DIVISION 1287, AMAL. ASS'N OF ST., ELEC. RY., ETC., EMP. v. Dalton

• Decision Date: 16 November 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 784.
• Citation: 206 F. Supp. 625
• Parties: DIVISION 1287, AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF STREET, ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND MOTOR COACH EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff, v. John M. DALTON, Governor of the State of Missouri, State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Daniel C. Rogers, Individually and as Chairman of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Charles Bibbs, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Albert Fults, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, J. Raymond Lambright, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, and Truman Henry, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

206 F. Supp. 625

DIVISION 1287, AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF STREET, ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND MOTOR COACH EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff, v. John M. DALTON, Governor of the State of Missouri, State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Daniel C. Rogers, Individually and as Chairman of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Charles Bibbs, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Albert Fults, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, J. Raymond Lambright, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, and Truman Henry, Individually and as Member of the State of Missouri Board of Mediation, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 784.

United States District Court W. D. Missouri, Central Division.

November 16, 1961.

John J. Manning and Robert S. Fousek, Kansas City, Mo., Bernard Cushman and Bernard Dunau, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Thomas F. Eagleton, Atty Gen., by J. Gordon Siddens, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for defendants.

BECKER, District Judge.

This is a suit filed by a mass transit workers' union for a declaratory judgment and for an injunction to enjoin the Governor of Missouri and other State officers (constituting the State Board of Mediation) from taking possession of and operating the Kansas City Transit, Inc., under the Missouri Public Utility Seizure and Anti-Strike Law, known as the King-Thompson Act. RSMo (1959), § 295.010 et seq., V.A.M.S. This Act authorizes the State of Missouri to take possession of and operate a public utility, whose effective operation is threatened by a strike, work stoppage or lockout, which in the opinion of the Governor threatens the public interest, health and welfare. It also declares that the acts of employees of a public utility in striking, or in participating in a concerted refusal to work, are unlawful, and punishable by fine against labor organizations and officers. Similar provisions make a lockout by the utility management unlawful. State courts are authorized to enforce the seizure and no-strike provisions of the law by injunction and other equitable remedies.

The complaint alleges that the Act is invalid for several reasons, including claims of violation of specific provisions of the Constitution of the United States.

Proceeding under the Act, the defendants have taken possession of, and are operating in the name of the State, a transit company which is a public utility serving the Kansas City metropolitan area through motor bus operations in the States of Missouri and Kansas.

Three days ago, on November 13, 1961, the union members voted to strike because of failure of the utility to meet its contract demands after expiration of the last contract. A strike thereupon took place. Before midnight the same day, the Governor of Missouri authorized the seizure of the plants, equipment and facilities of the transit company located in Missouri for use and operation by the State under the King-Thompson Act. Yesterday, the Circuit Court of Jackson County, in a suit filed by the State of Missouri, issued a temporary restraining order against the plaintiff union, forbidding continuance of the strike. That suit in the State court was filed subsequently to this suit. The time of filing and of issuance of the restraining order is not critical in determining the rights of the parties to this suit.

In authorizing the seizure and operation of the utility, the Governor of Missouri issued a proclamation, as authorized by State law, stating that the public interest, health and welfare are jeopardized as a result of the threatened interruption of the operation of the public utility, and that exercise of the powers of seizure and operation is necessary to insure the operation of the utility in Missouri.

As a result of the issuance of the restraining order by the State court, the employees of the transit company have returned to work on the recommendation of the officers and attorneys of the plaintiff union.

Now the union, as plaintiff in this suit, requests this Court to issue forthwith a temporary order restraining the Governor and the other defendants from acting under the King-Thompson Act, and to convene a Three-Judge Court to hear and determine this controversy. These requests will be passed on separately.

APPLICATION FOR RESTRAINING ORDER

The provisions of the King-Thompson Act have been in effect since 1947, a period of fourteen years. The validity of the seizure and operating provisions, and of the auxiliary provisions forbidding strikes and work stoppages, has been challenged without success in the Missouri Supreme Court in the case of State of Missouri v. Local No. 8-6, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, 317 S.W.2d 309, en banc. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Missouri in that case, finding the King-Thompson Act to be valid and constitutional, was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which refused to pass upon the validity of the provisions of the Act involved on the ground that the controversy was moot. Local No. 8-6, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union v. State of Missouri, 361 U.S. 363, 80 S.Ct. 391, 4 L.Ed.2d 373.

Since 1951, when the Supreme Court of the United States held a Wisconsin Public Utility Anti-Strike Law invalid, there have been serious doubts concerning the validity of Missouri's King-Thompson Act. In the meantime, the State of Missouri has continued to enforce the provisions of the King-Thompson Act, and the validity of the Act has been affirmed by the State Court of last resort, as mentioned previously.

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