Cox v. ALLIED CHEMICAL CORP., LOCAL 216, INT. U. OF OP. ENG., Civ. A. No. 72-106.

• Citation: 382 F. Supp. 309
• Decision Date: 23 September 1974
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 72-106.
• Parties: Luttrell B. COX et al., v. ALLIED CHEMICAL CORPORATION, LOCAL 216, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL-CIO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Louisiana

382 F. Supp. 309

Luttrell B. COX et al., v. ALLIED CHEMICAL CORPORATION, LOCAL 216, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL-CIO.

Civ. A. No. 72-106.

United States District Court, M. D. Louisiana.

September 23, 1974.

Richard B. Sobol, David J. Dennis, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs.

Victor A. Sachse, III, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, Baton Rouge, La., for Allied Chemical Corp.

James D. Thomas, II, Dodd, Hirsch, Barker, Avant & Wall, Baton Rouge, La., for Local 216, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO.

E. GORDON WEST, District Judge:

This suit is brought by two former employees and one present employee of the defendant, Allied Chemical Corporation, alleging violations of the Civil Rights allegedly protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. The plaintiffs purportedly bring this action in their own behalf and as a class action on behalf of all other persons similarly situated pursuant to Rule 23 (a), (b) (2) and (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The plaintiffs, in essence, challenge the seniority system employed at the Allied Chemical plant, and seek damages and other appropriate relief for what they claim to be discriminatory transfer, promotion, and layoff practices employed by Allied and the union to which plaintiffs belong, Local 216, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO.

The defendants contest the plaintiffs' right to maintain this suit as a class action, and also deny that they or either of them have or are engaging in any hiring, firing, transfer or promotion practices that are in any way discriminatory or contrary to law. After a full evidentiary hearing, the Court now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The defendant, Allied Chemical Corporation, is an employee in an industry affecting commerce, and the defendant, Local 216, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO (hereinafter "Local 216") is a labor organization and the bargaining agent for the hourly employees at Allied's Plastics Division plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On January 17, 1966, Allied Chemical Corporation purchased the Baton Rouge Plastics Division plant from W. R. Grace & Company. At that time, and until August, 1971, the hourly employees at the plant were divided into four "units": 1) Production, 2) Services, 3) Maintenance and 4) Stores. The racial composition of the Maintenance and Stores Units is presently and always has been white. That of the Services and Production Units is somewhat more complicated. It appears that when Allied Chemical Corporation purchased the plant in 1966 the Production Unit was all white and the Services Unit was all black. As a result of the collective bargaining agreement of December 15, 1967 between Allied and Local 216, a substantial number of blacks from the Services Unit transferred to the Production Unit as baggers. In 1971, as a result of a conciliation agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, all of the jobs in the Services Unit were merged into the Production Unit, and the Services Unit was abolished. After the merger of these units the black employees who were formerly in the Services Unit were able to use their total plant seniority as their unit seniority in the Production Unit. In addition, the EEOC conciliation agreement and the present collective bargaining agreement provide that when a black employee hired on or before May 2, 1969 transfers from one seniority unit to another or within a seniority unit, he will compete with other employees on the basis of his total plant seniority, providing he has successfully completed a one-year residency requirement. At the present time, although the Production Unit is integrated, all of the Senior Operator and A Operator jobs are filled by whites, and all black employees of Allied work in the unit as baggers, truck drivers, janitors, and laborers. In the past there have been two black A Operators and one black trainee, who voluntarily returned to the B Operator (bagger) classification.

The Production and Maintenance Units at the plant subdivided into different job classifications. The jobs in the Production Unit are Senior Operator, A Operator, B Operator (bagger), C Operator (truck driver), D Operator (janitor), and E Operator (laborer). The jobs in the Maintenance Unit are Senior Mechanic and Mechanic, which are both maintenance related craft jobs. The employees in the Production Department classified as Senior Operator and A Operator are paid salaries comparable to the Senior Mechanics and General Mechanics in the Maintenance Department. The other employees in the lower classifications of the Production Unit have no counterparts in the Maintenance Unit. The Stores Unit has the single job classification of Storeroom Clerk. The Storeroom Clerk receives a salary in an amount slightly less than that of a starting A Operator.

Under the terms of the present and all prior collective bargaining agreements between defendants, there is now and has been in effect at the Baton Rouge Plastics Divisions plant a "unit seniority" system. Therefore, seniority for the purposes of promotion, transfer, or lay-off is governed by the length of service within a particular unit. The plaintiffs contend that the discriminatory effects of this seniority system, and in particular its application in the case of lay-offs, is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Under the collective bargaining agreement, when a reduction in force in a particular unit is necessary, the employees in the jobs to be eliminated are allowed to displace the least senior employees within their job classification. The employees who are displaced from their job classification are in turn permitted to displace the least senior employees in the next lower classification. This procedure is followed until the least senior employees in the unit are laid off. The reduction in force in one unit takes place without regard to the seniority of the employees of the other units. So, the employees outside the unit suffering a reduction in force are not affected by the reduction in the other unit, regardless of whether they have less seniority than those employees to be laid off.

The defendants contend that the separation of units by a unit seniority system is justified because of the functional difference in the departments and by the fact that the plant could not operate in a safe and efficient manner unless qualified maintenance personnel are allowed to hold positions in the Maintenance Unit. The evidence clearly establishes that work in the Maintenance Unit requires a certain amount of technical knowledge of highly complex machinery by employees with a mechanical aptitude in order to safely and efficiently perform the job as a mechanic and at the same time maintain a profitable on stream factor for the company. The testimony of Al Farris, Maintenance Supervisor, and Don Rosenberg, Plant Manager, establishes that the plant utilizes potentially dangerous chemicals, under conditions of heat, high temperature, and pressure to produce its product. In addition, the machinery is complex and must be properly maintained and repaired to meet a very close operational tolerance on the order of .001-.003 inches, and must be adjusted by the use of precision tools and instruments.

It is the Company's position that to achieve the necessary level of safety and proficiency, it would like to require that a prospective employee of the Maintenance Unit have at least three years industrial maintenance experience. However, the defendants have stipulated that several employees, although not a significant number of the force, entered the Maintenance Unit at a time (from late 1965 through 1968) when there was a tight labor market condition in Baton Rouge and personnel with sufficient industrial and educational experience were not available to fill maintenance positions. Maintenance employees hired during this period learned the requisite skills by working on the job with experienced mechanics.

On September 11, 1967, the plaintiff, Luttrell B. Cox, a negro, was employed by Allied Chemical Corporation as a B Operator in the Production Unit. On or about October 22, 1971, he was demoted to the position of janitor, as a result of the above described lay-off rules, and for that reason he resigned. The parties have stipulated that at the time Luttrell Cox was demoted, there were employees in the Maintenance and Stores Unit with less plant seniority. In addition, evidence supports the conclusion that he had acquired some maintenance related education and skills while serving in the Army.

Plaintiff, Lloyd R. Hinton, a negro, was employed by Allied in the Production Unit on December 2, 1968. According to the "Minority Employees" list contained in Joint Exhibit 4, Hinton was working as an A Operator on May 25, 1971. On October 22, 1971, he was laid off as a result of the above described lay-off rules. It is also stipulated that when Hinton was laid off there were employees with less plant seniority in the Maintenance and Stores Unit. Furthermore, the evidence clearly establishes that he had acquired maintenance related training and skills while in the Army.

Plaintiff, Sherwood Cox, white, has been employed by Allied in the Production Unit since January 20, 1966. He is presently employed as an A Operator in that Unit.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

This Court has jurisdiction over the claims of the three individual plaintiffs as claims arising under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, Sabala v. Western Gillette, Inc., 362 F.Supp. 1142 (S.D.Tex.1973). See also Caldwell v. National Brewing Co., 443 F.2d 1044 (CA 5-1971); Sanders v. Dobbs Houses Inc., 431 F.2d 1097 (CA 5-1970), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S. C. § 2000e et seq. The defendants contend that plaintif...