 773 (1967)

Ralph CHASIS et al., Appellants, v. PROGRESS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Inc. and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 1841, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 2005, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Appellees.

No. 16173.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued April 3, 1967.

Decided September 15, 1967.

Norman Shigon, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

Richard H. Markowitz, Philadelphia, Pa. (Wilderman, Markowitz & Kirschner, Richard Kirschner, Philadelphia, Pa., Sherman & Dunn, Thomas X. Dunn, Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellees, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 1841 and Local 2005, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO.

Geoffrey J. Cunniff, Bala-Cynwyd, Pa., for appellee, Progress Mfg. Co., Inc.

Before McLAUGHLIN and GANEY, Circuit Judges, and NEALON, District Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT

NEALON, District Judge.

In this action, plaintiffs, having been discharged by their employer, Progress Manufacturing Company, Inc. (Progress), brought suit under § 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947,¹ against Progress, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and two of its Locals, #1841 and #2005. The District Court granted defendants' motions to dismiss, holding that it was without jurisdiction, inasmuch as the conduct complained of² was arguably an unfair labor practice and, under existing authority, the action was preempted by the primary jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board.

While this appeal was pending, the United States Supreme Court handed down its opinion in the case of Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L. Ed.2d 842 (1967), holding that in a suit by a member against his union charging a violation of the union's duty of fair representation, the National Labor Relations Board does not have exclusive jurisdiction and, therefore, a Court's traditional jurisdiction to curb arbitrary conduct by an employee's statutory representative is not preempted by the Board. In discussing the intricate relationship between the duty of fair representation and the enforcement of collective bargaining contracts, the Court pointed out that the question of whether a union has breached its duty of fair representation will in many cases be a critical issue in a suit under § 301 charging an employer with a breach of contract. As a result, if an employee sues his employer for breach of contract in a § 301 action and joins the union as a defendant alleging a breach of its duty of fair representation, the action is still a § 301 suit and the jurisdiction of the Court is not preempted. Consequently, the pivotal point in the District Court's disposition of defendants' motions was removed by the ruling in Vaca (supra).

Conceding the applicability of Vaca to the present case, insofar as it negates Labor Board preemption of fair representation disputes, defendants nevertheless assert most strenuously that the District Court lacked jurisdiction because the gravamen of plaintiffs' action does not fall within § 301 inasmuch as "* * the complaint does not allege a breach of contract nor are the allegations of the complaint sufficiently broad to reasonably support such a claim." According to defendants, in order to establish § 301 jurisdiction here the complaint must contain specific allegations of (1) an unlawful discharge in violation of an identified paragraph of the collective bargaining contract, (2) the existence and extent of the grievance and arbitration procedure under the contract, and (3) the violation of the union's duty to fairly represent plaintiffs in processing their grievances through the arbitration procedure.

To meet this contention we must analyze the allegations in the complaint, and a fair reading thereof reveals the following:

Progress is engaged in the manufacture and sale of light fixtures and other electrical appliances; plaintiffs were hourly-rated employees at Progress' plant and were members in good standing of Local 1841 and/or Local 2005, both of which are affiliates of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL-CIO); defendant unions represented plaintiffs in all labor-management relations with Progress under a collective bargaining agreement in force during the period in question and which was to expire "in the early part of 1959"; on or about October 21, 1958, defendants "* * * unlawfully, wickedly, deliberately and maliciously conspired and agreed together to injure the plaintiffs, and others similarly situated, to cause them to lose their jobs at Progress * * * (and) * * * to deprive them of their contractual rights * *"; in pursuance of said conspiracy, Progress, on October 24, 1958, suspended and subsequently discharged plaintiffs "* * * alleging falsely that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated lacked the qualifications and ability to do their jobs well and perform their duties properly * * *"; that this "* * * mass discriminatory discharge of plaintiffs and others similarly situated was in violation of the labor agreement then in effect and in force * * *"; that after these discharges defendant unions, pursuant to the conspiracy, "* * * and contrary to their obligations to plaintiffs as bargaining union representatives, * * *" refused and failed "* * * to process grievances, obtain arbitration, or file charges with the National Labor Relations Board * * *" and forestalled plaintiffs from filing their charges until such time as the six-month statute of limitations before the Board had expired, and further maliciously refused to support plaintiffs before the Board and in seeking reinstatement of plaintiffs with Progress; all of which, according to plaintiffs, deprived them "* * * of the emoluments and benefits to which each * * * were entitled under and pursuant to their collective bargaining agreements * * *". Obviously, the thrust of the complaint is to charge defendants with engaging in a conspiracy through which Progress discharged plaintiffs in violation of the collective bargaining contract by falsely accusing them of inability to perform their duties and the unions breached their duty of "fair representation" by refusing and failing to process the grievances and obtain arbitration. However, the collective bargaining contract is not appended to the complaint and there are no express allegations quoting the language of the contract allegedly breached or specifically identifying the pertinent provisions by article, paragraph or section. Such specific allegations, according to defendants, are "the sine qua non for the assertion of jurisdiction by the federal courts under Section 301."

It is "hornbook law" that the jurisdiction of a District Court must appear affirmatively on the face of the Complaint.³ Patton v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 197 F.2d 732 (3d Cir. 1952). If a party seeking to invoke federal jurisdiction asserts a substantial claim under a federal statute, then this jurisdictional prerequisite is satisfied. In this regard, the opinion in Romero v. International Term. Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354, 359, 79 S.Ct. 468, 473, 3 L.Ed.2d 368 (1959), is illuminating:

"The District Court dismissed petitioner\'s Jones Act claims for lack of jurisdiction. `As frequently happens where jurisdiction depends on subject matter, the question whether jurisdiction exists has been

...