Corea v. Welo
| Citation | 937 F.2d 1132 |
| Decision Date | 03 July 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-3177,90-3177 |
| Parties | 137 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2945, 119 Lab.Cas. P 10,828 Claude COREA and Raymond Lavery, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Thomas J. WELO, David L. Quimby, Jack Cahill, Dan Molchan, Larry Hocevar, Ray Zak, Cleveland & Vicinity District Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and John Does, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
Theodore E. Meckler (argued), Meckler & Meckler, Cleveland, Ohio, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Stephen A. Markus, Stephanie E. Trudeau (argued), Ulmer & Berne, Cleveland, Ohio, Frederick G. Cloppert, Jr., Russell E. Carnahan (argued), Cloppert, Portman, Sauter, Latanick & Foley, Columbus, Ohio, for defendants-appellees.
Before KEITH, KENNEDY and SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs-appellants Claude Corea and Raymond Lavery (collectively "plaintiffs") appeal the district court's January 19, 1990 grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees (collectively "defendants"): the Cleveland and Vicinity District Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America ("District Council"); the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America ("International"); 1 and individual members of the District Council, Secretary-Treasurer, Thomas J. Welo, President, David L. Quimby, Trustees, Jack Cahil, Dan Molchan, Larry Hocevar and Ray Zak, as well as certain undesignated John Does (collectively "individual defendants"). Plaintiffs contend that the District Council's discontinuation of a Coordinated Housing Organizing Program ("CHOP" or "Program") without a rank and file vote violated section 101 of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (the "LMRDA" or the "Act"), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 411 [hereinafter Sec. 411]. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated section 501 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 501 [hereinafter Sec. 501], by breaching their fiduciary duties. Plaintiffs further claim that the federal district court has jurisdiction under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185 [hereinafter Sec. 185], to address claims that defendants' actions violated various provisions of the union constitution and bylaws. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants.
This case arises out of a dispute over the elimination of CHOP, a project which was aimed at organizing nonunion labor in the residential construction industry. The elimination of the Program resulted in plaintiffs losing their appointed positions as CHOP organizers. Plaintiffs had been employed by the Ohio State Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America 2 ("State Council") from 1975 through 1985, and thereafter by the District Council, as CHOP organizers.
The International initiated and promoted CHOP as a means of organizing carpenters and contractors engaged in the construction of residential housing. The Program sought to protect the interests of union members by seeking to prevent the spread of nonunion work in this sector of the construction industry. If left unchecked, the spread of non-union construction ostensibly could have had an adverse effect on the wages and working conditions of union membership.
The International presented the original proposal to institute CHOP in the Cleveland area to the District Council in 1973. Because the Program would be funded by a four cents-per-hour assessment on each union member, it was necessary, under the provisions of Sec. 411, as well as the International's constitution and the District Council's bylaws, to submit the proposal to the rank and file members of the district for their approval. The proposal was defeated by referendum in 1973 and again in April 1974. In February 1975, CHOP was approved by referendum. In May 1975, the funding mechanism was instituted.
From May 1975 until June 1985, CHOP was operated under the auspices of the State Council. Assessments collected by the District Council from its rank and file members funded CHOP. Plaintiffs were among the first to be hired as CHOP organizers by the State Council in June 1975. Plaintiffs were laid off periodically during this period because of the District Council's frequent delays in sending CHOP funds to the State Council. In April 1985, as a result of an ongoing dispute over the manner in which State Council funds were being spent, the delegates of the District Council voted to discontinue all payments to the State Council, including the four cents-per-hour wage assessment for CHOP. In June 1985, delegates of the District Council voted to administer their own version of CHOP and hired plaintiffs as organizers. The District Council's rank and file membership did not vote on either of these decisions.
During the next year and a half, plaintiffs were laid off periodically because of a shortage of CHOP funds. During this period, plaintiffs made several requests to examine the District Council's financial records in order to determine how much money was actually spent on the Program. The District Council did not provide this information.
In December 1986, plaintiffs were laid off by the District Council once again and were told that they would be unable to return to work until the following spring. However, on April 21, 1987, the Executive Committee of the District Council voted to discontinue CHOP and on April 23, 1987, the delegates of the District Council approved this recommendation. In making its decision to eliminate CHOP, the District Council did not refer the matter for a vote of the rank and file. The discontinuation of CHOP terminated the four cents-per-hour assessment and ended plaintiffs' employment as CHOP organizers.
On May 18, 1987, plaintiffs filed a grievance with the International regarding the District Council's discontinuation of CHOP without a rank and file vote, its failure to provide financial information regarding CHOP's revenues and expenditures, and the delays in providing funds for CHOP during the period when the State Council operated it. The General President of the International denied plaintiffs' grievance on June 22, 1987. Plaintiffs appealed the decision to the General Executive Board, which sustained the General President's ruling.
After exhausting their internal union remedies, plaintiffs filed suit in district court on December 16, 1987. Plaintiffs invoked the district court's jurisdiction under 29 U.S.C. Secs. 185, 412, 501; and under 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1331, 1337.
On January 27, 1988, the International filed a motion to dismiss. On February 25, 1988, the district court granted in part and denied in part the International's motion. The district court dismissed plaintiffs' claims asserted under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185 finding that the International's constitution is not a contract between the individual members of the union and their union for the purposes of Sec. 185. On July 26, 1988, the International filed a motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' remaining claims. On September 7, 1988, the District Council and individual defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. On January 19, 1990, the district court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment.
Plaintiffs filed a timely notice of appeal with this court on February 16, 1990.
Our review of a grant of summary judgment is de novo. EEOC v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 334 (6th Cir.1990); Buckner v. City of Highland Park, 901 F.2d 491, 494 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 137, 112 L.Ed.2d 104 (1990). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) permits summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). As we consider the appropriateness of summary judgment in the instant case, we must examine the record taken as a whole to determine whether the nonmoving party has raised a genuine issue of material fact. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1355, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); see also Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
Our inquiry in this case is also directed by other considerations. The LMRDA encourages unions to provide means by which their members can seek relief within the organization if any of the enumerated rights defined by the statute are infringed upon and gives union members the right to sue on the same basis. 29 U.S.C. Secs. 411(a)(4), 412. It has consistently been held, however, that while union members have the right to sue to enforce their rights under LMRDA, the courts should be reluctant to interfere in internal union affairs. In Brock v. Int'l Union of Operating Eng'rs, 790 F.2d 508 (6th Cir.1986), we stated that the LMRDA, was intended to be applied realistically, but with due regard for a balance between the rights of industrial union members and the real need of elected union officials to carry out their duties without the "debilitative drag of tardily asserted challenges to their authority." Id. at 512.
Plaintiffs raise several issues on appeal. Primarily, plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in granting summary judgment because Sec. 411 requires the union to permit the rank and file to vote or otherwise participate in the decision to terminate the wage assessment, thus effectively terminating CHOP, the program which it funded and which the rank and file originally voted into existence. Plaintiffs argue that the failure to submit the wage assessment termination to a referendum deprived members of the right to cast a meaningful vote and to participate fully in...
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